I have read in many places that:

"Life Is Too Short To Hunt With An Ugly Rifle."

For those who hunt -- I can certainly see the wisdom in the above quote. It was no-doubt first uttered or penned by a perceptive and thoughtful soul.

I don't hunt, but I enjoy shooting.

My corralory:

"Life Is Too Short Not to Shoot Your Best Looking Rifle."

Here's mine, 1958 .270 Model 70 Featherweight.

At my first outing I soon discovered that the flip up rear sight combined with my 55 year old eyes did not do this puppy justice.

Vintage Weaver K 2.5 is on it's way to my door.

That is a beaut!

Wow, that is one pretty rifle. Somehow that one got some really nice Walnut and the rifle has been quite well taken care of. Congrats!

We've seen the pic of your rifle many times, now lets see some targets set out at atleast 100 yards with some 5 shot groups on them. Just sayin......

I'm hoping it shoots atleast half as good as it looks....

I was not able to focus well on the rear flip-up sight.
Three shot group at 100 yards is marked "270":

I was shooting at the red dot and the black dot is a quarter to give perspective.
I have a 2.5 K Weaver on its way to my door.
But not having a rifle vise or the proper screwdrivers I cannot turn the itsy bitsy scope base screws that have been sitting in the top of the receiver for over 50 years. I am going to need some help from my local gunsmith.hose screws out. I will be able to mount Leupold Rifleman scope bases with the Allen wrench supplied with the bases.

I look forward to seeing what it can do when you get a scope on that thing. Keep us posted.....

I have always subscibed to that premise. A black stock and stainless barrel ain't nothing more than a pair of chinese pliers...













[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee202/bridgershooters/scan0004-5.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee202/bridgershooters/scan0011-1.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee202/bridgershooters/meatinthepot.jpg[/img]

Chinese pliers..... I like that line! Well put.

Aren't you also the one that coined the phrase "melted Bowling ball with a silver straw sticking out" for all of the McSwirley/SS/700 stuff here that gets posted as a 'custom'


BUSHMASTER, I wish you lived close enough that I could put that scope on for you. I need glasses to do it now, but I can still git 'er done! Considering your eye challenges, that target above is REALLY good shooting. Not sure I could do any better with factory iron sights.

SHRAPNEL, What IS that poor creature in your first photo? A muud covered cow elk is my first guess, but a guess is all it is. Looks bloody awful....

As always, love the rifles you post up here. You have great taste and a terrific collection.

Yup, a mud covered elk that followed me some 7 miles of muddy terrain behind a 4 wheeler.

I have the same feeling!

Bushmaster1313, That is one fine looking rifle but, the sling needs a little tlc.

While I don't hold to the same school of thought on disliking stainless I definetly do with the "I shall not shoot an ugly gun" lifestyle. Or maybe it should be a gun without style. I have an old, matte finished 870 slug gun that has been thru the ringer and looks it. But it's a sight prettier in my eyes now than it was new. But overall in recent years I've paired down, traded, sold off and customized my guns to my likeing. To be frank, plastic is gone. May not be all hand rubbed walnut but I like em just the same.

CB

I agree completely. I hunt with my '71 Winchester often. Here is the first kill from my hand a couple of years ago.

I picked up a standard rifle not long ago, so I guess I'll tote it a bit this season.


Joseph

Shrapnel, it looks like you treat your animals worse than I treat my rifles.

That is why some of us like stainless and synthetic

Same here. My best clothes are waterproof...same goes for my rifles.

my go-to rifle is a featherweight .30-06 made the same year...it is not as pretty any more as that one, but still a 95% gun after 50 years of hunting by my father and then me, from Alaska to Africa, and still MOA with any good ammo. they're made to be used, not looked at.

I don't worry too much about the looks. A couple of seasons in a scabbard takes the new of pretty quick.

"Life Is Too Short Not to Shoot Your Best Looking Rifle."


Dog gone right!
Why should I save the nice ones for my wife's next husband?

Cynical, but funny.

Guess I have a pair of Chinese pliers! .338WM and .30-06, left to right.



Does the one on top count? (It is blued, not stainless, in .300WM. The bottom one is the same .30-06 shown above.)

Them canoe-paddle Rugers is some UGLY guns (just my opinion...no offense intended if you like that look), but they tend to work! I had one in .22-250, put a Timney in it and impressed quite a few folks shooting .44 Mag empties at 100 yards.

Someone that would drag steaks through the mud for seven [bleep] miles,would have the "smarts" requisite to think blued/walnut was viable. Wow.

Bless your heart.

