As a side note:

We all know that custom rifles retain their original value about as well as fresh fruit.

The choice of cartridge, however, is one aspect of the rifle that could have it retain or increase in value while not adding any additional expense.

Just food for thought.

.416 Rigby on a pre-64 action.

I'd be torn between 3 different cartrdges; .257Rob, .264Win, .300H&H . I've allways thought a clean, plain (but nicely done) square bridge mauser sporter, with say a 24" Krieger tube in one of the mentioned cals would be sweet.

'06, .270, or .375 H&H

I crossed that bridge....

Winchester Model 70, Claw extractor model....
Left on the factory stock....

28 inch heavy sporter barrel from Pac Nor...
Matte Blued finish....

chambered in a very old cartridge.... 6.5 x 57...

I am a happy camper!!!

Oh Plain old 3 x 9 Matte Leupold Scope on it....

cheers
seafire

Mine should be done soon:

Pre 64 action
Krieger std sporter 12 twist (cro mo)
Echols Legend stock
Leupy 3.5x10
Chambered in 30-338 Win

quote:

Originally posted by allen day:
Dennis, if I were having someone building my ultimate custom rifle, the only one I'd ever have made for the rest of my life, I'd go with my favorite all-around cartridge, the 300 Win. Mag.

AD

Allen. When I wrote up the poll I actually thought to myself I already knew which cartridge you would pick. I bet I could guess the rifle as well -- Echol's Legend. Good stuff there.

Penrod finally recieved the required bits from Blackburn and had started work on my M70. He sent me a picture yesturday of the action bottom opened up for the Blackburn magazine box. One thing mentioned was the barrel screw threads needing to recut as they are a cockeyed as it came from USRAC. According to Mark I should have the rifle back by early August. About 13 months from when I sent it off. Eight or nine months of that wes waiting on Blackburn to ship parts.

As you may recall from previous discussons I picked the .300 Weatherby cartridge. I agree with you it really doesn't do anything better than the Win Mag but I just like it. I'm a bit suprised by the poll results so far I expected .30 Magnums or the ubiquitous .30-06 to be in the lead.

Dennis

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
"once in a lifetime" rifle?

I read into that this is to be a totally custom gun, that you would consider an AAR (all around rifle)

jeffe

Primarly yes as I would think one spending the money would want to get the most use from it. However I didn't state that out right to leave a little wiggle room for folks to pick their favorite pet cartridge. I'm surprised by the number of less than .30 cal choices. 7x57 mm Seems to be favorite. For the record I do have a 7x57 set up as a "scout" rifle with a 20" barrel on a VZ24 action. It's a great little carbine for the East Texas woods.

I think the "lifetime" custom is why you got so many 7X57 answers. Most peoples Lifetime custom gun dreams or realities start with a Mauser action.

Terry

quote:

Originally posted by KurtC:
As a side note:

We all know that custom rifles retain their original value about as well as fresh fruit.

The choice of cartridge, however, is one aspect of the rifle that could have it retain or increase in value while not adding any additional expense.

Just food for thought.

Very true which is the primary reason I put 30-06 alone. It would be the easiest IMO to resell if necessary.

A true custom 257 AI all tricked out

Would be my choice

Johnch

I already have one custom rifle that was done up and I got for great price for the reason that nobody wanted to deal with an oddball cartridge 270 Apex (7mm rem. necked down). It just is waiting for Conetrol bases/rings and a scope (I have a 7x leu. to go on it). And I am having a custom 458 Lott built that will be THE rifle of dreams.

BUT, I don't consider either of those best overall for what I am LIKELY to encounter, which would be north american non-expensive guide hunts. pig-black bears and maybe an elk is the things I will have a good chance of hunting short of the lotto, I chose accordingly.

somebody posted about a 416 Rigby on a mod70, I might be wrong but I thought I heard that it was almost impossible to do that right do to the actions limitations. just mentioning it, not trying to snuff out your dream.

