Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats My latest project-mini mauser

I bought a Zestava barreled action in 7.62X39. I pulled the barrel and chambered it in 270X39AI,Basically a 270PPC. This was about 15yrs ago. It was a wonderful, accurate young person's deer rifle. I sold it and traded back for it 4 years ago. This time it has a #1 CM barrel by Shilen in 14twist. It was chambered in 220 Russian by Mike Bryant. I couldn't cut the metric threads on my lathe. James Anderson supplied the custom bottom metal. Karl Feldkamp did the G33/40 cut on the LH side of the receiver. Kerry Stottlemyer did the 3 pos safety, reworked the tang, made and installed the bolt handle, and made the scope bases and rings.

This time I will use one of the good, honest ACGG stockmakers and not the guy on this forum that made off with my custom 40X barreled action, wood, and money.

Very very nice Butch. It almost looks like that bolt handle hasn't been welded on yet (bolt is steel color and the stub is still blued).

Its a damn shame that some folks are still taking in work and ripping people off!!!!!!

Who are you leaning towards for the stock?

K

Very very nice Butch. It almost looks like that bolt handle hasn't been welded on yet (bolt is steel color and the stub is still blued).

Its a damn shame that some folks are still taking in work and ripping people off!!!!!!

Who are you leaning towards for the stock? I suppose you have a nice stick of walnut from Mr. Vardy stashed away for this one.

K

Very nice. What length wlll the barrel be and will it receive sights? The G44/40 cut looks really slick. Mr. Wisner did that cut to my 7x57 Swede he built. That bolt handle is perfection as well. It would sure make into a nice Mannlicher too.

The barrel is 21". You would have to see the bolt handle up close to appreciate the job Kerry did on it.

Very nice indeed. Mousers do make some of the prettiest customs, all the angles, curves and lines you don't get in a Remington. Ya going to get it blued? I always liked the look of case hardened action with a dark black blued barrel, in English walnut, just wish I had the brass to do it.

Glenn, All my buddies in Alaska seem to be flush! It will get a good rust blue. No iron sights on this one.

She is gonna be pretty! Open sights are over rated, well except on anything over 308. I'm not sure I would be willing to carry a nice blued rifle up here, a beater 30/30 yes, but a custom wood, blued? No way! Though a lot of guys do. I don't know who is gonna do your stock work, but make sure they seal that wood before applying oil, under the pad also. I only have one "nice" rifle, and she only hunts Texas, the rest are synthetic(yucky but necessary), or laminate(not so yucky). Have you picked your wood out yet?

No I haven't picked my wood yet. I will get with Roger Vardy on my wood I just can't go wrong with him and my stockmakers like the way his wood works. I like irons on my larger bore rifles, 6.5 and larger. I'm not confident in my eyes for shots over 75yds with iron sights.

There is a lot to say about peeps, love em. Just wish someone made a good scope mount with a ridged mounted peep. Or one that works like the flip up AR sights. Pretty fond of an ivory bead. As to wood I have ordered from Old Tree Gun Blanks and Paul and Sharron Drissel. Thought I would try my hand at inletting a stock and butchered a so-so piece of English. Got a manlichler black walnut from Drissel my uncle is gonna build me a .62 cal jeager flintlock. They both have a good selection you can look over, so you don't have to pick A,AA,AAA. But check both sides of the blank on Old tree, he shows the nicest side first.

Butch,

Nice pic on the 220 Russian.
Be sure to put up pictures when finished.


dave

It will probably be at least a year. I need wood, money, and the stock maker's time.

Nice "bones" on the shorty Mauser for sure. Good luck in finding a stick of walnut worthy of it. Sorry you got ripped.

Who made the bottom metal? Looks like a Duane Weibe sort of.

It is a James Anderson product.

It looks great Butch. It's well on it's way.

Terry

Thanks. Missed it.

As is your habit, pure class there butch. I love it.

Butch, why the thumb slot cut? you going to use stripper clips, or just like the look, and I guess you save a couple of ounces?

Steve, It is all about the look and perception. I like the look of the G33/40. It really does not save that much weight. My real light one will be started next year with my titanium receiver and balsa wood stock. Looking into a very very light barrel contour with an aluminum clad outer barrel. I do not like carbon fiber wrapped barrel!

What a great looking little rifle that is going to make! I am always in awe of your sense of styling.

Not to hijack the thread but have you had in luck in getting your 40X and wood returned? I certainly hope so.

drover

James Linthicum has not returned my 40X. The KC office of the BATF is going to handle the case.

If they do request it from me, the closest you will ever come to seeing it again is the evidence table in your Federal Felony trail for illegally shipping a rifle across state lines.

