Dale Nygaard had a great deal on a circa 1956 Sauer drilling in 16/16/8X57JRS, scoped with a 4-6 Dinox in claw mounts. The wood is dark dense burl, and the gun shoots dead-nuts on at 200 yards with S&B ammo.

The wife sold the small home she inherited and told me to buy any gun I wanted. I didn't have the heart to order that Purdy round action 28 gauge, however.

I had to sell a very straight first year post war production Sauer with the same tubes recently to pay medical bills, so this gun is salve on the wounds.

Great catch, Bruce! 8x57JRS can be loaded up to serious .30-06 levels, in case you need to kill something HUGE.

But I like those rounds at .30-40 levels with modern construction bullets for deer and piggies. Enough is.... enough.

You know the rules...

Pics, or it didn't happen.

By the looks of the pics, it...



happened.


Thanks for the pics, it's a beautiful piece of work.

Enjoy it as it should be enjoyed,

Geno

YES on the 30-40!

I always maintained that a drilling in 16 gauge and 30-40 and a drilling in 12gauge and 348 Win would be an ultimate set for North America.

BTW...

This one from Simpson Ltd proved to be junk, as did the Sauer 12ga SXS they advertised as a great gun. I no longer trust Simpson at all. They did give me a refund, less my FFL Brady fees and my shipping back to them for two guns they misrepresented, even after I called to discuss the guns Before my purchase.

Very nice.. Enjoy..

Good looking rig. I'll drop by in the spring again 5o look at it if all goes well.

Nice drilling, in a great caliber. My favorite bullet in those is the Hornady 170 grain round nose "interlock". They expand well and stay together for good penetration. Accurate & Light recoil too.
Good job!

Thanks, guys.

erich:

We'll need to plan better, so I can get an opportunity to shoot that sweet coyote killer drilling of yours.


Bray:

I need to track down some of the Hornady 170s. I used some a while back in a 98 Mauser, and they were good bullets. I have a supply of Combined Technology 180s for my 325 WSM I need to try out, also.

I think R15 would be about right for the 170s. I have a pound of R17 I might try for the 180s. Any powder tips are appreciated.

That is a sweet drilling. I only have one, a Franz Jaeger 16x16x222R. I am more enamored of it every day.

I'll bet the workmanship is excellent. It's a nice light grouse whacker and deer tipper. If you get a chance, please post some pix of it. Id love to have a look.

I like to use 4064 (41.5 gr.) with the 170 gr IL RN, Nice accuracy, low pressure <36K PSI and decent performance of @ 2350 FPS, dep on bbl length. You can kick it up a couple grains to get over 2500 after starting there. But unless you're after elk at 200 yards, you probably don't need it.
Have taken a lot of game with that load in my Krieghoff "trump" 8x57JRS drilling, from the everglades to Alaska.

there's a short piece I did on (classic) hunting calibers on my website.

I usually prefer the old familiar powders, but have recently gone to Varget on my 7x57 and some others, with impressive results.

The 8x57 got a bad rap for awhile due to some mausers that weren't too accurate, flooding the US market. But the opposite is actually true. It's a very efficient and inherently accurate round. I was still chambering custom rifles for it, up until I stopped doing that work. Everyone I ever made one for raved about the rifle's performance, on the range & in the field.

Looking forward to your range report on that new drilling. Be sure to include a round of sporting clays (and tell us your score

We don't have anywhere to shoot sporting clays here, so the quail catch h@ll, instead.

I use a lot of 4064, also, and find it perfect in a 9,3X74R, also very good in my 8X57JR loads, as is R15. I'll try both and let you know where I end up.

As requested here's a few pics. From my research it started life as a 16x16x8x57 and was relined at sometime to 222 Rimmed.

THAT rates a two-cool!

Nice looking piece and an interesting choice of calibre. Was it done here in Oz?

What brass do you use? It was factory loaded here at one time, by Super Ammunition, but that went off the market a good long while back, and I think Bertram is the only one making brass specifically for .222 Rimmed now.

I had a Martini Cadet in that calibre, and used Bertram brass, but I've since had it rebarreled in 5.6x50R.

The 222R brass is getting harder to find here in the US. Too bad. It's a great round. My favorite of the 22 centerfires has always been the 222. Probably the most accurate and balanced 22 CF ever made.
Relining drillings usually adds some weight but can make one much more usable. I've relined several 11mm drillings to 30/30 Ackley improved. One of my all time favorite break open calibers.

It came with 100 rounds of brass but they had no headstamp. Though they were unfired cases, several of them had cracked necks. I have been playing with 357 Maximum brass to make new brass for it. It comes out .010 short but that's really no problem. It makes up perfectly otherwise. I haven't had a chance to range test any of that brass yet.

I have to agree on the 222. This is my fifth one and I'm sure not my last. I regret having traded off a Remington 600 in 222 many years ago. It was amazingly accurate, liked just about any bullet and 4198 and was a delight to carry other than some knuckle head put the bolt on the wrong side.

mart, very sharp drilling there.. Very handy I and sure..

Good way to make brass, but the 357 max. brass can be fun to find also :o). How many steps are you taking to make it? Anealing in between?

I was a 4198 fan in the caliber for years until a bench rest customer of mine got me to try IMR 8208 XBR. I like it much better. Totally consistent, easy to measure and very accurate.
I have an old 1959 Krico copy of the early mini Mauser BRNO (ZKW465), in 222 that's my favorite coyote gun.

I had a guy at the range question the 222's accuracy, and I referred him to the record books.. Probably set and broke more records than all the other 22 CF's combined.

I have managed to find about 300 rounds of 357 Maximum. One hundred of brand new Winchester, which I think will stay in reserve for if I ever find a 357 maximum I can afford, and 200 Remington, 100 new and 100 used. I've been annealing the used brass and running it through a 6mmx222 bullet seating die for the initial sizing, then finishing with a 222 Remington sizing die. It has worked pretty well. I have only had to anneal once to get through the sizing steps. I haven't loaded any of them yet and will probably anneal them again prior to loading.

I've been doing my first attempts with the used brass to get my technique perfected prior to jumping into the new brass.

Never tried the 8208 before but will give it a run. It might pay to try it in my 6mmx222 as well.

Why not just buy new .222 Rimmed brass? Midway, Huntingtons and Grafs list it as "in stock", and no doubt there are others too.

$36.49 for a box of 20 from Midway. $39 for the last bag of 100 new Remington 357 Maximum I bought.

When you find a drilling without hammers, newer and not with a .22" rifle bore trade that one in on it.

I have never used this on anyone in my life and am a bit embarrassed to use it now but this situation calls for it.

GFY

See why I have that ignorant twatt on ignore?

Yeah, that is a fair sort of reason. Here the very same .222 Rimmed brass is about $71 US per hundred. Clearly someone's charging a good deal to get it from here to there, or perhaps bought it when our dollar was higher against yours.

There's still the stuffing around needed to turn the .357 Max into what you want, but even that would probably favour using the stuff you have given the price difference.

With the price difference it's worth it to me to do the work. Besides that, spending time at my reloading bench is my "me" time. I am away from the radio and phone that takes my attention for 12 hours a day in three week stints. When I get home from my time on the slope I don't even want the TV on. Being out in the shop at the loading bench or casting bullets is my way to recharge. It's quiet and relaxing no matter what I'm doing, forming brass, working up loads, grinding out shotgun loads for league night or casting bullets.