Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Pre-64 help please

Seeing as how a scope could hardly have been mounted and iron sights seem non existent, either the "Whacker" had supernatural powers of sending the bullet exactly where you wanted it to go, or that bore is nearly pristine. I'm betting on the latter. Cerrosafe is your best friend here. If you can figure out what in the hell the "Whacker" is, you can get dies made and load for it, or possibly set the barrel back a turn and re-chamber to something SOMEBODY has at least heard of.

Although looking at it again, I see setting it back a turn is going to mess with some really nicely done inletting around the chamber area . . . .

Maybe it will turn out the "Whacker" is the stroke of genius we have all been waiting for. Wait . . . Whacker? . . . . somebody call Ted Nugent!

Gundoc..it's my understanding Stith made mounts for these that only utilized the front action holes. I also agree a good stock man could tone down the cheekpiece a bit while leaving the rest in tact. I just might end up shootin some cerrosafe down to see what gives

It's Wacker!

If I am not mistaken the Stith used the front bridge and the rear sight slot for their mounts.

Have a chamber cast made,then compare to known wildcats.

I'd leave the stock alone,it has "panache."

Actually, it's WACKER IMP, but you're right, it isn't "Whacker." Do you think it is someone's name, as opposed to something used to "whack" something?

It's a Magnum bolt face, that's for sure. Definitively an intriguing rifle.

There is a Reed Wacker 501 Wildcat load data listed on the net that I saw earlier. To hard to chase down for me.

Since the barrel is an Apex, chances are the stock was done by them, as well. Stockmaker Monty Kennedy worked for Apex at one time; the stock is definitely in the Kennedy style, but I doubt that he did this one.

Have you pulled the barreled action? The stockmaker's name might be stamped in the inletting.

Prime Beef,

Just curious, if Kennedy worked for Apex and the stock is in the Kennedy style, why do you doubt he made the stock?

PB..thanks for that info. I will pull the action after work today and see what's there if anything

The original Apex Rifle Company was around for a long time, but Monty Kennedy only worked for them for a few years when they first started. The Kennedy stock style was a fairly popular one 40-50 years ago, and there were several outfits that sold pre-inletted blanks in that style, so it could be anybody's work.

It's a nice rifle, and the stock is a beautiful piece of wood, but to be perfectly candid, the level of detail (inletting, checkering, etc.) does not appear to be commensurate with the Kennedy stocks I've personally handled, or seen in pictures.

Prime.. I appreciate your honest insight on the topic. Feel free to chip in whatever you'd like..
I pulled the action and find no obvious initials or marks other than "264" in the barrel channel.

Here's a pic of the fore end and checkering that carries out

Another question. Does the bolt have the Serial Number Vibro etched on it?

Yes sir it has the matching # etched

Did some looking into the Apex barrel last night. I honestly don't believe it's had a round through it..soaked it with wipe-out and let it sit a while and this is how the patches came out.
Checked with a cleaning rod and the twist is somewhere between 8 and 9 erring closer to 8 after a few follow ups.
Read a little about Apex and it seems at one point they might have used gain twist rifling in some of their barrels but this one appears to be constant.
Still not sure about the wacker chambering but was able to fully chamber and eject a piece of .264wm brass

Sounds like a winner. Looks like a very nice rifle.

That is a ridiculously clean barrel... if it was shot it probably wasn't much.

I wouldn't expect it to have too many rounds through it either. No way to appropriately attach a scope and no iron sights... Good hip shooter though...

My best advice:
1. Drill and tap that sob: It's not a collectors piece. 2. Cerrosafe the chamber, so you know what you are dealing with.
3. Don't just go and load a 264w cartridge in it and fire away. 4. If you can stand the stock configuration, keep it the way it is. It's not what I'd consider a good hunting style stock. More for shooting off the bench, if even that.... It really looks like an unfinished project to me, you can make it better. Trust me...