Butch - My aplogies I did not realize that the question was going to stir up this up again, I was hoping that it had been peacefully resolved.

drover

Go away, the adults and honest folks here are talking.

Butch, looks like the start of a nice project.

I will work with an honest,professional stockmaker on this project. The ones that have done multiple stocks for me are Jim Kobe, David Christman, and James Anderson. They are all ACGG members and do great work and are available when you need to visit with them.

Jim's time is coming. I guess that I am the bad guy. He has my custom barreled action, wood blank, and cashed my checks.
I'm confused, for what reason do you have for not returning my rifle, blank, and money? You have all of it.

It could be due to the material breeches of contract you been committing for the last 4-5 months on this very forum?

Things like-

Interference of contract
Interference of business
Exorting performance on a contract
Slander
Libel
Negligence.

The ATF is NOT an extortion mechanism for collecting collateral persuant to the completion of Civil contracts in breech, Butch.
Maybe your big badass Texas Tech educated Attorney son can clue you in on that fact. He sure as hell has done a bad job so far. You don't seem to know schit about civil or contract law.Or criminal law for that matter.

That's what civil courts are for. And 9/10s of the items you have listed above the ATF has NO legal jurisdiction to claim title to in ANY case. Despite what your arrogant fat ass thinks,I have civil and contractual rights as well.

All you have done for the last 4 months is WHINE to law enforcement falsely claiming you properly has been stolen all the while breeching your agreements with me and depriving me of my rights in the matter.

You have it wrong FATMAN- YOUR day is coming.

And as far as your pimping of Jim Kobe here on this forum to ingratiate yourself with him?

That is FUNNY stuff considering The only reason why you sent me your m37 Rem stock to refinish last year is that by your own admission Kobe had [bleep] you over so badly with regards to refinishing the metalwork that you did not trust him to send the stock.

And BTW that is NOT to cast dispersion on Kobe.I have no beef with him. But YOUR pompous ass pontificating on who is "honest" is FUNNY considering you knowingly violate Federal Gun laws.

Try to justify it anyway you want Jim, until you return the man's property you're just a common thief.

Terry

You're reaching aren't you Jimbo? Wolves are getting close to your a$$ and you are losing it. You have my stuff and cashed my checks. I guess that I am the bad guy? Send me my money and my stock and barreled action. Easy to fix. You may have buffaloed a few folks with your BS, but not me.

TELL me Butch?

What Money DO I owe you? Your stock is finished- fat boy.

You are not getting a dime. And until you remove the lies you've posted about me here- no stock either just pictures. Go [bleep] yourself. Get your badassed son to sue me for it.

Also, you claim in your recent PMs to have provided to the ATF proof that you have knowingly and willfully shipped a firearm across state lines to an unlicensed address. Yet NOW are demanding that I send the evidence of same back to you?

Are you Eric Holder's brother in law?

Not happening fat boy...

If you want to your name cleared then do what's right and return the man's gun.

THAT'S HOW IT WORKS.

Here's the reality - there is a laundry list of people on the net warning against sending you anything to work on. It's NOT the rest of the world that's [bleep] up.

If I got evicted from my pad because I couldn't pay the bills, I'd damn sure be kissing @sses until they were white as a soda cracker to make things right to keep work coming in the door. But you obviously don't live in the real world.

Sounds like someone that I would never deal with.
And tell everyone I know the same.


dave

Sad to see this emotion vs resolution, wasted energy instead of returning a man's property.

Life is short, sure both simply want to move forward.

Thanks for posting pics Butch - looks nice, and good luck sir w/your 40x.

I too don't understand what is to be gained from Keeping another person's property if performance has been completed on both sides of the contract.

If there are other issues they should be sued out separately.

And to continue calling another person names such as fatman are clearly an attempt to divert attention away from the real issues. The issue in this case is not how fat Butch is. Rather, its whether he has paid for the work completed. If he has not, he should. If he has, he should get his property back.

Disgusting...It is a shame that someone in business would act in such a way. People often have differences of opinion or expectations for contracted work. In my mind, to hold another mans property (I for one feel almost as passionately about a few of my rifles as I do my wife) hostage is inexcusable. The honorable thing would be to return the barreled action and stock. Next, I would think, both parties should agree to disagree beyond that and simply not do business anymore. More gained in that than airing dirty laundry in a forum such as this...My unsolicited 2 cents

Interesting paragraphs there Jim. What Federal Law is it that was broken by sending a firearm out to have work done to it and then returned to the person who shipped it? Please be specific. I'm not trying to take sides, just curious how it was illegal. Thanks. CB

Sorry Jim. I didn't realize until now that you aren't licensed to handle firearms, no FFL license. Correct? Was it legal for you to solicit and accept a firearm for work from an out of state owner without having an FFL license? Just trying to get my facts straight.

