Home Forums Gear Free Classifieds FS Custom 1903 Springfield sporter

This rifle was made by Frank Pachmayr, probably in the 1930's, back when Pachmayr ranked among the best custom rifle companies in the U.S. Like most Pachmayr rifles back then, it has a stock made of a great piece of California-grown walnut. Like many custom Springfields of the era, it has a Lyman receiver sight along with a 2.5x Lyman Alaskan in a Griffin & Howe side-mount. (While the slide for the Lyman isn't pictured, it will be included.)

Originally a .35 Whelen, it was also eventually rechambered to .358 Norma Magnum, no doubt in the 1950's when the .358 Norma was a factory round and the Whelen wasn't. Whoever did the job did it well, as it feeds perfectly and shoots very well. (The Lyman Alaskan has a dot on fine crosshairs.)

When I purchased the rifle in 2006 (from the late custom rifle builder and collector Ike Ellis) it had an original Pachmayr White-Line ventilated recoil pad, which was hard and crumbling. It was a replaced with a Pachmayr Decelerator white-line pad. (While many people think white-line spacers were introduced by Weatherby, they were a Pachmayr deal, long before Weatherby. The originals were ivory--and may be on the pistol grip and ebony forend tip on this rifle.)

Will include a set of .358 Norma dies. Brass is still available, but is very easily made by necking up .338 Winchester Magnum cases.

Am asking $2950 shipped, and will take personal checks, money orders and PayPal.

Pretty rifle/

Oh my! What a beauty.

Thanks, guys!

John, do you have to put your nose on the cocking piece to see through the scope?

Not nearly. One of the virtues of many older, low-power fixed scopes was long and very flexible eye-relief. The ER on this one measures 4.2", but the scope is still entirely useable with your eye even backed off a little from that.

In fact, this is still often true of the few remaining low-power fixed scopes being made today. The Leupold 2.5x20 Ultralight, for instance, has a listed eye relief of 4.9". This is no problem, due to the wider field of low magnification--one reason Phil Shoemaker has had the M8 version of the 2.5x20 on his favorite .458 brown-bear backup rifle for decades.

The eye relief on Alaskans tends to be generous. My old Noske is 6 to 8” relief.

Yep, I had a 2.5x Noske for a while, and used it for some hunting. Eye relief was definitely generous, and it even had an elevation turret for long-range shooting. The dial was marked in 100's of yards for the 150-grain .270 factory load, out to 800, and actually worked pretty well as far as I tested it, which was around 500 as I recall. However, precision was a little lacking, due to both the 2.5x magnification, and the BIG post reticle, though it was pointed!

Up

A classic.

Going back to Africa?

Holy throw back, I love that checkering pattern.

If a person could only have one gun......bump!

Thanks, Dinny

Theo Gallus,

Not planning to go back to Africa, just trying to move a few sporting arms that I've written about as much as possible into the eventual retirement account.

BTT....Nice rifle John - would love to hear the stories that rifle could tell!

By the way John you just burst my bubble I thought these were a retirement account!😄

PennDog

Beautiful rifle.

PennDog,

Ha!

Have found most grocery and hardware stores, car dealers, insurance companies and tax agencies don't accept rifles....

Oh, my word.

Free bump.

Thanks for the bump!

Nice rifle. Craftsmanship and pride certainly do make a fine firearm.

Classy, a timeless piece