Pete Treboldi's Classic 375 H&H and desert gold

Pete Treboldi traveled to the border between South Africa and Namibia last October to hunt Lion with Somerby Safaris. On day three the Kalahari desert gave him the cat of his dreams. He used a Classic 375 H&H we assembled based on a Winchester Model 70 action. This Classic was made per our usual standards and  housed one of our peep sights within the trap grip cavity to accompany the scope. The rifle was fit with the last set of detachable mounts I had in inventory made by the late Tom Burgess. The Lion was taken with two Woodleigh 350gr round nose soft points. The rifle was also used for Eland and Eastern Kudu at some rather extended ranges. Having shot the rifle a lot Pete knew the bullet drop at these ranges and held accordingly. Pete's next destination with this 375 is the C.A.R. on a quest for Bongo.

Visting the Flathead Valley

Just before the Christmas holidays I drove north into the Flathead Valley of Montana to spend some time visiting old friends and attending to some business. I spent 3 of those days as a guest of Jerry & Celeste Fisher. Jerry as usual was kind enough to pull out all the stops and allowed me to handle every project he was currently working on. An almost completed Hagn was in the old Parker vise and a pattern stock for a Winchester Low Wall was being modified to suit. Needless to say I left a lot of fingerprints.  We spent many hours discussing the past, current and the future state of our profession. At 80 years of age he has some opinions and insights that deserve contemplation. I have known Jerry since the late 70's when I worked under his roof as an apprentice and casually sitting again with this master of the trade brought back a flood of memories.

One of the more interesting conversations was of his early days working with Monty Kennedy another grand talent from the past. Using machine turned stocks he was expected to fully inlet 3 FN Mauser on Monday and have all finish on all 3 by the end of the week. I have handled a number of these early rifles from this period and the craftsmanship is as precise as most rifles assembled today. I have a very good friend that has carried a Fisher Stocked 7-mm Durham Magnum every season for over 40 years and has never felt the need for any other big game rifle.

When I arrived Jerry and Celeste were getting ready to travel to the Dallas SCI Convention and he was putting the final  touches to a 505 Gibbs based on a GMA action. The rifle was typical of every Fisher rifle I have handled, it was simply beautiful. Jerry had just finished regulating the iron sights and was awaiting an engraver to cut the yardage lettering into the sight blades so he could blue the sights and complete the assembly.

Jerry's shop is well lit, well laid out, impeccably clean and very comfortable. At some point we dug through his inventory of stock blanks discussing the merits of each and remembering other blanks we wish we could replace with similar attributes.  I found one in particular that he was kind enough to part with for a special project of my own.

 I can only hope I am able to remember who I am when I approach Jerry's age much less be able to execute one project after another with the same unfailing degree of quality. The days spent in Jerry's company was priceless as always.

Scope Mounting Alignment Bars

Quite a few years ago I made up a pair alignment bars to allow us to rapidly and accurately re-mount a set of our 1" and 30mm rings and a variety of scopes during the construction and accuracy testing of a Legend or Classic. This simple tool allows the front and rear rings to be precisely lined up and then tightened down on the receiver through the bar body. We now supply these on request with each rifle assembled with multiple ring sets or a rifle made with our peep sight system and a set of scope rings.

As the years have gone by a number of people have seen us use these bars in the shop or at the range and have requested that we produce them for resale.  These will work quite well on standard Leupold and Burris dual dovetail type rings and bases to allow one to remove the ring and base without having to spin the rings out of the bases and loosening up the dovetail fit over time. They can be used to spin the front ring into place and visually center a dual rear windage screw ring in the optical center of the rear ring and allow one to tighten the windage screws before the scope is installed to prevent bending the scope. 

The most recent issue of Rifle Magazine, January # 266  featured these bars in an article entitled  Scope-Mounting Tools by John Barsness. We'd like to thank John for this review.

The 1" and 30mm scope alignment bars are now an in-stock inventory item. The cost is $90.00 per bar plus the shipping to your destination.

Bound for Germany

We have just finished up two Legends that will shortly leave northern Utah and begin a journey to Germany to the new owners. One rifle is chambered for 458 Lott and is fit with our peep sight system as well as a set of our 1" rings for a Leupold fixed 3X and a Leupold 1.7-6X.

The other rifle is chambered for 375 H&H and has two sets of our scope rings. One set made in 1" for a Leupold 1.75-6X . The other set of 30mm rings are made for a Swarovski Z6-I 1.7-10X42 L.

The rifles will be shipped in a Pelican Model #1750 which is included with each rifle as well as a Wiha adjustable torque screw driver and a set of 1"& 30mm alignment bars to accurately swap out and reinstall either set of rings when required.