On the 300 mag front, I'd go with the Norma, its as good as the Win. and not as many people have it. Plus brass cost is in line with a 10-20k rifle! (I have 200 unfired cases and that should last me and the other two in the family with Norma's FOREVER).

Red

Here it is, built by Duane Wiebe on a M98 commercial action in 7x64. It has taken five pronghorn and one deer so far. I am having its twin built now in 9.3x62 as a gift to me daughter for her 16th birthday. My third choice would be a .375 H&H on a Model 70 action, and my forth would be a .338 Winchester on a Hagen action.

Depends on the action used:
Pre-64 70=270 win.
Mauser 98=7X57
Springfield 1903=30-06

My personal choice would be the 30-06.

Dennis, I currently have some metalwork coming from Mark Penrod, and it might just arrive here this week. You'll never go wrong with anything Mark builds you, he's just that good, and he's a good, honest man as well.

You won't go wrong with the 300 Weatherby chambering, either. If you do go with the 300 Wby. as your final selection, are you going to have Mark throat it for Weatherby factory ammo, or do you plan to exclusively handload for it?

AD

loud-n-boomer, your Wiebe rifle is a beauty. All the lines, right down to the woodgrain, work together superbly......

AD

The 7x57 has kept custom builders busy for generations, here is a Daly 7x57 from seventy years ago.

I have my custom dream rifle, Remington 30S, 458 Lott.



Hog Killer

Yikes. Has it ever been fired?

quote:

Originally posted by JAL:
So you fellas spend up big on a fancy expensive rifle and actually take it out in the bush and knock it around?
John

How much did you spend on your automobile? Do you actually take it out on the roads and knock it around, putting miles on it? God forbid.

For all the 7 x 57 fans, what about it makes so special for you compared to the 8 x 57 or the 6.5 x 57? I really am curious as to what about the 7MM becomes magical for so many relative to the other two. Don't get me wrong, I think it has great appeal but so much disproportionate to similar rounds?

quote:

Originally posted by allen day:
If you do go with the 300 Wby. as your final selection, are you going to have Mark throat it for Weatherby factory ammo, or do you plan to exclusively handload for it?

AD

Mark's 300 Wby reamer has a custom throat to it. As explained to me ( by him) It's short enough for 165's to kiss the lands but long enough Weatherby factory ammo is still safe to use. I intend to use handloads but wished to have the ablility to use factory ammo in a pinch, ie rifle & ammo seperated while traveling.

Tiggertate,

Timing is everything.

The American fascination with the 7x57 stems from the post WWII years when thousands of surplus South American mausers were imported. It was the first real exposure that American hunters had to a metric cartridge, and it just happened to arrive in a svelte small-ring mauser package. Had the South American countries been using the 6.5x57, then that would be the cartridge of endearment.

The 6.5x55 gained favor much the same way, only in the form of surplus Swedish rifles.

The 8x57, which is considerably larger than the others, was held in distain during the post-war years because that particual cartridge accounted for many American deaths. The same is true for Japanese cartridges. Surplus "enemy" rifles brought into the US were usually rechambered to a more "American" wildcat.

Non surplus metric cartridges, such as the 6.5x57, 7x64 and 9.3x62, have had to find favor in the US based entirely on performance. This has limited their appeal to a select group of shooters, many of whom are members of this forum.

I think that W.D.M. Bell had more to do with bringing the (.275 Rigby) 7X57 to the notice of sportsmen than anyone else. The English learned about the 7mm at Spion Kop the Americans at San Juan Hill. Both Whelen and Crossman wrote many articles about the 7mm and all the pre-1940 custom gunmakers offered this caliber.

One of the first sporting rifles Griffin & Howe made in 1923 was this 7X57 Number 251.

[/QUOTE]

Hi.
275 Rigby with a Zeiss 1,75-6x scope in Rigby detachable mounts?
For larger none dangerous Game 9.3x62, then the same as above?
I consider the 318 Westley Richards as a good compromise but I don't like the barrel profile they have been using of late.

