Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats My all time prettiest, coolest rifle.... is back! Never thought I would see it again, 7 Mashburn Su

A couple of years ago I had to pare down my firearms collection and convert a bunch of it to cash for hospital and living expenses. Bufaf was the buyer of my full custom 7mm Mashburn Super and it pained me to see it go. Some have suggested that with the wonderfully done tapered octagon barrel and integral full length rib etc the work may be that of Len Brownell. I have no provenence of this but I DO know that whoever built this spent a BOATLOAD of time on it and was very, very good at his craft.

But, when hard times hit you do what you have to to survive. I had never thought that I would ever have this rifle back, or any rifle in this class again in my lifetime. But, gentleman and friend Bufaf contacted me a couple of months ago and indicated that with some other rifles he had garnered, this Mashburn might be expendable and available to me. Music to my ears! I began tossing trade ideas at him (somewhat in desparation ) until he and I hit on a combination that worked for him and was at least sort of fair. I know for certain that Bufaf was generous with me in this whole deal, and without that I would never have seen this rifle again. Bufaf sent the rifle out last week, and it arrived on Monday. Just as beautiful as it was when I handed it off to his nephew to give to him when I originally sold it.

Added to the deal are some cases marked "7mm Mashburn" and a set of 7mm Mashburn dies. I had been simply using 7STW dies and necking down 300 Win Mag brass but it will be nice to have the right stuff on hand. If I ever make it back to Africa, post kidney transplant of course, I can now easily take this rifle as I have cases whose headstamp matches the barrel markings.

Bufaf said he has not shot it, ever, so it is probably still sighted in to hit 2.5 high with 120gr Barnes TTSX's, Moly'ed, and running IIRC either 3700 or 3800fps. I have some higher BC bullets coming to try out, also. 139gr GMX tipped from Hornaday. BC is almost .500 on those.

I am pretty pumped up, had to share the joy here and some photos. Scope is a gloss Leupold 4.5-14AO:













[img]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a7/safariman416/Mausercustomrifle7mm001.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a7/safariman416/CustomMAuser7mm002.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a7/safariman416/CustomMAuser7mm001.jpg[/img]

Beautiful rifle! Congrats on getting it back.

That looks like a wonderfully executed rifle, Mark. Is that built on an Enfield action? Great to have a good friend/friends so traded stock doesn't get completely away! Best regards, Bruce

Thank you, sir.

The action is a Mk X commercial Mauser, somewhat re worked and much polished. 7mm Mashburn Super is about the mostest one can get out of that action length. Maybe could squeeze a little more powder behind the bullet with a 404 Jefferey or Ultramag case shortened a bit and necked down, but I am pleased as punch with the performance of the Mashburn Super, and it SOUNDS so cool, to my ears anway.

+1 with emphasis on having good friends who will give you a shot at getting some of your stuff back!

Thank you, I am pretty excited.

Congrats Mark! A truly beautiful and well built rifle.

Very glad to see that you got that rifle back. I think that barrel is slick as can be. Congratulations Mark.

That's sure a pretty rifle Mark. It's a cryin' shame they put the bolt handle on the wrong side though.

Mart

Great news Safariman,now all you need to do is go kill a deer or an elk with it.

Congrats on the reunion...

That's a blessing.

That gorgeous rifle was almost undoubtedly built by a gentleman named Ralph Carter from Colorado. A very good customer at the shop I work in has several that Mr. Carter built for him. The octagon with rib, ramp, and swivel are identical to the ones I have handled. The stock lines are near identical as well. Unfortunately Mr. Carter has retired, I believe he is in his late eighties or early nineties. My customer charged me with finishing the last two rifles that Ralph had started and sent back to him with a letter of apology stating that he wouldn't be able to complete them. Mr. Carter was a wonderful craftsman and a rifle he built is certainly something to be proud of.

I only have one rifle I wish I could back. I can imagine how you must feel. Good for you!

One of the reasons that someone may have suggested that the rifle was built by Len Brownell is because he used a tab much like (exactly like) the tab on the rear bolt stop of your rifle. In addition, those appear to be Len Brownell scope mounts and bases on the rifle (sort of the precursor to today's Talley type mounts.)

Actually, I took a pretty nice Mule Deer buck with that rifle while I had it the first time. I only had the rifle long enough to work up one load and hunt with it the one deer season but the 120gr TTSX loading was a decent one in this rifle.

I will likely never use this particular rifle for anything other than deer or Antelope, even though it is certainly more than capable on larger game. For game the size of Elk and Bear etc I have my 340 and 35 Whelen. More to the point, I am barely able to deer hunt right now and that only because of the open country and flat terrain here plus my legal to hunt from a quad or truck status. That could, and should, change post Kidney transplant. I am looking forward to that day and hunting Elk and other game again very much. Who knows, I may get a wild hair someday and pick this one out of the rack for an elk hunt just because I enjoy the rifle and carrying it about so much. One just never knows. Now that I have cartridge cases stamped "7mm Mashburn Super" to match the barrel engraving, this might be the number one rifle of a two rifle battery to Africa as well, someday.

These exact points were brought forth a couple of years ago when I first queired about the rifles heritage and builder the first time I owned it. I cannot easily change to another scope as these rings put this scope objective bell to EXACTLY within 1/32 of an inch from the barrel rib. Barely visible space or gap between the scope bell and the rib. Just amazing work, and they do look and function a great deal like modern Talley ring and base sets, other than the coloring of course. Plus, this base/ring set up, while beautiful and exact x 100, is a royal PITA to use or mount a scope in. The scope it is wearing will remain there until either the rifle or scope go bad on me for some reason.

MORE GOOD NEWS.... FWIW, I am no longer jonesing for a Weatherby Lazermark. This rifle SO fills my niche for a top flight, classic and beautiful deer/medium game hunting rifle. I can now say, Weather-who??

I am 100% open to the idea that he could have been the builder. Did he usrings that look like these pre Talley's? A bolt release tab? Can you put any ppictures up of any of his rifles? IF the builder of this rifle can be determined, and is still alive, I would sure like to get a signature inside of the stock barrel inletting and present him with a thank you card and message for his work.

I belie I remember one of the rifles Mr. Carter completed having a bolt release tab. Unfortunately I don't have any pics of the ones Ralph did. The one I completed was a No1 in 338/378, I finished the rib work and the quarter rib work for scope mounting. I thought I had pics of it but must have lost them in my last phone drowning. I have a set of those scope rings and I believe a set of bases, you are correct, they are a pain in the rear to use!

I might have been one of those wo suggested Mark's rifle was a Brownell..he was a great metal guy as well as a stock maker ( a rifle builder in both metal and wood);and such a versatile stock maker that it is difficult to pin him to just one stock style like many makers. But this was nothing more than a WAG on my part and I would not be surprised if it were made by someone else.

In any event it is a lovely rifle.

Mark,

The barrel and stock style on your rifle looks exactly like an old timer at my ranges .338 WIN which I was once told was a Ralph Carter gun.

Unfortunately a google search shows Mr. Carter passed away earlier this year.

http://www.obitsforlife.com/obituary/843949/Carter-Ralph.php