First off I need to apologize to Jim for having taken so long to post this. Unfortunately I've had some "distractions" of late.

I finally got to shoot this rifle which I had Jim work on a while back. It started out as a standard action Pre War opened up to a 7mm Rem by Jack Belk. That rifle sat in my safe for nearly a decade as I just couldn't get it to shoot- no consistency irrespective of powder, bullet weight, etc. I sent the rifle to Jim and had him pull the LW barrel and put in a Broughton. He contoured, cut, threaded and chamber it to .300 Win. I had Jim open up the bottom (cloned a Pre war H&H action) and chisel out the stock to fit the H&H box. I also had him pillar bed the barreled action.

What is really impressive is not the quality of Jim's work, which is top notch but the "ungunsmith-like" quick turnaround time. I guess gun builders don't [bleep] around like gunsmiths (personal joke to Jim). I have used him for a few other projects, and again, very quick turnaround time and quality work. I can unequivocally say that Jim is an absolute pleasure to work with.

I no longer am allowed to shoot at home (we have 8 horses, cows, etc). So I dropped off the rifle to a retired gentleman with a full range outside his house who reloads for the local gun shop owner and the smith. He has the time and the setup to shoot POI groups when he works up loads- shoots one shot, brings the rifle inside, cools it off and again shoots one shot, again and again over the course of a day.

Well. Jim built me a shooter. That guy's worked up many a load for the shop and he said "that rifle will flat out shoot!!!!" Rifle's sweet spot is 71gr Norma MRP, WLRM, RWS brass and 180gr TSX @ 3055 fps. That day he settled in on that load every group had touching bullets.

Thanks again Jim.......outstanding work!

Sigh. Makes ya wish you had money and lived nearby.
(I got taxidermists I think the same about.)

Thanks.

Jim

You know that I will second that with Kobe. He is quick, honest, and does very good quality work. He has done several rifles for me.

+1 on Jim.

Great work, quick turnaround and fair prices.

DF

++1, Jim's work is top notch, fairly priced and delivered in a reasonable length of time.

Nice rifle, but holy hell let's hear about that Coues!! Great buck!!

Thanks. He's an 8 x 7 with palmated beams. One of these days I'm gonna take him to a B&C scorer.....but been saying that for years though. Sonora Ol' Mexico ? '05 or '06. Shot 2 mulies back to back and a coyote that morning.

Yeah, Jim threw a wrench into my plans too. I dropped off a rebarrel project with him. He said it would probably take 2-3 months, depending on barrel delivery. About 3 weeks later he called to let me know it was ready to be picked up. I just happened to be working from the Cities that day - so I had to change my whole plans for the day and run down and pick it up. Done a couple months before I anticipated it would be done. Darn him.

Looks like I'm going to take a few pictures and post them too once I get the load work up tuned in. Sometimes it's hard to tell if you hit the target when the bullets go in the same hole.

Yep, same deal with my 98 FN/Shilen 6.5x55.

He has some stroke with Shilen and seems to be able to get a barrel much faster than most.

Not a bad problem to have.

DF

Beautiful!

Jim,

Is that a reworked bolt handle or a replacement? It appears to be thinner and could solve my pre-64 bolt handle/scope clearance issue.

Thanks,

Mike