So yesterday was the last day of deer season in TN (on private lands). I have been wanting to hunt my 95 year old German combo gun for several years (it's born on date is 1927). The rifle barrel is a 6.5x52r, commonly known as a 25-35 Win in the US. I handload the Hornady 110 grain FTX bullet on top of 26.5 grains of CFE 223 and a CCI 200 primer for ~ 2200 fps. I took this photo in the tree stand before sunset. Right after sunset I had 7 deer come right toward me, picked out a nice doe and downed her at around 40 yards which was just to the right of the fallen tree on the right edge of the photo. Rifle, scope, and bullet performed perfectly! The old Zeiss 4x scope with the #4 reticle worked like a champ in the dark woods after sunset. Top of the heart shot, deer ran maybe 30 yards. I had a Browning X-bolt 30-06 in the stand also, but using this old classic has been a goal for a while, it made the hunt that much more special. Unfortunately I didn't get a good photo of the deer because we spent a fair amount of time recovering 3 other deer my friend dropped out in the fields (west TN area has 3 does a day limit as we are overrun with deer). He said there were over 20 deer in the two fields he was hunting. Last day of the season is a meat mission for him. By the time we got back to my deer it was pitch dark and we were tired and in a hurry. We dropped the deer off with a family a few miles away, they were ecstatic for all the meat they were getting.

I wrote about this gun here a few years ago. Bought it locally at an estate auction, it needed some work. Did not have a scope or mounts, stock needed repair and refinishing. I bought the Zeiss Jena scope from a member here and refinished it. Did some mounting measurements and bought a couple sets of claw mounts from eBay Germany. I used a mount from each set and hand fitted them to the rifle for a 100% solid and repeatable fit (at least 8 hours worth of work if I remember). Another member here gave me dozens of reloading articles for the round, many decades old but there was a newer one where the author worked up loads using the new-ish Hornady FTX bullet and CFE-223 powder. I have a fair amount of this powder and really liked the results I was getting with various charges I settled on a moderate charge as I don't want to drive this old gun very hard. No need to. It was a fun project getting this rifle working, now I finally got it bloody a few years later!

Nice! I don;t think they had many deer 60 years ago when I was a kid.

Damn that is all kinds of cool!

Yessir that’s mighty fine piece. Looks like your handy work paid off. 👍

Gorgeous rifle!

very cool rifle for sure

Thanks for sharing, very cool rifle .

Very nicely done. That is a real classic and good looking gun

Sweet rifle, Congrats on the deer!

Thanks for all the compliments, I appreciate it.

Forgot to mention bullet performance. Dead deer really quick, so in my scientific opinion it worked well . Pass through, so no bullet recovery. Seems contrary to modern opinion that a bullet needs to be doing mach 5, but 2200 fps worked just fine. A perfect .257 hole on entrance (really hard to see through the fur actually), guessing around 3/8" on exit. Good blood trail, even though I could see the fallen deer from where it was shot.

Awesome job on both the rifle and the deer Cotis!

Im.still at it until Mar 15th. Lol

Nice!!

Love it when a plan comes together! Great story and beautiful rifle. Wish I had the skills to do that.

Good job ! My first deer was a spike, shot with a 25-35 Winchester model 94, it was borrowed gun from my father's friend.
Open sights, in PA late 50's, my first deer.

late because I missed the original post, but cotis that is very cool!

Uber neat rifle and story, I bought an Oberndorf Mauser several years ago that had claw mount bases on it. I made the claw mount to fit, this involved many hours of trial and error fitting but the end result was well worth the effort.

Very cool. Congrats

great gun, found a 25-35 over 20ga, only thing that stopped me...$8995.

The gun in the photos is a 20 gauge over 6.5x52r. The Germans know how to do it, I patterned the shotgun barrel with the rifle sights one day and the darn thing shot EXACTLY to the point of aim at 35 yards on a patterning board. And it was TIGHT, like all pellets within 24" at that distance. I can smash the heck out of clays on the trap range with it. Would hate to shoot skeet with it though

I paid much less for mine, remove one of the 9's from your price

Another feature of this old rifle that I REALLY like is the built-in rifle cartridge carrier in the buttstock. It fulfills the need for my techie cool stuff itch, in a classy way. I never have to worry about not having a bullet to shoot when I grab the gun and head out.

Very nice rifle! Thanks for sharing.