Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters No Ordinary Rifle, by Harry Selby

Thanks for the link. I very much enjoyed because it brought back fun memories. My first rifle was a Rem.721. I bought it for $75 in the summer of 1959. I bought a 4x Weaver scope and Weaver mounts. That fall my Dad and I went to Colorado deer hunting and I killed two four point bucks and a doe. I had my 16th birthday on that trip in a small but cozy log cabin. We were hunting a small ranch and the rancher's wife baked me a cake in a cast iron skillet, best cake I ever ate. While I didn't use the 180gr bullets, I did use the 150gr Silver Tips.

Thanks for sharing that memory, SuperT.

+1

Super T has us, the readers, there with him in Colorado, experiencing his adventure. That's a sign of a gifted writer, being able to tell a story while engaging the readers.

DF

I shot my first gun deer at age 15 (1983 or so)with a 180 gr. Silvertip out of my Featherweight .308 with a 4x Redfield on it. the round came out of one of the 2 yellow boxes that came with the gun (39 rounds of .308, 1 of .358(?)) I was at my Dad's hunt club, in a blind, when two dinks came out, and to my untrained eye, they were shooters. At 50 yds out I put one right behind the shoulder, and the deer made it about 25 yards into some thick stuff but was easy to follow due to the heavy blood trail. I signalled my dad, and he came to help me with the deer, and I didn't understand the mixed pride for shooting a deer and disappointment with the lack of size then, but do now. Looking back at the damage and the blood trail, I can't help but think it was a thinner jacket on that bullet.

He's the insufferable prick who started the thread about a deceased Forum Member who obviously was not here to defend himself. This jerk needs a Drano enema.

Thanks for the link. I always wondered if I made a mistake using a 721 for a custom rifle. Guess not.



ddj

"How did Mr. Selby ever manage?"

Mr. Selby knew how to maintain his triggers, those who have trouble with the Reminton/Walker trigger don't; that's the bottom line.

Ouch...!

That ought to clean him out...

DF

i just love how some of these threads have one nice, normal comment followed by some caustic bile, then nice normal comment, more caustic bile.

you can't get entertainment like this anywhere else.

hillbillybear,

Thank you much for the link to the Selby/721 story. Haven't enjoyed a story that much in waaay too long a time.

Whenever we have a CRF vs. push feed topic here, a gazillion experts come out of the woodwork to explain how a Remington push feed cannot possibly be good enough to hunt in Africa. They obviously know a lot more than Harry Selby. What does he know? Probably never read a Capstick book. Instead, he just hunted with one for 50 years or so.

Funny this came up.

Last Friday I had a 1951 Remington 721/ 270 with a Denver Redfield 4x follow me home for $280.00.

I thought "why in the hecks am i buying this thing?"
Besides having a great rep for accuracy. I liked its simplicity and classic design.
The action seems very strong and smooth.
Came with irons of which I plan on playing with.

Ordered 250 130 Ballistic Tips to get it going.

My smith says the triggers are good and he likes them.

Talking about the construction of the Silver Tips. It has been a long time ago, and I may not be remembering correctly, but I think (notice I think) that there were two types of Silvertips in the early 60s.

One was made to be used in the .300 H&H, and the other was made to be used in lower velocity cartridges. Supposedly, and again IIRC, the ones for the .300 H&H were of heavier construction.

IIRC, the Silvertips for the .300 H&H had dual cannalures, like those on the bullets shown. The ones for the .30-06, .308, and other cartridges had a single cannalure.

Astute observation sir. These guys didn't often have the choice of what weapon they used when building their careers and just used what was available. Mr Selbys .416 was a rush replacement for a broken double and it then went on to became famous. No doubt anything that didn't work also didn't last long.

I can remember about two decades ago reading Mr Boddington stating the .300 H&H with a 180 were highly suitable for lion. (Legislation requiring a .375H&H+ aside), No doubt that suitability remains unchanged as demonstrated by Mr Selby, his .30-06 and fast opening projectles.

1234567, great memory! I believe you are exactly right. I haven't thought about that in years. I used to buy surplus 06 stuff and pull the bullets replacing the military stuff with 150ST.(or anything I could buy on the cheap). That's when I could get the Military ammo for pennies a round.

Indy,
That is exactly why I started this thread. The general bashing of Remington 700's with reguard to push feed, dinky extractors, bolt handles, triggers etc. and suitability for general hunting, let alone African hunting has become a favorite past time on the internet. And here we have a story of Harry Selby using the precursor to the 700, a 721 in the common 30-06 chamberng and finding it satisfactory in every way. I guess he didn't know that he needed a custom built, bedded, tuned trigger, tweeked extractor, custom bottom metal, controlled round feed rifle in a wildcat magnum chambering to hunt general plains game along with lions and lepoards. Of course Harry Selby isn't an internet expert. Neither was Finn Aagaard. While Finn stated that he preferred mauser rifles, he had no problem if someone prefered a push feed rifle like a Remington, Weatherby, Savage or Browning.

ar..,

I prefer Mausers too. That said, I've three 721s and a 722. They have all worked fine for me as two of them did for my dad and my uncle. Half a century with out a problem. Wish I could find a car,or any thing else, as good as the 721/722.

O

The action is worth more than you paid for the gun and scope...

DF

People do crap on about CRF. The biggest advantage with a Mauser action for me is the built in loose tolerances that allow the weapon to function in dirty/wet conditions. That's why I have Mausers. The CRF is a good feature but not the one that keeps it operating.

There are custom Mauser '98's with uber tight tolerances ! They offer no advantage over a PF.