Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Looks Like It Will Shoot

Wonderful. Looking forward to some dead gopher pictures with that little honey. Enjoy.

Shrap, reckon that fiddleback wood may be Claro Walnut. The color seems right.

I agree with other posters, that's about the finest custom rifle ever.

DF

Something looks amiss with the way the bullet is seated - maybe it's just an optical delusion . . .

It’s a stunner for sure……

Nothing amiss, a 40 grain VMax seated to fit in a magazine…

I have looked over your photos. From the serial number I guess that it was factory Hornet but as you know those original actions were rigged with spacers and blocks to make it work. Shortening one would simplify the bolt face issue.

The trigger bow looks like an early Ted Blackburn from back when he made them either one at a time or on his tracing milling machine.

The bolt handle in definitely not by Tom Burgess and I seriously doubt that Tom would invest the effort at cutting and shortening an action, which is a significant task, and forego doing the bolt. Also a full job would include Tom’s scope bases which those are not.

Ted Blackburn did shorten a number of G33/40 Mauser actions. I think he was capable of doing a M70. He had the welding skills to do the work. Incidentally shortening the bolt is more than half of the work.

Herman Waldron was also capable. However your rifle doesn’t have scope bases characteristic of either Ted or Herman.

Tom, Ted, and Herman did only metal work. Al Biesen shortened at least one 98 type action.

I can’t identify the stockmaker without seeing the cheekpiece and more details.

Regardless, nice find.

Ojive appears to be well inside the neck when looking at the image on a 27" monitor

Good looking piece of lumber on that one!

I took more pictures, if that will help identify the maker...

Thanks for the pics.

1. There is something that makes me think that the work was done more recently than during the Burgess Waldron Blackburn era. The rear guard screw hole has been “blinded” by welding. I never saw that done by any of those three. I can’t see any signs of welding so must have been done by more advanced welding techniques and equipment. Also the checkered bolt release isn’t familiar. Presently a number of metal guys do this, in fact it is rather common.

2. It would be interesting to know if the stock and metal were done by a single person. I can’t tell from the pictures who did it. Doesn’t look like Goudy who only does stocks. Also, not Fisher or Smithson or Echols.

3. I would check in the inletting for markings. Also if there is a metal butt plate. Looks like a skeleton grip cap but, again, can’t see clearly.

4. The stick is very nicely laid out and the work looks good…overall clearly not a hobbyist job.

I tried to take the barreled action out of the stock, but it was too tight and I wasn't going to force it. I thought it looked too late for Burgess as well, but don't know any other craftsmen of this caliber...

Target indicates need for more practice. But I'm just green. What a catch.

Those early Hornet rifles had a min spec mag for short bullets. With the later trend of higher ogive bullets, you have to seat below the ogive.

I have a CZ and was able to lengthen the mag about .1” which helps.

I just loaded some Shock Hammer 33 gr bullets which are
shorter. That may be a good one for this rifle.

DF

Shrap. That is a splendid rifle. I am wondering if Mike Connor could have been involved in it. Hallowell has a Mike Connor custom rifle off of a CZ. I don't know how far you are from there but the pancake cheekpiece looks very similar. I think that Mike Connor worked under Dale Goens.

I looked at that gun and his checkering doesn’t look this sharp. All the checkering on this gun is sharp and clean to the border. I do see the similarities with the cheek piece however…

How does it compare to Dale Goens? Conner is still alive. I might reach out to him. I think he is in davenport, Iowa. Conner is first grade smith. It does have some stock similarities to Jay Frazier as well. Jay would label a lot of his guns but he would also make very nice rifles for his friends and not label them. Whitebird has the 411 on him and probably has one of the nicest collections of custom rifles on here. I would PM him first.

Good idea! I haven’t talked to Cliff in some time, I will PM him…

Hard to believe a smith capable of such fine work wouldn't leave his ID somewhere on it. ....under buttplate, grip cap, barrel channel.

I'll take it PM sent