Love mine. It’s a custom small ring Mexican Mauser with a Douglas XX grade barrel. It’s the connection with the past that’s a nice bonus in my eyes. She was given to me by a man that was like a second father to me as he was dying from cancer. We buried him two days before deer season opened and there was no doubt I would honor him by taking her out that opening morning. I knew I’d take a buck...there was zero doubt in my head. Fifteen minutes on the stand and I found myself gutting a nice buck with misty eyes. It never happens like that in my little world.
The rifle has turned out to be a peculiar little demon. Every deer I’ve ever shot with it has fell right there...two feet to the ground. By my records I’ve taken almost two hundred deer with it. Every one with a Nosler 100 grain partition driven with 42 grains of IMR-4350 and a WLR primer...that’s all she likes, but she loves that load. 1/2” groups at 100 yards every time. My best buck with that rifle went 240 pounds and scored 142” as an 8 pointer.
You only live once, but...if you do it right, once is enough.