Custombolt, some things weren't done right but it's beside the point now and not the issue here. THERE IS A LEGAL WAY TO RETURN THE FIREARM TO IT'S RIGHTFUL OWNER. What it boils down to is Butch contracted the work and now Jim refuses to return the rifle. It's nothing more than an issue of theft at this point.

Butch has paid what he owes and wants his rifle back. Jim thinks his reputation has been slandered and for some reason thinks by keeping Butch's property he can clear his name. What he can't seem to understand is he's only making things worse for himself. At one time most just considered Jim a craftsman that was late on completing a project. Now most consider him a thief.

Terry

Wow Butch you said this joker checks in from time to time but that last load of horse crap he spewed took the cake.

Hey Jim62
No matter how you may feel about your "rights" as a contractee you can not hold a persons property hostage with out legal grounds.
Slander, defamation of character, or harassment have never been legal grounds to with hold services or property upon completion of said services.

While you may not be a thief that fact is you have committed theft or at least you are in illegal possession of another property and I'm not even talking about you lack of an FFL.
There is one other thing you need to think about. It was not illegal for butch to send you the rifle. It was illegal for you to receive it though. So how do you think is on the hook here anyway???

Thanks for the scoop TC1 and KL you make a good point or two as well. I searched Jim's name and saw instances where he bumped the price after he had other peoples property. I don't know the details of the email contract, so I can't opine on that without knowing whether or not any reference to additional cost was mentioned. So....., after the agreement something happened. Sounds like a bump in price after the orignal agreement there Jim? You got the floor brother. If you didn't do anything wrong I'd like to hear it. Does Butch owe you some money? Is that it? If so,,, if I payed what Butch owe's you would you ship all his stuff out within 24-48 hours? Could you do that? Tell me what your gripe is and I'd like to fix it. Don't forget the FFL fees. Then everybody's happy. I want to pay the bill. How much? CB

At the risk of sounding unprofessional and revealing my german heritage I don't want to pay the bill I want an Address. We can hash this out like men.

Kerry, You did a lot of nice work on the 40X. Did I fail to pay you or treat you in an unprofessional manner?
As far as his comments in regards to Jim Kobe, I told him at one time about 1 1/2yrs ago that Jim's bluing guy had a serious health issue. I said it will delay me getting the metal work back. I still have all the PMs. If Jim and I had any problems, why has he built a rifle for me that got delivered this summer? He is doing some stock work for me now.
Jimbo must be liking all this publicity.

Thanks Butch, I think that cleared that up.

Jim

I'll echo Butch's comments about Jim Kobe. He just finished working on a rifle of mine, and the work was superb. Jim worked quickly, at a reasonable and agreed-upon price.

Jim engraved "Jim Kobe -- Gunmaker" on the top of the barrel, and I'll not have any reason to remove his name from the rifle.

True. There's nuthin' better what you suggest as a real man wouldn't welch on a deal after being beat in front of a crowd. In my youth, real men would face off and then shake hands with respect at the end and even become friends in sme instances. It's a respect thing. But these days, kick someones arse who deserves it and you have the potential to (in the eyes of the law) be branded for life as a violent person or so the law seems to suggest anyway. Never "been there, done that" since the 70's. But no fool is worth the satisfaction these days IMHO. I'm not an attorney. But, you know.....make sense? So, how about those mini-mausers? CB

Butch
You've been one of my best customers. Very patient, and understanding of my day job and my over all life when it comes to getting projects done.

Not to mention Communication which I feel is the heart of the matter here.
We've all gone round on how good smiths go bad with failure to follow up or keep you in the loop. I'm guilty of it too. But I also don't BS a customer either.

It's actually pretty simple to keep people happy. Tell the honest truth about how long a project is going to take. Let them know when you are running behind and why. That's it just keep people in the loop. it's really simple.

Now as for Jim Kobe I wouldn't trust that guy to do any work for me.
I couldn't afford the quality. I've only seen his work in picture and he leaves little to be desired. If I could afford it I would have more then a few rifles commissioned to JIm for me.

Thanks Kerry, Bribe money coming your way.

Name calling and ad hominem attacks are the last refuge of a liar and thief. Thieves keep other peoples' property, and you have stuff that doesn't belong to you.

