After posting a picture of my rifle on the ebony-forend thread, I had several people ask for additional pictures and information. Be patient, as the pictures take a while to load.



The rifle was built for me by Duane Wiebe, who is a pleasure to work with on a project, and engraved by Charles Lee. I am lucky enough to live 15 minutes from Duane's shop, and 30 minutes from Charles', so I was able to watch each step of the rifle coming together. I have also had the pleasure of becoming friends with both of these gentlemen as a result of this project. The stock is Bastogne Walnut, checkered at 24 LPI at my request. The rifle with scope weights just over seven pounds, which is ideal to me.



The barreled action is an Armour International, which is identical to the Legacy, only made in Belgium. The action came with the 22" barrel in 7x64. I was originally going to rebarrel to .280 Remington, but decided to stay with the original barrel after shooting it. The rifle will shoot five of the seven loads I have tried into sub M.O.A. groups, and the two best loads so far into sub .75 M.O.A. groups, with bullets from 116 grains to 173 grain. Further more, all seven loads shoot within 2 inches of the same point of impact at 100 yards. As I intend to shoot this rifle a lot, I expect that in a few years, it will get the new barrel. As you can see, Duane recontoured the receiver and machined in integral bases to take Warne rings. He also changed the bolt handle.



The buttstock and checkpiece are Duane's typical (if anything Duane does is "typical")style, and the length, drop, cast, etc. are made to my dimensions. The rifle comes up like a fine shotgun; point and shoot.



The action and furniture were engraved by Charles Lee. Charles was an engraver for Purdy until he moved here to the States. His specialty is fine scroll, all of which he does with a push type graver.



Finally, the forend tip is an ebony schnabel. I know it is not original, but I had not seen it done before I had this rifle built. As you can see, the result is rather pleasing.

Congratulation,
Nice rifle.

Loudnboomer:

That is a gorgeous rifle. May I ask from whom you obtained the wood. I'd love to find a piece just like it.

Thanks,

Jordan

Thanks for posting this Dave! The rifle looks even better when you see the details. I *REALLY* like the lines of the rifle (slim foreend, very open pistol grip, elegance) and the Schnabel foreend is nothing less than stunning!

Question (if you or someone else can find the time): I have never had a stock tailormade made for me. What goes into the process of determining the right drop and cast-off (I believe it is called)?? LOP I'm familiar with, but the other dimensions one mostly worries about when building shotguns... For shotguns, I believe one uses a "try-gun" (is this the correct term - a gun with adjustable LOP, drop and cast-off, anyway), and thus establish what fits/makes hits happen. What does one do to determine these dimensions for a rifle? E.g. the height of the sights (scope) may not be fixed at the outset of the project...

Super that you left the rifle in 7x64 - a little used cartridge in the US, but the ".30-06" of Central Europe.

- mike

[ 02-14-2003, 18:26: Message edited by: mho ]

Absolutely gorgeous.
Doug

What a beautiful work!