Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Purpose of a full-length "Mannlicher" forend? Disadvantages?

Steve--

Will try to make it there, but if not will see you at the show sometime Friday afternoon or maybe Saturday morning.

John

Rem 7 MS 350 mag shoots 1" - 1 1/2" with 225 partitions never changed poi from year to year. Almost to purdy to take in the woods

Oh, stop !! Please STOP !!! I've been day dreaming about a Ruger MkII with an MPI kevlar mannicher stock in .... .308. You guys don't make it any easier to resist.
Some of you sure own some "droolingly beautiful" rifles. E

I love the lines on that rifle!!!!!

Don

I like the looks of the original Mannlichers, but don't care for the look except on a carbine length barrel.

What I don't understand is the explanation that the wood is there to protect the metal.....like, the metal is a lot harder than the wood, so what's up with that? I understand that in a military rifle you're protecting the operators hand from a hot barrel, but that shouldn't be an issue in a sporting carbine.

Steve, just my S.W.A.G. but the old M-S carbines were used a lot in the Austrian Alps for hunting. I'd guess that since wood will first crunch,then crush, it would protect the barrel from being bent in case the rifle went down the mountain the hard way. Sorta like how a crash helmet protects your head in a mc accident.

My love for these rifles is purely esthetics, all the way.
They look very continental, and if done right, have good lines.
I dwell in their good looks.
Other than that, they have nothing going for them w/r to accuracy. Shorts stocks win the accuracy battle every time.

Don

"Bob, Rifle loonies are rifle loonies but those of us who carry rifles daily or use them in their line of work often develop more pragmatic leanings"

I can appreciate that!

Funny how times change, I remember when I thought full length stocked rifles were ugly and would not own one. Now, after looking at that walnut/stainless ruger (and others), I have got to have one. I hope I dont cross tracks with one, that could get expensive.

Hee's a small ring Mauser in 7x57 built by Maurice Ottmar in the '90's. Never been drilled and tapped, 6 1/2 pounds.


Look forward to seeing you John.

...and a .250-300Imp. by Stephem Heilmann on a small ring Granite Mt. action.

SDH,

Those two rifles are beyond beautiful....
They're magnificent.

Thanks for posting the pix..

Don

SDH,

WoW, they are beautiful!

Do you ever run into Bruce Delorey or John Brockway in Livingston?

SDH,

Amazing rifles you got there. Very nice.

SDH

Thanks for posting that picture of the rifle Maurice did. I never tire of seeing his work and the variety of it he was able to do. He is surely missed.

SDH,
Wow! Those are beautiful to say the least. Thx for sharing and keep them coming!
I've always had a thing for the full stocked rifle and was very excited to aquire my older Sako carbine. Done right, they are elegant and useful tools. BT

I'm glad you guys like the pix, be sure that I don't own these rifle, have been privilidged to photograph them. Each is a singular piece, and a useful one at that.
Notice the "swamp" of concave profile in the forend, a very desirable feature. The Heilmann more so, but it has a bit longer barrel and Steve's own trap grip cap which is more rounded and less oval that most. It also has an integral front sight base and forend cap, absolutely "bench made".
The Ottmar rifle is one of my all-time favorites. Just holding it makes one imagine a running boar target, or that one could actually shoot running game which I am wont to do. Each of these rifles is exquisitely detailed and finely finished from butt to muzzle. The Ottmar has skeleton grip cap and buttplate in German silver(which I wouldn't have liked except for having seen this one) and a very sweetly shaped ebony schnable forend tip. And both have perfect quarter-sawn grain throught the forend which is the corrrect grain for any rifle but even more so for a full-stock.
The Ottmar rifle has limited, but tasty engraving by Rodger Kerr and the Heilmann zilch, except for maker's name and caliber.
The Heilmann rifle is supurbly accuate, according to the owner.
Heilmann close-up.

Ottmar close-up.

The architecture of the Heilmann is sleek, sharp and almost diminuative while the Ottmar is a bit fuller, rounded almost robust (although it weighs a quarter pound less).
They are each wonderful examples of delightful "using" rifles. Truly something to aspire to.

Do you give classes in firearm photography <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />? Those are magnificent firearms, but the photography is also exquisite.

Amen...I need a cigarette!

Jeff

I'm going to do a couple of columns on "what I know about firearms photography" in upcoming issues of Shooting Sportsman magazine. They will be as in-depth as I can possibly make them.
It's a bit late, but the Firearms Engravers & Gunmakers Exhibition in Reno next weekend is the absolutely best place to see this kind of work. If you can't be there this year, do think about it for the future. I'll be showing and detailing this caliber of work in the "Custom Shop" column in Sports Afield (on the news-stand now)
Another pic of the Ottmar rifle.

I might also add that the late Maurice Ottmar was one of the finest fellows I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, and Steve Heilmann merits the same catagory. Each of them has created some of the most unique, sophisticated and useful high-end custom rifles I have ever have the pleasure of experiencing.
I'm off to the show tomorrow!

So then:
The "Purpose of a full-length "Mannlicher" forend" is now clear. It is ART.
Smitty of the North