Favorite Rifle

My Favorite Rifle

Deer season has opened and it got me thinking about rifles, specifically my favorite rifle. 

My favorite rifle is a 25-06 that I built on a commercial FN Mauser action. This rifle was one of the first rifles that I ever built. I spent a lot of time researching calibers, barrel lengths, stock configurations, wood types before I built it. I put all this research into practice and built what I considered to be a perfect rifle.  It had been my go to large game rifle ever since. 

But that is not why it is my favorite.  The story starts a little earlier than that. 

I was a young man in my 20s and was reading every book I could to teach myself how to build rifles. I spent many hours practicing on old worn out Mauser actions in the shop and had decided that I was ready to build "the ultimate rifle" I wanted a commercial Mauser action as the base of this rifle. Whenever I could I looked at the used rifles in gun shops to find my perfect action. 

I was in a gun shop with my girlfriend and noticed an old JC Higgins 30-06 in the used gun rack. I inspected it and found that it had a near new FN Commercial Mauser action on it. The barrel had some light rust and the stock was beat up. But the action was perfect! This was my perfect action for my project because I was not going to use the barrel or stock. 

The problem was at the time I was broke and did not have the money to buy it. So I had to put it back on the rack. I went back several months later when I had saved up the money to buy it, but it had been sold. 

Six months later on Christmas morning my girlfriend gave me a present, it was a long rectangular box and for the life of me I could not figure out what she would give me in a box that shape. When I opened it I found that JC Higgins, FN Mauser Rifle in it! She has gone back the next day and bought the rifle for me, then she kept it under her bed for six months! 

I built my 25-06 on that action and it will be the last firearm that I would ever part with. Saying it is my favorite is an understatement. 

My 25-06 getting ready to go on a deer hunt

As for the girlfriend, I married her and she is now my wife. 

Vineyard Update

The Vineyard is doing well. Lots of leaves and growth. It is a world of difference form a few months ago when the vines were dormant and we cut them back. The leaves are a nice deep green and look very healthy. 

 The grape clusters are looking really good, nice big clusters with very uniform fruit.

Pretty soon the grapes sugar content will start to increase, they will turn red and start to mature. At that point we will net the vineyard to protect them from birds. In the mean time we just keep watering them and watching them grow. 

Beretta Stock Update

 Upgrading my Beretta 

After letting the new finish cure for several months, I finally got around to fitting my Beretta stock and fore end. I bought Beretta factory wood thinking that I would just bolt them on. Boy was I wrong. You would think that a mass produced shotgun like the Beretta 686 would have a stock that bolts right on; but it required much more hand fitting than I expected.

After realizing that the stock would not just bolt on I got out the soot lamp and started fitting the wood. I use a home-made soot lamp to coat the metal in a thin layer of soot, then bring the wood and metal together. The soot transfers to the wood where it comes in contact. I then remove the wood where the soot is and start the process all over until there is the necessary clearance or the parts are mating firmly (whatever is needed).

Here you can see the black marks left by the soot lamp, you can also see some of the areas that I have removed with a scraper. This is a tedious process and one that should not be rushed. Little bits of material are removed and then the fit is checked. This process is repeated several times. 

 After the buttstock was fitted the lamp was turned on the barrels to fit the fore end.

 Again, I was surprised how much material needed to be removed.

A scraper and sandpaper (with a block backing) were used to do most of the work on the fore end. 

Here I have the pieces together and am using a piece of paper to confirm that there is clearance between the barrel and the fore end. 

Here is the final job, it looks much nicer than the plain factory wood.