We look forward to the field reports on this pair of Legends in the near future. The international interest and clientele list is beginning to increase steadily.

TESTING, TESTING 1 2 3

Phil Shoemaker sent this photo to us recently of one of his rifles that we put some elbow grease into a while back. It is chambered for 9.3x62 and made on a Pre-64 Model 70 action. The stock is a Legend with an Edge shell. This rifle was assembled as a light backup rifle and as a petri dish of sorts for us. The barrel is stainless and coated with Cera-kote, the action and other small parts are caustic blued. The  bolt is rust blued the floor plate and trigger bow are aluminum and covered with the Winchester factory anodizing.

Phil does not abuse his equipment nor does tend to baby it either. This rifle is used like any good tool and due to the location of Phil's zip code is exposed to a bit more environmental abuse in one year than most rifles see in the many years. Our interest in this rifle has been the exterior finish and how well the surface coatings have held up. To date the rust blued surfaces look pretty good. The caustic blued action looks good as well but is now beginning to show some wear. The Cera-kote barrel appears, well Cera-koted except where it's scratched and then the stainless shines through. Despite what we are led to believe not all coatings or applications are all they're cracked up to be and others will surprise you with their durability.

I took a Legend on a Yukon sheep hunt 6 years ago and the Model 70 action was purposely polished to a 400 finish and left in the white. I was testing the protective properties of a lubricant called Corrosion X that was recommended by non other than Phil. This oil was developed as an aircraft lubricant and is now our # 1 go-to gun oil. For 12 days the rifle was pulled in and out of sweat soaked scabbard, drenched with rain, pelted by hale and carried with my grimy hands. This abuse can be tough on any surface finish much less a receiver in the white. I wiped the rifle down every morning before we left camp and every evening when we got back. Laps time per day, 5 total minutes.The Corrosion X kept the action rust free in the areas that I could wipe. The metal under the stock line where I could not wipe did begin growing a very, very fine film of rust in certain small areas. Proving that maintenance in the field is just as important as the coating on the firearm. Having spent more than a few hours in hunting camps I can honestly say I can hardly remember seeing anyone wipe down their rifle after a long hard day on the hill. This disconnect with daily rifle maintenance and how it relates to performance just boggles my mind.

404 Jeffery Classic at the Range

This last weekend we had a client stop by after finishing up a Utah deer hunt to see the progress of his 404 Classic. This left hand Model 70 chambered for 404 Jeffery and another left handed Hagn 300 H&H single shot are in the final construction stages and are presently the center of my attention . We then took the 404 to the range so the owner could run a magazine or two through the rifle to see how the stock fit, felt and handled.

Its early career was in the guise of a Legend that has toured both Botswana and Zambia and showed great service on all accounts. With its French Walnut stock and new barrel the rifle has taken on a whole different look. This rifles hold 5 total rounds and does not require a drop magazine. Complete with our scope mounts, trigger bow & floor plate assembly, loaded and topped with the S&B Zenith 1-4 it tips the scale at 10lbs.

The owner requested that the stock be made without an ebony forend tip installed and I myself have always preferred this tip-less look. With the last 3 rounds the owner hit 3 clay birds at 25-30 yards shooting as fast as he could work the bolt. All 3 clays turned to dust. Now it's on to sanding, finishing and checkering.

Zambian Buffalo and the Legend 375 Ruger

Not to many years ago we were asked if we would consider building a Legend chambered for the 375 Ruger? The query came from Athol Frylinck a veteran Zambian PH and a shameless rifle collector. His request were pretty standard, the rifle had to hold 5 rounds, function under duress, be accurate and had to be made on a Pre-64 Model 70 not the current G series action. We ordered the reamer, found an action and began making the punch and die required to build the 4 round magazine assembly. While the project did present some challenges before it was completed the results met the goal 100%. Over the past 2 years the rifle has become a favorite with his clientele and he has been asked if he'd consider selling it more than once. Despite the perceived limitations of the S&B 6X scope and A4 reticle this Legend will consistently shoot Woodleigh 350gr Soft points and FMJ's into a ragged hole exceeding even our expectations. Pictured above is Athol and John Oosthuizen another PH of considerable reputation and Legend owner and the very rifle laying on it's most recent victim. The lower image is of the same buffalo and the hunter that took the buffalo. One might question Athol's choice of optics yet over the years we have learned to pay attention and keep an open mind to request that are based on experience derived from the trenches everyday. For Athol this rifle had specific guide lines to meet specific situations. The number of buffalo, cats and of plains game taken with this 375 is beginning to mount up. The skinning team can count on overtime whenever this rifle is in tow.