Don’t know whether you guys are interested in custom rimfires, but here’s one I had made up a while ago: A Sako P94S. All metal work was by Ed LaPour, and wood and engraving were by Bruce Farman. The original heavy barrel was octagoned, and it was set back and rechambered with a Winchester 52D match chamber. The bolt sleeve was redone, and a Jewell trigger (with bottom safety) was installed. Ed made the custom scope bases and blended and soldered them to the receiver; these take Talley rings (I have both 1" and 30 mm. rings). A Blackburn Win. 52 bottom-metal unit with hinged floorplate was re-worked and adapted to the action. Bruce did the engraving, including the squirrel on the floorplate (which is hard to see in the picture). Bruce did the 24 lpi fleur-de-lis checkering patterns. The action was pillar-bedded, with the barrel free-floated. All metal work was finished with the cold rust blue process.

Very nice.

Mike

amazing work. congrats.

Given that rimfire ware shot a lot more than centerfire rifles, I’m surprised we don’t see more custom .22RF rifles like this.

Very well executed and attractive!

How does it shoot?

i liie that --ALOT

quote:

Originally posted by crbutler:
Given that rimfire ware shot a lot more than centerfire rifles, I’m surprised we don’t see more custom .22RF rifles like this.

Very well executed and attractive!

How does it shoot?

With top-end ammunition, in particular RWS R50 and Lapua Midas+, it will do .25" to .40" 5-shot groups at 50 yards when I'm on my game. I have the March 1-10x24 scope on it:

Nice.

Dave

That is an outstanding rifle! Did the 52 Blackburn bottom metal already have the floor plate or did you have to add that on to it?

quote:

Originally posted by Jmbrown:
That is an outstanding rifle! Did the 52 Blackburn bottom metal already have the floor plate or did you have to add that on to it?

I think Ed had to add the floorplate. I got him to send me pictures as the work was ongoing, and this is one of them he sent me:

Ok, that’s kinda what I figured but had to check. If Blackburn was doing them with a floor plate I was gonna have to find one to put back for someday haha. I really like when they floor plates on 22’s. That’s always been one of my favorite parts about the Dakota 22.

I've always felt that the Sako P94S was a very robust rimfire action which might easily be factory-adapted to small centerfires like the Bee and Hornet. I guess now that Sako has dropped it in favor or some other design that won't be happening.

But your custom is fantastic. I shudder to think how much it must have cost. Canadian Dollars are kinda small, so do they make enough of them to pay for a job like this?

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
I've always felt that the Sako P94S was a very robust rimfire action which might easily be factory-adapted to small centerfires like the Bee and Hornet. I guess now that Sako has dropped it in favor or some other design that won't be happening.

Well, the later and current Sako P04R action is very similar to the P94S, so it could conceivably be chambered in a small centerfire cartridge like the Hornet. Sako did, of course, chamber some M78s in Hornet, but I don’t recall them as being very successful. Frankly, I wouldn’t want a CF chambering in a rimfire action with its rear locking lugs and smaller mass. Anschutz made a lot of Hornets and even 222s on their rimfire Match 54 action, but I’d want a true centerfire action even for the smaller CF cartridges.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
But your custom is fantastic. I shudder to think how much it must have cost. Canadian Dollars are kinda small, so do they make enough of them to pay for a job like this?

The work on this rifle took close to three years to complete, for one reason or another, so the financial outlay was spread out over a long time and didn't feel so acute! I've had Ed LaPour and Bruce Farman do a number of custom rifle projects for me over the years so it was a comfortable and relatively painless experience. They are two of the best.

Here is Ed LaPour's webpage in case anyone is interested in the incredible metalwork he's capable of:

http://edlapourgunsmithing.com/

Stonecreek, take a look at the rework he did of a Sako AIII action (it's labelled L61).

quote:

Well, the later and current Sako P04R action is very similar to the P94S, so it could conceivably be chambered in a small centerfire cartridge like the Hornet. Sako did, of course, chamber some M78s in Hornet, but I don’t recall them as being very successful. Frankly, I wouldn’t want a CF chambering in a rimfire action with its rear locking lugs and smaller mass. Anschutz made a lot of Hornets and even 222s on their rimfire Match 54 action, but I’d want a true centerfire action even for the smaller CF cartridges.

I'm thinking in terms of lower pressure rounds like the Hornet, Bee, and .25-20 -- or even a .32-20; wouldn't that be a hoot!

Actions like the Anschutz are often said to have only one locking lug. People should look more closely. The bolt handle also serves as a locking lug. I'm sure that no one has ever purposely run a "blow up" test on an Anschutz .222, but I would think that the case/primer would fail long before the action came apart. And for small cartridges like the Hornet on which the case body is so small, having the chamber opening virtually flush with the loading port allows much handier loading than when the chamber is well inside the receiver, ahead of the locking lug recesses. I love my Brno ZKW 465 Hornet, but it is almost impossible to single-load it due to the chamber being rather inaccessible to the thumb and forefinger!

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
I'm thinking in terms of lower pressure rounds like the Hornet, Bee, and .25-20 -- or even a .32-20; wouldn't that be a hoot!

Actions like the Anschutz are often said to have only one locking lug. People should look more closely. The bolt handle also serves as a locking lug. I'm sure that no one has ever purposely run a "blow up" test on an Anschutz .222, but I would think that the case/primer would fail long before the action came apart.

I think the reference to only one locking lug has been applied to actions in which it is only the root of the bolt handle that serves as a locking lug. That is the case with the lesser Anschutz 64 action, but not for the top-line Match 54 action, the one used in the past by Anschutz for their Hornets and 222s. Anschutz makes a pretty big deal about the fact that the 54s have dual locking lugs. Interestingly, more recent 223-class Annies have been built on a true CF action with six front locking lugs, three sets of two.

Here's another custom rimfire I had Ed LaPour and Bruce Farman do for me many years ago. It's a Kimber 82B in .22LR. I had Ed do an octagon barrel for it as well, and he designed an installed some custom scope bases that took Warne rings. I had him rework the trigger to the point at which it could be set down to about 6 oz. while completely safe. The bottom-metal treatment that Ed came up with on this one is different from that on the Sako P94S where the floorplate release is in the trigger bow, but is just as slick. The button behind the floorplate is the release. Bruce did the stockwork and bolt-knob checkering.

Simply stunning rifles, sir. You have excellent taste!