If you were any kind of man you'd send the stuff back and all of this would end. You're heaping condemnation on yourself every time you respond with anything other than "I apologize for the delay; your property is on its way back to you. Here is the tracking number: _____. I hope we can put this all behind us." It certainly appears that Butch would be as happy as any of us to see that come true, and to never have to hear from or about you again.

BS!! Bribe my arse!!! thats the truth buddy. wish every customer was as understanding and prompt as you.

22WRF That bolt handle was nothing more then a chunk of 4140, profiled to the appropriate shape, Tig welded in place with a heat sink in the bolt body. Stoping along the way to keep every thing cool. Then a few hours worth of hand profiling and polishing with mold makers stones to knock down the weld and profile.

I'm still trying to follow this mess, but lets see if I can some this up a little:

At some point Butch contact Jim to make a stock for him. Jim agreed to the work so Butch mailed off the parts. However, Butch made an error in just mailing a rifle to someone without an FFL or that is a true gunsmith. Regardless, Jim accepted the rifle from the start.

Some point later Butch paid for the work, possibly to get things moving. Jim cashed the check, essentially binding him to finish the project.

Some time went by and Jim hasn't completed the job so Butch started pushing on him a little more. Jim then decides, at some point down the line, that Butch did something illegal by shipping him the rifle in first place. Even though Jim believes this to be illegal, he's made no attempt at contacting the authorities, rather he's just holding on to the rifle? Jim's even stated that he believes that sending the rifle was breach of contract which entitles him to damages. Even if it was a breach, it's up to the courts to decide and award damages in that situation. You can't just arbitrarily decide to award yourself damages.

So now we have Jim in possession of Butch's rifle, with no intent to return it, and he's also cashed check for payment of work that wasn't completed.

Butch's recourse was to contact BATF because Jim is now in possession of a stolen firearm and potentially operating a gunsmithing business without a license. Butch is hoping that the BATF will investigate this matter and recover the firearm.

I guess I don't understand why Butch didn't just get a lawyer and sue Jim from the beginning? Sure you might have to pay for a lawyer up front and some court costs, but the route that's currently going on is such a backwards long-shot and it might not even pan out like you want.

Too many loose ends to sum this up TD. I would guess that IF the BATFE seriously gets on this eventually Jim62 COULD get the dirty end of the stick. I doubt that they will give priority one to this. But if I were Butch, I'd call thm every few weeks to keep it in their minds. I just hope Butch gets his property back. Lawyers are money vaccuums most of the time. The BATFE is paid by our tax dollars. They ALREADY work for us. May as well get them to do their thing. CB

One little detail that Butch is not advertising. And I don't blame him no use in hanging out all the laundry. But Jim at some point before the work started Stated he was an FFL holder.

I have no reason to doubt Butch on this. So then there's Jim who breached the contract from the beginning By lying about his credentials.

I think this joker is just looking for a reason to go to jail. And I surly don't believe a Private lawyer would make him flinch. If the BATF can't get his attention I think the only thing that would is a couple of italians from south Chicago

Believing that if you pay their salaries through taxes that they somehow will be at your disposal when you need, will certainly lead to a tough realization on how the world works. I think there's plenty of inmates that would have some unpleasant things to say about public defenders...


In other news, I've learned some other things about this story and it seems it's just a matter of time now before Jim finds out how badly he screwed up. But even if that's the case, I don't know how long it will be before Butch sees his rifle if it's being held as evidence to a crime.

I appreciate your thoughts. I really do. But, I'm not so sure that comparing the BATFE to a public defender is apples to apples. I would go out on a limb and suggest more like apples to the peaches that lay on the ground for a week or two. From what I've heard public defenders are nothing more than 'Minimal counsel' to those who can't afford Any counsel. The BATFE is law enforcement and probably just needs to be called every few weeks to get them on the trail if they aren't already on it. I'd imagine eventually they will just take care of this to get it out of their face if constantly/respectfully reminded. I'm hoping the BATFE will give jim62 an ultimatum. Turn over the property or face legal issues if he did pose as an FFL dealer.

When the day arrives Jim will not be given a choice. That's not how it works. He'll be given a phone call. When the BATF gets involved thier main concern will not be to get Butch his rifle back, it'll be to arrest Jim for breaking federal laws.

Unfortunately that is correct.

Well what happened????

Mr. Linthicum was arrested in a storage shed and living there. Friends?"acquaintances" ratted him out thinking he would straighten out. They allowed Mr Linthicum plea to a lesser charge.He is on probation and is supposed to repay myself and the other gentleman that lost his expensive firearm.
When he least expects it, he will wish he hadn't done it.

Karmas a bitch!!!

I am hoping to have such time on my hands...