Allen:

Thanks for the compliment on the rifle. I got the blank from Steve Heilman when I was at the ACGG show in 2001. In 2004, my daughter and I were admiring more of Steve's wood, when she spotted it's identical twin. When my daughter batted her eyes at me and asked if I would buy the blank for her I could not resist.

These two blanks are as close to identical as any two I have ever seen. Since she has been bugging me to take her to Africa since she was about eight, I figured a 9.3x62 would be a great compliment to the .257 Roberts she uses for deer. The good news is that now she understands quality. The other good news is that she is learning to engrave, and has ambitions of working her way through college as a gun engraver.

quote:

Originally posted by JAL:
So you fellas spend up big on a fancy expensive rifle and actually take it out in the bush and knock it around?
John

All of my guns are built first and foremost to use. I am careful with them, but I don't baby them. As Chic states in his tag line "Life is too short to hunt with an ugly gun."

quote:

Originally posted by Noel H.:
Yikes. Has it ever been fired?

You bet! It is a real joy to shoot.

Hog Killer

quote:

Originally posted by allen day:

Maybe all of this is why just about ever Weatherby Award winner, almost to a man, has been primarily a 300 magnum shooter....

I don't think this is true, at least not for the first three Weatherby Award winners.

The first (1956) was Herb Klein. His rifles were shown on accuratereloading a few months ago -- if I remember correctly one was a 264 magnum and the other was a 270 or 7mm Weatherby magnum.

The second was Jack O'Connor and everyone knows (or should know) that he was a champion of the .270 Winchester. He used others too, such as .375 H&H and .458 Watts for large stuff, plus 30/40, 30-06, .300 Weatherby, and others. But his favorite was the .270

The third was Warren Page. He used a 7mm Mashburn Magnum.

I don't know what the winners since then used.

Keith (hog killer), see your taking care of the lott

Load plenty bullets, I'm coming back some day and going to shoot it again.

Well since stipulated for the hunting we do and where we hunt, I have to go with the 416 Rem or 404 Jefferys, but I sure do like the 7x57, 30-06 and 375 H&H....I hate it that you make me pack such a heavy caliber for deer and elk, but it will work...

I'd have to have 3, just couldn't handle being a one gun man...

7x57
.338
404 Jefferys

quote:

Originally posted by 22WRF:

How much did you spend on your automobile? Do you actually take it out on the roads and knock it around, putting miles on it? God forbid.

Well I didn't buy a Rolls, I got a 4x4, s/h and came with dents. :-)
John.

284 winchester or 280 remington

I agree with Petrov, anyone who has dreamed of Africa and read extensively, knows the 7x57. It is a cartridge that just stirs my soul.

quote:

For all the 7 x 57 fans, what about it makes so special for you compared to the 8 x 57 or the 6.5 x 57? I really am curious as to what about the 7MM becomes magical for so many relative to the other two.

Personally, I'm a big fan of the 6.5 Dutch, and that might have been my second choice. I'm just a little more comfortable with the slightly larger bullet. The 8mm, however, is more than I need for the game that I hunt.

Hog killer, doesn't that bolt handle hit your trigger finger under recoil?

quote:

Petrov, isn't that sight on the wrong side? SDH

The Lyman 48 goes on the right side the Lyman 35 goes on the other side. MP

LE270
Weatherby Award winner Rudolf Sand used 7X61 Super for 281 species.

Cheers
/JOHAN

quote:

Originally posted by Noel H.:
Hog killer, doesn't that bolt handle hit your trigger finger under recoil?

NEVER HAS,I just take a good firm grip and blast away. I guess if you did not hold on to it, it would hurt you, but not if you control it. Scopes are more likely to bit you than anything else.

Hog Killer

8X75RS - of course it's a single shot!!

Although I voted for the 7x57 that my kids and I had built 25 years ago, I have a HUGE need to get a Bob Owen Springfield Sporter in 30-06... Someday.. Bob Owen was CLASS.
Michael is right on about W.D.M. Bell's influence re the 7 mm Mauser. All of ours are on Mauser 98 actions too.
Don