Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 30-06 inherent accuracy

It was made in 2014 for Tom McIntyre, the well-known hunting writer. He died suddenly a couple months ago, and when I called his wife Elaine the next day (as soon as I heard) she said people were already calling, and even stopping by, to try to buy his guns. She also suspected--with good reason--that they were offering less money than the guns were worth.

I'd known known Tom and Elaine a LONG time, so I volunteered to drive to Sheridan and help sort things out--which would get the "vultures" off her back. Spent two days there sorting through everything, which was helped considerably by their son Bryan, who drove up from his home in Colorado.

Among the other firearms, there were three Ultra Lights. One was a .30-06, which Tom bought used in the mid 1990s, and first hunted with during a mule deer hunt with me in the Missouri Breaks in 1996. Another was a .243 WSSM, which Melvin built on a shortened Model 28 action, and had been shot some. (Eileen bought it.) The third was the 6.5-.284, which apparently Tom never had time to use much. (He was a rifle loony, but not like most of the rest of us.)

I called Melvin, and he remembered making the rifle, but neither he nor I remembered Tom ever writing about it. It looked unfired, both with my Hawkeye bore-scope and otherwise. So I bought it, but also haven't had time (or weather) to shoot the rifle, though did buy dies and brass, and mounted one of the 3-dozen scopes he had on hand, which I also purchased.