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Stevens .223 cost me 269 and shoots honest 3/8 moa all the time.

Wacenturion, nice rare rifle and you are right to be proud.

I have a rich eccentric acquaintance (i suppose he is still alive?) that has or had (he rarely sells anything) one of the .25-06s. And, I have had the Sako actioned .22-250 Varminter and seen dozens more. Browning caused a stir in the industry with the introduction of that one when it was still a Wildcat. Because they had been scooped, Remington soon went to work to standardize both calibers and hung their name on them.

I have found Eastman to be straightforward in his writing. He tells you what he knows. He also tell you when he is estimating, based on what he knows to be in collections or what he has seen offered at the big collector shows.

I would have to dig through some of my stored files to come up with the name because of a bad case of CRS, but the gruffy old gentleman that used to run Browning's repair/warranty facility at Arnold, MO was a wealth of knowledge. I once called him about a shotgun. In describing the problem, he told me that what I was describing was impossible. He asked me to send the gun to him. A few days later he called and said that he had my gun and that the "SOB" was exactly as I had described it. He fixed it. Another conversation with him convinced me that at Browning, never say never.

Best wishes and enjoy, jack

Jack, the reason I mentioned that the way I did was, is that I ran across an article (about the .257 I believe) written years ago by John Wootters. He mentioned in that article that a friend of his wanted to order a FN Browning Safari at that time in 25-06 and Browning would not build one in that caliber because it was a wildcat at the time. So instead Wootters friend had to order a minimum of six rifles from Browning, in this case in .257 Roberts, as a special order to convert one into a 25-06.

Wootters went on to say that his wife ended up with one of the original six .257's in that order that his friend placed, which apparently she cherished. Another interesting bit of information.

That's why I was somewhat suspect of the Eastman guesstimate in regards to that Hollywood Gun Shop order he referred to as far as calibers and numbers. Who knows, FN Browning either made some in 25-06 or those guns in that wildcat cartridge were re chambered from special order .257's.

If indeed it is the latter and .257's were converted to 25-06's back then or later, then that in itself reduces the original number of Bob's still out there.

Might have mentioned that to you before, but just in case. Hopefully I run across some additional information as time goes by.

Every rifle I ever bought is a shooter with the exception of a post 64 model 94 Winchester in 30-30. That thing was an absolute piece of junk. If you tried to ease a cartridge into the chamber, over half the time it would release it under the stamped lifter plate, and it was jam city. Got good at fishing the cartridge out of there with a power saw file.

One of my favourite rifles is a CZ453 in 22LR. That thing is an absolute dream to shoot. Tiny groups with boring regularity.

Another one is a M1000 Eclipse Browning Abolt in 300 WinMag. It shoots just over 0.5 moa groups regularly. I wish I lived somewhere that I could test it at long range. Longest shot I've made so far is 300 yards on a deer.

Personal current favourite right now is the Tikka T3 in 6.5 Swede. Just over 1/2" groups from three different loads and two different shooters on the same day. Gotta love it!

I also have a Ruger #1H in 405 Winchester that shoots under an inch with 300 grain Barnes X bullets at 2450 fps.

Prolly these two:
A Dick's special in .243, and a 1966 BDL in .243.
$399 each without glass and mounts.

The $650 LH Winchester M70 Stainless I bought off of Armslist right here in MN.
Just the rifle would be a great buy at that price but this one came with a Leupold Vari-XIII 4.5-14x40 attached.
I traded the scope here, straight across for a 3-9x40 Conquest, added S&K rings and added a used McSwirly, also bought here at the 'Fire, then tripped it right here in MN for $1800.
Very nice rifle but I just couldn't pass up the profit since I've never warmed up to the 7RM chambering. If it'd been a .270 I'd still have it I presume.
Another rifle I own also pleases me very much. My rather rare LH Kimber of Oregon M84 in 6x47. This rifle is uber light (6# 1.7oz scoped) and handles beautifully. Got this one off of GB. Wouldn't sell this one for double what I paid.

Two rifles one centefire on rimfire. Bought a 700BDL in 1966 with a K4 Weaver scope in Redfield Jr mounts for 150.00. In 79 bought a Ruger 10-22 for a Pawn Shop in Lawton Ok new in a box for 45.00. Still have both.

My custom build from Robert gradous

My old ADL in 243 bought it in '65 don't even remember the price.

Have read every post with interest, guys.

Really enjoying all the variety of rifles, and why they represent the best money you've spent on a rifle.

Some real beauties, some sentimental favorites, some bargains that border on criminal...grin, some old and faithful with decades of good service and pleasure, and some top class custom shootin' irons...

That's a lot of what's fun about this stuff.

