Here are pics of three custom rifles built on G.33/40 actions. From the top they are a full-stocked 7X57, a 280 Rem and a 6.5X55. For me, they are three perfect deer rifles.






The 7X57 is not very fancy, but has perfect metal and woodwork. It's one of my very favorite rifles. The scope bases are screw-on. The barrel is octagon to round with a full-length rib.





The 280 has some modest engraving. The fore-end is a little full, in the Griffen & Howe style. This was my choice, but now I wish it were just a little thinner.







The 6.5X55, is one of the more elaborate rifles I own. It was engraved by Terry Wallace. Terry passed away last year, and I'm glad I have a few rifles that carry his work.







Duane Wiebe did the all the metal work and stock work on these rifles. He also did all the trim work on the 7X57. All of these rifles have seen pretty serious use. I've been lucky enough to take several head of game with each.

Enjoy taking a look.

Very nice looking stalking rifles. You have done well by Duane. He really putts a rifle together. Great to look at, slim and trim to hold, and flawless functioning. What more could a person want in a rifle?

ForrestB

Those are very fine looking rifles

Cheers
/JOHAN

Outstanding workmanship and I really like the English style stocks, those are to my mind what a gun should look like...Nice damn wood, and perfectly laid out, that is stockwood..

Forrest, outstanding as usual....

Once again, words like "outstanding" and "exellent" fall short.

Thanks for the pictures.

Forrest,
You are KILLING me... These pictures are amazing, but nothing like how fantastic they are in person. The 280 is my favorite, d'cord, (looking at my paws) I wonder why?

Works of art like this, especially with you sharing in our show and tell here the other day, makes me realize how far masters are away from my current skill level... and to fix on ONE item, figure it out, then the next

Man, thanks for sharing
jeffe

Perfection, if it is possible. My favorite is the one on top. Who are the artists?

Forrest,
Feel free to bring all them with you this fall. Chic and I will take good care of them when you get lost and dont make it back to camp.

Those rifles are perfection of the custom gun.

Forrest

That 7X57 is also my favorite. My wife liked it also but I think she was almost as taken with the nice whitetail you had a picture of it with a short time ago. She wonders if you would give more info on the deer? Weight and inside spread.

On another note, did Duane get his new knees yet?

Many thanks for posting such nice rifles and also proof that they do get used.

Forrest,

As usual...your rifle collection is just fantastic and gets better all the time...!

Please stop posting now. It's alot for me to deal with. Some sort of rifle envy...that and I gotta make a career change big time!!!

It looks like you have got your bases covered from 6.5x55 to .416 Rigby...so where are you going next?

Regards,
Dave

beautiful all three.

Forrest

I think that these three rifles absolutely answer the question that WaffenfabrikHein (Karl Webber)had in his poll here on AR a week ago.
He wanted to know what kind of mauser action to manufacture. Seeing these three g.33/40s with the 3 position safeties, good bottom metal, fantastic bolt handles, etc. and the two 1935 Chileans you showed a few days ago with all of their beautiful work, should leave little doubt in any wanna be manufacturers mind as to what people want in an action to build a nice gun on.

Congratulations on using your prosperity to have people create such beautiful pieces of functional art.

Absolutely first rate stuff. Great metal and woodwork. I really like the 6.5 x 55.

Harris

Fantastic rifles for sure !!

Simply exquisite, my favorite actions, great calibers, beautiful workmanship.

All are fabulous, but that 7X57 is exquisite!

Mmmm Mmmmm Mmmmmm......

Forrest, that 7X57 is one of the all time best looking custom rifles I have ever seen. The others in those photos are close to it. Fantastic.

When I first saw them,my first thought was, MUSEUM!!

The 6.5X55 started out as a 257 Roberts, but it was star-crossed from the very beginning. We could not get that barrel to shoot well. Duane and I must have shipped it back and forth at least four times. He worked on the bolt and bedding, he recrowned it, then he cut it off an inch and recrowned it. He accused me of flinching and bad reloads. We just could not get it to shoot better than 1-1/2" at 100.

