I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There are some beautiful rifles in here, however I have always admired guns that have had to work for a living. I am as proud as a new Papa about every dent ding and abrasion that my guns have received in their years of service.
stuvwxyz
I couldn't agree with you more. Compared to my rifle before its face lift, those look pretty darn nice. Mine had been well used by me for many years. It was on its second stock as the first got broken when I took a nasty tumble in some pretty steep country in North Idaho. The checkering was worn pretty bad on the second stock from being carried so much. It was on its second or third recoil pad but other than that it was still a fairly stable stock considering all it had been through. Add to that a lot of the blue had been worn, especially the triggerguard-floorplate area which was getting pretty shiny as was the barrel as well. In short, I was getting embarrassed when folks would look at it and wonder how a rifle could look so bad.
Anyway, one day I happened on a picture of a pre-64 Super Grade and thought that it might be fun to try and see if I could bring my rifle back to look something like that. As luck would have it I came across a Super Grade stock pattern for an absolute song, I think about $8.00 if I recall correctly, and also a black walnut blank for less than $50.00. The blank is very dense, hence a bit heavier than I would like, but I won't be doing any real hard hunting with the rifle in the high country anymore anyway. My gunsmith profiled the stock blank, to the pattern I found, for me and refinished the metal to as close as original as he could. I am very pleased with all his work on it. My brother shaped, finished and checkered the stock for me. He shaped and checkered it as close as he could to the pictures in the "Rifleman's Rifle" book by Rule. I still had the original steel buttplate so it was used.
I didn't do all this just to make a nice looking rifle but rather to give a facelift to a well used companion after 50 plus years of trustworthy service. I still take it out, and there are some minute marks, but I admit I am pretty careful with it now. I don't feel guilty about it because it has paid its dues and then some. I will pass it on to my grandson someday and let him put the real marks on it.
Larry *********** "Speed is fine but accuracy is final" - Bill Jordan "We do not exaggerate when we state positively that the remodelled Springfield is the best and most suitable "all 'round" rifle".......Seymour Griffin, GRIFFIN & HOWE, Inc.