Thanks, and keep 'em coming.

DJ

sure as hell wasn't my Rossi/Braztech M92

great little rifle...C/S is non existant.......

Reading through these posts reminds me of a couple others, with much sadder endings. Remington Ti in 270 for $750, sold for some other purchase that is no longer around. Of course it only put the first handful of assorted handloads into .75.

Winchester Classic Sporter in 7RM, $400 delivered. Gone. But maybe not a total waste 'cause I sold it to a friend who sold me his 70 Classic in .375 for $450 a year later. That one belongs in the topic.

KC

Nice rifles you have there! I love the old browning safari's and sako's.

My new-to-me $900 Kimber Montana 7mm WSM with a pac-nor super match barrel screwed on. This one will never be for sale.

I would have to say thou I owned a lot of rifles over the years. I kept three out of the some 60 I owned when I paired down some years back. I would have to say the $ 400 dollars I paid for a Styer Mannlicher Model M Professional in 7 x 57 back in 1975 was by far the best money I ever spent on a rifle- I had it for almost 38 years and it still shoots as well as the day I bought it, It wears a newer 6 x 42 mm Leupold on it right now, I planning to buy new rings and bases this year and up grade the scope to a Leica 2.5-10x42. That is the reason for new rings and bases. Warne's .

Early Sako Finnbear in 30 06. One of my all time favorites

DJ;
Thanks for the fine thread and the wonderful responses it's been getting. I hope that this finds you all doing well and it's good to see that your kids got out hunting a bit this fall. Please pass along congratulations to them on the very nice deer.

For me there have been a few rifles that were good decisions, but I'll have to say that first place is a tie between two.

In 1984 we'd moved off the farm and out here to BC where my folks lived. After a couple years of going along on occasion with my wife and I hunting, my now passed on father decided he wanted to get back into hunting. As he'd given me his hunting rifle he asked me to look into what he should buy.

So unbeknownst to him, I ordered up an "extra clean" 96 Swede from Century Arms in Montreal. If memory serves it was something under $60 landed here. Anyway, I bobbed 8" off of the barrel, remade an end cap from the existing parts, recontoured and checkered the stock, bedded it, drilled and tapped it, installed a low scope safety and had a local welding shop mig a different bolt handle onto it.

We were buying those Bushnell 4X Sportviews for around $30 US back then in Oroville, so including some used rings and some trading I was into the rifle for less than $120 give or take.

This is the day I gave it to him in 1986.


That rifle was a catalyst to get him out hunting with us for the next decade and a lot of great memories were forged between us - in part because of it.

As time passed, Dad's health deteriorated to the point where he couldn't ride in the pickup on the mountain roads anymore. He gave the Swede back to me, saying he hoped that perhaps one of the grand kids could make some use of it someday.

Here is a shot of the rifle with a different scope on it.


Although Dad passed on before she claimed it, as it turned out it was our eldest who claimed her Grandad's rifle, though I did have to add a Dayton Traister cock on open kit to it for her to manipulate it when she was younger.

Now about that time our youngest decided she wanted to hunt as well, so I looked around for something to suit our budget and the low recoil that she preferred.

A good friend of mine - now gone as well - had recently purchased a number of rifles from an estate and offered me a screaming deal on a .250AI built on a Remington 722 using an RKS stainless barrel, complete with a 2-7 Leupold Compact on it. I don't think he asked more than $450 for it, which even then was very, very reasonable.

I extensively modified a 788 stock that had been cut down to 12�" pull and that met our youngest daughter's needs to a T.

Here it is with it's most recent ADL stock, a 3-9 Leupold, Talleys and a 700 trigger now too.


Anyway DJ, these two bargain rifles allowed this "best hunting day ever" to happen for me.


Well, I just got a call that I need to go pick up the .250AI shooter from her basketball games, so I've got to fly.

All the best to you and your family DJ and thanks again for the thread.

Dwayne

Perhaps it's my 99F in .358 that I got in 1966. It was perfect for the forests in VT where I had just bought a hunting camp.

That rifle is not optimum these days as I am hunting in more open land now.

The rifle that's on my mind now is the M70 action'd custom that I got last summer in .300 WM. I did not pay a lot for it.

I have shot it some and so far I have not got it just right.

It's too cold now for testing and other rifles have been ready but I just looked at it again tonight. I like it's stock and action!

The loads ready for the range are 165 and 168's over H4350. So far I got 2" two shot groups at 200 yds. I could not get 150's to shoot really well last fall but after just looking at the records I will try 150's again.

A grand for this pair of Walther Model B Mausers, a 7x57 left and an 8x57 right.

BC30cal

Money well spent indeed.....priceless!