I dropped by his shop and picked up my rifle. I dropped it off mid-June. Barrel flute, Ceracoat and a bed job. I forgot my rings so had him leave the bases as is and I'll have my local (Texas) guy Ceracoat them. The rifle lost some of its muzzle heaviness and just feels great. Just flawless work, on schedule and fairly priced. Very nice guy too.

Beauty!

What stock is that?

Very nice work and rifle!

Looks great!

McM Express Magnum Fill.

That's nice !

Nicely put together, enjoy.

Nicely done. What rear sight is that? I like the way the rifle sling band was integrated between the fluting. Who do you use in Texas for Ceracoating?

Karl is as good as they come. I think he does the best fluting in the business.

How much weight did the fluting remove?

Karl is great!

The rear sight looks like the Pre64 African model (or copy) to my eye.

Probably about as much weight as the magnum fill stock added.

NICE!!!

Very nice! Karl is a great guy to deal with.

Jim Wisner made the sight and it is a "repro" of the pre-64 African rear sight. He also made the front banded sight. I use Cradin Industrial Services in Boerne as they are local for me.

I do not have an accurate scale up here in Idaho but ran the numbers on a couple of websites and it appears it should be ~6 oz. When I installed the synthetic stock the rifle weight dropped 8 oz from the factory wood stock and became very muzzle heavy hence the fluting. Pre-fluting with the bases shown the rifle weighed 8# 13.5 oz. When I get back to Texas in a few weeks I will see.

Thanks Ed for the info, good to know. I can understand the reasoning behind the "diet" on the rifle.

Wow! What a beautiful beast

Very, very nicely done. 👌-Al

What is the first order of business assigned to this rifle.?.mb

Has a long barreled sako black bear look, love it.
Need that treatment done to my Whelen.

That happened five or so years ago. Currently planning another trip.

Ed, rifle looks great.

Back in Texas with a scale. The rifle went from 8# 13.5 oz to 8# 8 oz, both with steel bases installed. I have a Burris Signature Safari 1.5-5X to mount in Talley QD rings. As noted, balance is much improved.

That is a sweet rifle Ed. Thanks for sharing. You have some beauties!! No question that Karl does some damn fine work.

BSA, when you meet the man it immediately becomes apparent that he is more than confident in his work. He asked the right questions beyond our email exchanges and confirmed them on a form when I arrived.
I have been around a lot on either end in my career. He read right from the get go.

That is a great looking rifle.