Being a sucker for any orphan gun that needs a new owner, I'm putting the finishing touches on this project....an Old School 30BR.
It's entire history is a bit murky but it was certainly an East Coast gun at one time. After that, it somehow made it's way to the wilds of the deepest, darkest Iowa sub continent, then through multiple hands following the death of it's owner. It ended up in the western 'Forbidden Zone' (western South Dakota) and then, like an orphan being dropped at a convent, it ended up on my doorstep one frosty January morning.
The metal work was done by Gary Long, a long time BR rifle 'smith from Millville, Pa. He and his wife Helen were very involved with the IBS and Gary was known for doing very good work. It's a 700 with a Panda foot print sleeve that Speedy Gonzales had available at one time. Bolt handle is a Holland that's been well timed with good mechanical camming. Barrel is twisted 1: 15. It's likely a Hart as Gary used a lot of those. The chamber has a bit more free bore than we'd do now but nothing too out of line. With my 1.00" 7 ogive bullets, the base of the neck is right at the halfway point down the neck to the 'TP' (Touch Point) so that's all good. The chamber is a .330 neck and the chamber and barrel both look very good. Randy Robinett shortened the barrel a smidge and did a nice indicated crown. Mike Bryant fitted a .703 sleeve to the rear of the bolt body to snug things up a bit. Thank you gentlemen!
I'm not sure who made the laminated stock. It had a lot of barrel movement when the front action screw was cracked loose, so I milled the old bedding out and made new pillars. In the mill, there was a definite high spot mid way along the length of the action. I also gave the bottom of the fore end a little New School panache. The ejector hole is plugged and my suspicion is that the plug is epoxied in since the plug is the standard .160 700 ejector size. Will see if I can get that out and get an ejector back in there. As it sits with a 21 oz. scope, its 11lb/13oz which gives plenty of leeway for balancing it.
There's 50 prepped cases here waiting to go once the weather straightens out. We ended up with 12" of new snow and high winds over the last couple days so my test fires today will be into a snow bank.
Here's a couple pics...the bedding pic was right after the barrelled action came out, prior to any chamfering, radiusing, deburring or other clean up. The pad under the barrel shank was there from the original bedding job but since it wasn't contacting the shank, I left it. The original bedding material was some sort of green-ish grey stuff. When I got it initially, there was .015-.016 of barrel movement when the front action screw was loosened. After the redo, it has right at .001 max. and the barrelled action falls right out...no binding anywhere.
Maybe some shooters from the North East can put the original owners name to it. I'd heard a couple rumors that this may have been one of Gary's personal rifles but that's not certain.
Always good to get these guns back out and doin' what they were meant to do. Every time I look at it I think of the Led Zeppelin song 'Boogie With Stu'......
https://youtu.be/REAP66zFhxU
Good shootin' -Al
It's entire history is a bit murky but it was certainly an East Coast gun at one time. After that, it somehow made it's way to the wilds of the deepest, darkest Iowa sub continent, then through multiple hands following the death of it's owner. It ended up in the western 'Forbidden Zone' (western South Dakota) and then, like an orphan being dropped at a convent, it ended up on my doorstep one frosty January morning.
The metal work was done by Gary Long, a long time BR rifle 'smith from Millville, Pa. He and his wife Helen were very involved with the IBS and Gary was known for doing very good work. It's a 700 with a Panda foot print sleeve that Speedy Gonzales had available at one time. Bolt handle is a Holland that's been well timed with good mechanical camming. Barrel is twisted 1: 15. It's likely a Hart as Gary used a lot of those. The chamber has a bit more free bore than we'd do now but nothing too out of line. With my 1.00" 7 ogive bullets, the base of the neck is right at the halfway point down the neck to the 'TP' (Touch Point) so that's all good. The chamber is a .330 neck and the chamber and barrel both look very good. Randy Robinett shortened the barrel a smidge and did a nice indicated crown. Mike Bryant fitted a .703 sleeve to the rear of the bolt body to snug things up a bit. Thank you gentlemen!
I'm not sure who made the laminated stock. It had a lot of barrel movement when the front action screw was cracked loose, so I milled the old bedding out and made new pillars. In the mill, there was a definite high spot mid way along the length of the action. I also gave the bottom of the fore end a little New School panache. The ejector hole is plugged and my suspicion is that the plug is epoxied in since the plug is the standard .160 700 ejector size. Will see if I can get that out and get an ejector back in there. As it sits with a 21 oz. scope, its 11lb/13oz which gives plenty of leeway for balancing it.
There's 50 prepped cases here waiting to go once the weather straightens out. We ended up with 12" of new snow and high winds over the last couple days so my test fires today will be into a snow bank.
Here's a couple pics...the bedding pic was right after the barrelled action came out, prior to any chamfering, radiusing, deburring or other clean up. The pad under the barrel shank was there from the original bedding job but since it wasn't contacting the shank, I left it. The original bedding material was some sort of green-ish grey stuff. When I got it initially, there was .015-.016 of barrel movement when the front action screw was loosened. After the redo, it has right at .001 max. and the barrelled action falls right out...no binding anywhere.
Maybe some shooters from the North East can put the original owners name to it. I'd heard a couple rumors that this may have been one of Gary's personal rifles but that's not certain.
Always good to get these guns back out and doin' what they were meant to do. Every time I look at it I think of the Led Zeppelin song 'Boogie With Stu'......
https://youtu.be/REAP66zFhxU
Good shootin' -Al
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