As an aside,if some cross-eyed piece of schit tried to get past me dragging an Elk through the [bleep],I'd punch the stupid sonofabitch in the mouth as a warning and more than likely kicked a [bleep] lung out too.

Just sayin'.

I like all rifles, wood/blue or syn/stainless. This morning I was out hunting in a downpour and glad I had my chinese plliers with me.

Keyboard commando! You should get out more often scrappy.

I wonder if elk ever get muddy in real life?


Guess it would suck if a guy was into eating (elk)hair.....laughin'!

No offense taken here � they are definitely not going to win any beauty contests. What I love about them is their function. Besides being relatively light weight, they are inexpensive, darn near indestructible, won�t warp with changes in temp or humidty, aren�t something I worry about scratching or dinging up and the three rifles I have in them all shoot great.

When replacing the laminate stock on my stainless MKII .30-06, I purchased a take-off boat paddle from someone here on the �fire, $50 delivered and it had the Ruger ling swivels replaced with quick-detach studs. The one for my .338 WM came from Numrich Arms (www.gunpartscorp.com). They still have them (product # 1153550, Stock, RH, L/A, Black Synthetic, Plastic Inserts, Stainless Steel Swivels) for $77.20. http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/Detail.aspx?pid=1153550&catid=8324 Bought the .300 WM with the stock, NIB for cheap, because Sportsman�s Warehouse was getting rid of their boat paddle inventory.

I figure mine will outlast me and them some�

You forgot to tell us what brand of recoil pad you installed. Those oem ones are crappy!! Does pachmayer make a pre-fit decelerator for that stock?

My nicest rifle is one of these: 223, 7mm-08, 243.

My son's 700 BDL in 270 that I handed down to him (he got the bigger hog of course) and my CZ 550 in 500 Jeffery.

Dats a hog!

Congrats
Terry

I ended up with a Sims. It was not a perfect fit (a tad oversize but nothing I'm worrying about) and I had to drill a new screw hole.

Sure works great, though.

Thanks CH. I'll keep that in mind. I've still got one stored away for safe keeping in 300 win mag but it kicks like a freekin mule in that stock

Cool pics colorado. Do you really listen to AC/DC though?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRQnJyP77tY&ob=av2n

This is one of my nicest. But the idiot I bought it from "touched up" the bedding and I can't get it apart. So until I figure out how to separate the stock from the action, its a fair weather rifle. Don't want to get it wet in the rain and snow and have it rust.

Whats the blue tape for?

I kind of like my "chinese pliers"

Soak it in your freezer then give it a sharpish tap under the barrel...remove screws first.

You obviously haven't been around the fire long enough, it's a proven fact that it adds something like 150-200 fps and all kinds of other cool stuff to your rifles capabilities. The other strips around the barrel are to help old it together with all that increased pressure.

Oh and the above facts are only proven to be affective with blue tape.




































ps: Place a strip of it over your muzzle to keep out rain/mud/etc.

The extra around the barrel is just that, extra to use.

Instant post count multiplier.

Good advice. What if the swamp idiot didn't use release agent. Would the freezer trick still work?

Really good question, and I have no idea apart from the fact that it will release from insufficient release agent.

It will not release from mechanical locks.

Answered in another thread, http://24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/7720785/Re_tape_around_barrel#Post7720785, but here are the basics:

Blue tape is a hunter�s best friend because it�.

1. Adds 250fps to muzzle velocity.
2. Eliminates bullet drop and further loss of bullet velocity past 300 yards.
3. Makes all rifles shoot 0.5MOA or better.
4. Makes the hunter invisible to the game.


Oh, yeah� Tape around the barrel is handy if you need a piece to protect the bore from rain, snow, ice, dirt, etc� And it sticks better than black electricians and some other kinds of tape.

[img:center]http://[/img]

OK, we've seen the doe rifles. Now how about some buck rifles.

Those pics of shrapnel's rifles don't do them justice.



Travis

'pretty' has zero weight in the equation when i decide which rifle gets put to work any given day

You missed the title of the thread...

no, i diddn't.

I love Chinese pliers!

Wood stocks hold no appeal for me. Beauty is in function.

Guess I have no soul. I'm ok with that.

Once in awhile they do work, but slowly...

I love Chinese pliers...with faux wood....and black paint...

This is my finest lumber until I can afford a nice Sako...

Yeah, but mine actually has a Sako-ish stock!

Mine does too...

Left handed Chinese pliers!

All you need to know about blue tape, and a lot you don't!

infamous blue tape thread!

BSA recommended this to me also a while back but I've gotta find a freezer around that it will fit in. I wanted to put it out on the deck this winter while it was below zero but I forgot to. I've pounded it over the arm of the couch a coup,e dozen times and didnt get it to budge in the slightest. So,I guess we will see....

