Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What do the gun writers think of this rifle - EABCO 97D?

I had a Model 97 24" in 30-40 Krag and it shot very well. My rifle had about a 12 ounce trigger and was not suitable for me at least, to use hunting as if you put your index finger in the trigger guard you had to be real careful not brush the trigger. Being a fat fingered guy this was a problem for me. A two to three lb. trigger would have been preferable and I should have specified that upon ordering. That was my fault.

Being left handed the ambidextrous stock left a little to be desired as there was a long piece of the stock that was in a square where normally a pistol grip would have been. It was kind of clumsy for me. The metal block that joined the square part of the stock to the pistol action of the falling block was finished nice but the metal parts didn't line up all that well and a noticeable ridge existed between the two on one side.

On my rifle I had to outside neck turn every case as the chamber was extra tight. Mine shot well(MOA) with 125 and 150 grain ballistic tips. The barrel was finished nice as was the action and the internal trigger group parts. I just was not comfortable with that set up. A right handed person would probably fare better.

I would have kept mine if it would have been more hunter friendly. I would be a better buyer if I purchased the second time around. At that time EABCO was located in Alexandria MN.and that was about 10 years past. I'm sure progress has been made since that time.

Personally for me I like the mechanics and the stock fit of the non monte synthetic handi rifle better than all the other rifles I've had. They fit me right and several of my 30-30 Topper barreled rifles and a 30-06 Handi have been accurate as any off the rack standard bolt gun I've shot. Of course I'm getting to the point where I just want to shoot my rifles and hunt with them more instead of tinkering with them. Hope this helps as not a lot of others I have found owned these rifles.