Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Jack's Rifle

RinB: Thanks for that anectdote.Must have been great to meet him.O'Connor had a profound influence on so many shooters and hunters.Doubt we'll see his likes again.Many younger shooters and hunters today would be well advised to pick up his writings,and read them.

Tom:Thanks to you and the poster for sharing those pics.

Look at those rifles!They have likely seen some hard use all over the world,and yet could be refinished and look good as new...but I like them better just the way they are

The pics are great, thanks for putting them up!

Bob I agree about the rifles, they should never be re-finished or altered in any way.

MagMarc: Where's the things you turn to zoom the scope power?

I can't see any....(?)

great post rinb. thanks

RinB - wow, that must have been some trip. Jack O'Connor was a bit before my time, but I am a big fan. I can't imagine being able to see some of the animals & rifles that appear so often in my favorite hunting books/articles.

Lou

RinB,

Jack's house was on Prospect Street. I was by there not too long ago for another look. It's still much the same as it was when Jack & Eleanor lived there, at least on the outside. The awnings on the front windows are gone, but not much difference otherwise.

I'm sure the folks that live there these days tire of the traffic in front of their home, gawking and taking photos of the place. Then, after all these years, perhaps it is only old guys like me that still do that.

Tom

There's not any, somebody must of taken them for a souvenir! Imagine a hunter the caliber of O'Connor "getting by" with a fixed scope!

I used to love the pics of Eleanor (with some defunct creature she had just adroitly plugged), and the Russ Leonard Mauser;looking annoyed that someone made her get up too early.....hair wrapped in a kerchief,sunglasses,and a smoke,looking like a cross between a WW II female espionage agent,a frazzled suburban house Mom, and a Bowery rag lady......seeming completely indifferent to the hype surrounding the whole event.

She was refreshing compared to the camo-clad female hunters we see on TV today,clean as Swarovski crystal,and looking like they just got a coiffure in Copley Square,Boston(not that there's a thing wrong with Tiffany!)

Eleanor always looked like she'd been hunting ;no wonder Jack called her the "Storm and Strife"....you hadda luv her!

RinB.

I made a slight error. Jack's house was on Prospect Avenue, not street. I'll try to post a recent photo of it. Don't hold your breath though as I've not been very successful at posting photos.

Tom

All,

Glory be, except for hiccuping and posting the photo twice, I finally got one to post. Thanks to all you guys that attempted to tutor me through the process. Turns out, its so simple that I feel even stupider than I did before.

TT

The rifle, at least at that time, was owned by a gentleman in Ontario. He has had several of his customs featured in the custom gun section of Gun Digest.

He offered the rifle to me for $9000 Canadian bucks. Who knows...it may have been worth it as an investment. It certainly was well beyond my means, or what I would have paid for it anyhow.

RickF, I think the guy from Ontario was Alex Schemik (I'm sure the name is misspelled). I know that he bought a few of Jack's guns from Jack. I can recall seeing a ad in Shotgun News I believe, offering some of Jack's rifles for sale at pretty high prices. At least they seemed high to me at the time.

Tom

t2,
Right re Prospect. Was it #725 or #735? It was a long time ago. I clearly remember the sheep heads and all those Biesen rifles. And, the J&B bottles.

Tom, that's him. He bought a nice 1949 270 standard rifle from me, he was sending it to Biesen to have an "O'Connor facsimile" made. Seemed like a nice guy. As I recall it was Schimek or Shimek, probably the first.

The Mauser .416 Rigby was pictured in an old Gun Digest and the owner was named as the "Alex" gentleman. I believe some of Jack's rifles were pictured in the Double Gun Journal in an article written by a guy named Buckner.

The first copy of an O'Connor rifle being built and sold for fundraising was done by the Idaho FNAWS chapter.

Jack's #2 .270 (his pet, pictured earlier in this series) is at the JO'C Center in Lewiston, Bradford still owns it. A couple years ago, Brad used it successfully on an antelope hunt in Colorado . It now wears a modern Leupold 4x (the old scope broke, Leupold replaced it).

I am Jack's little boy and I just happen to own his legendary Biesen .270. I would be happy to provide a picture or two of the rifle for this forum if someone would e-mail me at brad70270aol.com to tell how to attach or embed pictures. If you want to see the rifle in the flesh, it is on permanent display at the Jack O'Connor Center in Lewiston, ID.

Mr. O'Connor, it's good to see you on here again.

Sir, any word yet on the commemorative "Jack" rifle that Winchester is planning on releasing? Thanks for your time.

Also, any word yet on whether the stock will be a faithful copy of your dad's (your) rifle?

Brad,

Welcome to the fire. If you'd like, e-mail the photos to me and I'll post them for you. It took me forever to learn how to do it, although it is a very simple procedure.

Again, welcome aboard.

Tom Turpin

Hi Tom: Good to hear from you and, yes, I'd appreciate your help in attaching or embedding pictures, so please e-mail me at brad70270aol.com.

No recent word on the JOC commemorative M70, but I guess good things will happen if we all are patient.

bradford o'connor