And it even rained all morning...and the wood stock didn't melt.

Chinese pliers at work. Except they are blued, not stainless...

Here's another wood stock that survived...although with a few scars.

And it even rained all morning...and the wood stock didn't melt.


[ /quote]

I remember that day.. I'm putting in for a tag, gonna use some Chinese pliers if I get in.

That was a great day!


I might put in this year just for the helluva it. Still a rare sight to see one but it would be nice just to take a walk in the hills.


Apps due June 1?

Yeppers..

Boy am inglad you answered that. I thoughtbmaybe you were shooting the neighbors sheep

I'm haunted by kudu...

I'm thinking Shrap just coined another Campfire phrase.

Shooting a chinese pliered sucks.

I cannot believe that the wood actually held up in the Alaskan and Brooks Ranges!

Well...its big fun to do with a classic open sighted 7x57....

That's better...

2015. Lets roll...

That may work!

Tanner - are those your initials on the butt stock??

You didn't NEED to do that!

This one is the only one I have a pic of at the moment. It's ALSO one of my FAV rifles.



I fell in love with these stocks when Win brought them out in '81. I haven't had this rifle a long time but I bloodied it last season.

We are getting RAIN so often now I can only wait till a sunny day to take a few more pics.

cool rifles, gents...

but ya'll need some #1's...

Heres a sow's ear I tried to make a silk purse out of...

I hunt with mine sometimes, but not as often as I hunt with my chinese pliers...

Best looking?



Man, that's a hard choice to make.........


Decisions,


Merkel K1 Jagd Stutzen, 7mm-08,

Decisions


Merkel K1 Stalking Rifle, 9.3 x 74R

Best

GWB

I'm all about shooting pretty rifles.

Good thing we aren't on a shotgun thread, rumor has it some on here use those plastic Russian made autoloaders.

Kind of partial to the one on the right, a #1 in .280 Rem. Waited a long time for a #1 and couldn't pass this one up. Gently used, priced very right, Moyer trigger, nickel or chrome plate, not sure which and don't care. Shoots very well.



The other one is my first centerfire rifle, a Ruger M77 in 7mm RM. It was my only big game legal bolt rifle for 20+ years. Took a lot of animals, from prairie dogs and coyotes to antelope, deer and elk.

Is there a rifle in that pic?

I remember reading something about you paper patching (or was it "bumping" with faster powder) some .308 Partitions to make that work.

She is a beauty job you did on that fine warhorse. The old Enfield is a working rifle, and you put it in best dress.

Actually I didnt need to do a thing except exchange my .312 expander ball for a .308 ball. The .308 diameter bullets shot very well indeed out of that rifle, and got the velocities they were supposed to....and you are right, 180 Noslers were the order of the day...

( FWIW I tried .308 diameter bullets in a couple other enfields...results were dismal...)

Dang.....

That is just an outstanding pic. If you had a blonde model in a Stars & Stripes bikini in there, we'd likely have a new form of printed national currency......

Yep - beauts no doubts.

I've had a few 1s but not THE one I really want.

I have a GREAT appreciation for the #1 and some have fantastic wood on them.

7mm rem mag


Pre 64 94 32 Special





416 wby mag in Classicmark II

Here is a pretty poor picture of me with one of my favorite rifles right after it took this young buck. It is a J Garner flintlock in 54 cal.

Fellow Campfire Folks;
With apologies to those who've seen these photos before - in the spirit of this thread.

This is what I consider one of the better looking rifles in the safe, but more important than that I built it to fit me so it does that fairly well.


It's started life as a Liberty Model 77 in .338 and is currently on it's 3rd stock and 2nd barrel - now as a .308 Norma. Somewhere along the way it sorta became a bit of a "lucky rifle" for me.

It was in my hands the morning I shot my first Okanagan bull moose.


While I originally built it for chasing local mulies in the steep country in the feeder creeks, somehow it's been along when I've run into local whitetail on several occasions including my best one ever.


Anyway, it's not the prettiest gun I've ever built, but I think it looks OK and it does get afield from time to time enough to show it still works just fine.

All the best to you all and especially to our American friends this Memorial Day weekend.

Regards,
Dwayne

Nothin' pretty about this one, but she has soul:




Here's a 1B in 300 Roy:


http://s174.photobucket.com/user/pharmseller/media/McCall9-1.jpg.html][/URL]


And a Browning repro model 71:





P

That's one really nice Whitetail that will beat mosts "best one ever."

Dakota M 76 7mm Dakota it has a Leupold 4.5x-14x scope on in the pic,but now it has a Leupold 6x scope.



Cow elk I killed with it.