Arnies rifle...

[Orchidman]

I may have mentioned Arnie in previous posts. He is 86 years old and a true gentleman. Met him a few years back and have spent a lot of time on the hill with him hunting and swapping stories. A while back BH and I put him onto a trophy Fallow buck...unfortunately he missed. At the range he can hold his own, but in the field its a different story. He shoots an exmilitary 6.5x55 that has been sporterized and done professionally I might add. Last sunday, I put him on to another trophy buck at dusk, but he didnt take the shot as he couldnt see it clearly through the 60yr old Tasco 4 power scope.

As he unloaded his rifle, I asked to look through the scope.....In the half light I couldnt see anything over 30yds away, it was that dark....I gave him my Leica to look through and he certainly noticed the difference.
Bh and I then hatched a plan.....we bought him a new Bushnell 3-9 40mm scope and I gave it to him him on monday night. After an emotional acceptance we shared a glass of port and I offered to set it up for him and do some preliminary 'sighting in'........ so I bought the scope and rifle home.
First thing I did was give the rifle a good clean Boy, did it need it.
Here is a pic of some of the patches I used to remove copper.....

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That was just the first 20 patches...I spent 3 hrs scrubbing copper from the barrel until I was satisfied.
Next was a problem with the bolt being very stiff......Closer inspection showed that the extractor running alongside the bolt was slightly bent so I fixed that.....The action wasnt loose and the lugs locked the bolt tightly.
So yesterday I headed up to the range with all the bits to mount the new scope and sight it in. Got the scope mounted, but had to shim the rings to get clearance for the bolt as it was just grazing the scope.

Bore sighted it and got the rifle on paper at 50yds. Moved out to 100yds and got it on paper with the first shot low and left....made the corrections and , well, the target shows the story....

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2nd shot dead centre. Decided to leave it at that and take Arnie up to finish sighting it in on the basis that, hopefully it will give him some confidence.
Here are some pics of the rifle....note the blonde highlights in the wood..

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And here is a pic of the grip cap made from a stags antler with pic enclosed....

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Its an interesting and classic looking rifle in my view. Am looking forward to sunday when we get some range time......and hopefully onto the buck he passed up last weekend..

[Freezer]

Wow! I really like that rifle. That is great of you to clean it up and re-scope it. I hope the next hunt goes well.

[PFD45]

That'll get you some well deserved karma points.

I thought the wrist adornment was "antler" but it looks like teeth?

Cool, never seen it.

[GrapeApe]

Good on you, my friend.

[Diver43]

Wow that is one good looking rifle.
I bet you made his week. Well done

[Wambli Ska]

Damn fine of you to do this for him. Gorgeous gun and I can’t wait to see a picture of him next to his trophy!!!!

[Elk Creek]

That was a great thing! Good on ya!

[Orchidman]

Thanks guys.
I found out a little more about the rifle. The grip is made from the coronet of a large red deer that Arnie shot in the 60's. He trimmed it to fit the grip and then his wife painted that picture of a wild Himalayan Tahr on the polished centre of the coronet for him. She passed away about 8-10 yrs ago and he has lived by himself since then.
Here is a close up pic of the coronet grip......

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A truly unique grip cap.

[Rugerfan]

That is soooo cool!!!!

[Chiro1989]

Well worth some time to dial in THAT rifle, very cool piece

[jaywapiti]

Great looking rifle, ya did good.

JAY

[Jayhawker]

Well done Alec...damned well done...

[Orchidman]

Thanks guys. I am sure all of you would have done something similar.