Finally, I had enough and said to rebarrel it. We went with a 6.5 instead of a 257 for the second barrel. It was immediately a tack-driver. I shot it quite a bit to satisfy myself before I sent the new barrel to Terry Wallace to have it engraved to match the first barrel. That first 257 barrel is the only Krieger barrel I've had that I could not get to shoot well.

Idared, Duane has not been able to have his knees worked on. His wife, Janice, had emphysema and was very ill for the last year and a half. Duane was taking care of her and couldn't make time to take care of his own knees. Janice passed away a few months ago, but since then he's been trying to catch up on his work that was put on the back burner for over a year. He's planning to have his knee surgury this winter.

WHo did the barrel on the 7x57?

ForrestB,

My thanks again to you for posting pictures of your fantastic custom rifles. As I stated this is the best part of the web for me. Your taste, resources and working with extreme talent are envied.

I have a question about the scope mounts which in general. I find them to be quite high. For instance if a mount base is narrow, then the ring's "clamp" must rise up as its over the center of the action. If a mount base is wide such as the Weaver design then the rings "clamp" can reach over the sides of the action and be lower. This lower base then allows the irons to be viewed also.



Examples of an integral base and ring are the Brno 21/22 series from the 1950's.



Take the above observations as green with envy musing. Any of those rifles are finer than what I have.

Pardon my ignorance, but did anybody mention the type of stock wood used?? Something in the pictures tells me "English/French", but I have never run into this colour before. What gives??
- mike

ForrestB - Exceptional as always. I am almost as impressed with your photography as with your guns! I hope you will someday give the rest of us some tips. Oh...back to the guns. The 7x57 is my favorite, maybe my all-time favorite. It is even better "in person". Thanks for sharing.

Marc, Duane did the barrel, as well as the other metalwork on these rifles. He does very nice integral barrel work.

Savage 99, the mounts look a little higher in the pics than they really are. They are though, higher than on the rifle you posted. These mounts are as low as they can go and still have the bolt handle clear the scope. The spoon bolt handles, like on your rifle, are quite a bit thinner and allow a lower scope mount as well. The open sights are usable on both rifles that have them. The 7X57 has a removeable peep sight that is stored in a slot under the trap-door buttplate.

mho, the 7X57 and 6.5X55 are stocked in California English, and the 280 is stocked in Turkish.

I had to come back and have another look.
That 7x57 has everything anyone could want in a rifle. The wood grain through the hand is laid out wonderfuly well.
Just exercising my curiosity,
How heavy is it, and how long is the barrel?
I would love a rifle like that.
Cheers.

Large color detailed posters of each of your rifles would be cool for my reloading room.

I bet they would sell.

Nice photography and nice rifles.

Forrest

I am very sorry to hear of Duane's loss of his wife. Often it seems when it "rains it pours", and it would seem Duane is having to survive a flood at the present. Hopefully things will improve for him and he will be able to get those knees taken care of this winter. I could hardly believe how good it felt when I had mine replaced a few years ago.

Splendid, superb rifles.

Forrest, you know in Texas we don’t care about steel butt-plates.

Take care and good hunting.
Roland

Forrest...this really is too much...I sit here with a G33/40 after a 25 year off and on search and now you post these...I don't think I can ever make another 25...and it might just take that long to 1) decide on caliber, although 7 X 57 is at the head of the class and 2) to save enough money on a middle school teacher's salary...but eye candy certainly helps see what can be at the end of the dark tunnel...thank you, I certainly applaud your collection!!! How do you type this in "envy green"??? Arthur Olds

Let me ask what might be an ignorant question.

Why would a rifle like these made instead with a modern Model 70 action be any less desirable.

Assume that no expense was spared in gunsmithing to make the action perfect, as I suspect was done on these Mausers.

quote:

Originally posted by HP Shooter:
Let me ask what might be an ignorant question.

Why would a rifle like these made instead with a modern Model 70 action be any less desirable.

Assume that no expense was spared in gunsmithing to make the action perfect, as I suspect was done on these Mausers.

It wouldn't be any less desirable. Just different, like the old Chevy vs Ford debate. For those of us that really like Mausers it's nice to see some of the finest made. Forrest certainly knows what it takes to get the job done and Duane is one of the tops in his trade. I've aquired most of the part and pieces, now I'm saving my nickels and dimes. One day I hope to have one as nice as any that have been shown in the past few weeks.

Thanks Forrest, It's been a real treat looking at some of the most beautiful rifles I've ever seen. Duane Wiebe is a master craftsman and a true artist.

Terry

quote:

Originally posted by TC1:

quote:

Originally posted by HP Shooter:
Let me ask what might be an ignorant question.

Why would a rifle like these made instead with a modern Model 70 action be any less desirable.

Assume that no expense was spared in gunsmithing to make the action perfect, as I suspect was done on these Mausers.

It wouldn't be any less desirable. Just different, like the old Chevy vs Ford debate. For those of us that really like Mausers it's nice to see some of the finest made. Forrest certainly knows what it takes to get the job done and Duane is one of the tops in his trade. I've aquired most of the part and pieces, now I'm saving my nickels and dimes. One day I hope to have one as nice as any that have been shown in the past few weeks.

Thanks Forrest, It's been a real treat looking at some of the most beautiful rifles I've ever seen. Duane Wiebe is a master craftsman and a true artist.

Terry

Got it. Thanks.

I've never had anything built on a modern Model 70, but I've had some rifles built on pre-war Model 70 actions. My experience has been that a Model 70 is a little more accurate than a Mauser, all things being equal. It takes less work to make a Model 70 into a handsome custom rifle. In some ways, what is so interesting about a Mauser is that a great metalsmith can really show off all his talents on a Mauser. Of course, much of the work done on either action remains hidden from view.

Next week, I'll try to post pictures of some custom Model 70's. You can make up your own mind as to which you find more desireable. I like them both.

I know it's a purely emotional response, but when I see a beautiful custom rifle on a Model 70 action, it's a turn-off to see the serial number start with a "G". It's like seeing a tattoo on a beautiful girl.

quote:

I know it's a purely emotional response, but when I see a beautiful custom rifle on a Model 70 action, it's a turn-off to see the serial number start with a "G". It's like seeing a tattoo on a beautiful girl.

Boy isn't that the truth, about the girl...

Very nice rifles.

Forrest,

Okay, so for how many years has Duane Wiebe been your personal armorer?

These rifles are far, far beyond excellent. And when combined with the others whose pictures you've so kindly shared with us mere mortals must have occupied many thousands of hours of Mr. Wiebe's valuable time.

I love them. They are true masterworks. Anyone who, in the face of such creations, says that a master gunsmith is not an artist, is the worst and most detestable kind of Philistine!

May you and your many descendents shoot them with great pleasure.

quote:

Originally posted by ForrestB:
I know it's a purely emotional response, but when I see a beautiful custom rifle on a Model 70 action, it's a turn-off to see the serial number start with a "G". It's like seeing a tattoo on a beautiful girl.

I'm assuming that a G prefix signifies post 64, or a modern M70 Classic?

If the quality is there, I wouldn't mind when the rifle was made. And since we're talking about customs, it has to be assumed that the action now works flawlessly.

In any event, thanks for indulging my slightly off topic question. I don't want to hijack your thread.

Fine rifles, BTW.

I'd give my left nut for a stock pattern similar to that 7x57... Stunning lines.

I doubt I could do it justice but I'd certainly take my best shot...

Count me among the humbled. I really like the way Duane does the wood beneath the bolt releases and near the bolt handles, it has a simple elegance about it that gives a very professional appearance.

Amazing collection.

One more thing about those rifles. Duane makes most of his stocks "from the blank". Mindboggling!