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. 

Fire...

Summer in California

Growing up in California you get used to Fires. Especially in summer and fall. In the past few years we have had several large fires within 20 miles of our home/vineyard and many small fires that the fire department put out before they got too big. 

Last Saturday I was sitting in my home office enjoying the air conditioning and I heard a loud rumble of a jet engine. I am like a little kid and when I hear a jet engine or rotor blades that are out of the normal; I usually go running out to see what it is. This time it was an MD80 firefighting plane making a low pass over our house. 

Then I noticed the billowing smoke cloud. I was not sure where it was so I climbed up the hill and found that it was on the other side of a major road so we were pretty safe. Turns out it was on a friends ranch. Fortunately they were all fine. 

 The firefighting helicopters were using the pond on the vineyard across the canyon for water so it made for a pretty exciting afternoon. 

I have to say that the firefighters are getting really good at putting out these fires. In the last few months there have been several brush fires in my area and with the help of the fixed wing aircraft and helicopters the fire department has gotten things under control very quickly. This one was contained by the next morning.

So a big thank you to all the Firefighters out there, I sleep much better knowing that you are there when we need you. 

After the Hunt

After the Hunt

When people find out that I hunt they usually want to know what I do with the animal. My response is usually "I eat it" with a confused look on my face.

People hunt for many reasons, some people are trophy hunters and like to adorn their walls with mounts. Although I do have my first deer mounted in my home office (I mounted it myself) I do not really have trophy mounts. I do have my antlers from Scotland hanging in my garage, but that is to remind me of the days in the Highlands. I don't foresee having a game room in my house it is just not my thing.  The real reason that I hunt is for the experience and the meat.

I enjoy being able to feed my family meat that I have harvested, butchered, and prepared. With prepackaged food I think that people are getting more and more detached from what they are eating. They don't understand that a life was given up to provide you with that hamburger. I have a great deal of respect for the animals that I harvest and am proud that I use them to provide food for my family.

Ok, I will get off my soap box. Some hunters take their game to a butcher to process the animal for them. I have never taken an animal to a butcher. I have always done it myself and have set up my garage to do the initial butchering.  Once broken down I do the rest in the kitchen.

 I have a winch installed in the ceiling of my garage to hoist the animals when I am doing the skinning and quartering. Originally I had just a simple hook and a block and tackle and it did the job fine. But the winch is a really cool addition.

I keep the door closed and keep it relatively cool in the garage and it works out great for the initial separating of the animal.

 I usually skin and then quarter the animal in my garage. From there I put the quarters, tenderloins, loins, ect. into a refrigerator to cool and age for about a week.

For this I have an old keg-orator that I have converted to hold meat. I reinforced the top of the keg-orator so that I can use stainless steel hooks to hang the meat. I wish I had a picture of it with meat in it but unfortunately I do not. I have a tray in the bottom to catch the drippings.

Having beer on tap in the garage was cool, but using the refrigerator to hold meat is much more productive!

 Finally the meat is frozen and used to feed my family. Here is some pulled pork that was made from the pig above.

 Some simple breakfast sausage from the same pig. It is really easy to make and my kids love it. An added benefit is that the meat is really lean compared to store bought breakfast sausage so my kids are not getting a ton of fat from it.

 Some pork loin steaks from the same pig.

My kids have been raised on wild game. Both of my children know where meat comes from and have a respect for the animals that they eat.

Gunsmith Screwdrivers

Screwdrivers

Anyone who tinkers with guns should have some Gunsmith Parallel Ground Screwdrivers. Standard hardware store screwdrivers do more damage to guns than anything else. It is really important to use parallel ground screwdrivers that fit the screw to make sure that you don't damage the heads of screws.

Nothing ruins a nice Rifle or Shotgun like buggered up screws!

I really like the Grace Screwdrivers but there are many other options. Brownell's makes a line of Magna-tip screwdriver bits. They can be inserted into a standard bit driver handle. They make hundreds of sizes and they are only a few dollars a piece. They are a really good option for someone that is just building a tool kit or for a weird size that you don't use often.

If I were to pick only one screwdriver to have it would be the Grace N3, I use it for most of the work that I do on Rifles. It is used for almost every trigger guard and bottom metal screw that I have come across. It is the most useful of all my screwdrivers.

I also have several specialty screwdrivers, there is one for the Leupold ring windage screws on Leupold scope bases and the long Phillips bit that I use for removing recoil pad screws. This is a simple bit that I bought at the hardware store. I polished the bit so that it would not mar the holes in recoil pads.

I have a set of Magna-bits that are very thin, they are made specifically for English Shotguns. I have done some work on my Holland and Holland and I wanted to make sure that I did not screw up the screws on that gun!

Anyway here is my assortment of Gunsmithing Screwdrivers. I keep them in my Gunsmithing Tool Box and they are only used for working on guns. I have a drawer in my regular Tool Box full of Craftsman Screwdrivers that are used for other household projects.

Ranger Service

Servicing the Ranger

I like to take care of my equipment. Equipment is a big investment and I am a firm believer that preventative maintenance prolongs the service life of equipment. I like to do the maintenance myself because it gives me a better understanding of the state that my equipment is in. That and let's face it I am cheap! 

I decided to do a Lube and Oil/Filter Change, Service the Front Gearbox, and the Transmission. I chose to use Polaris parts because they provide kits that have all the components and it was not really clear to me if other commercial lubricants were compatible. 

I figured that this would be a good learning experience for my Son so I asked him to help me. 

Here are all my supplies.

First order of business was to give myself a little clearance below the Ranger to work. I decided to use the redneck method of putting 2x6s under the wheels. 

 I am not sure who designed this Ranger, but you have to be quite a contortionist to be able to change the fluids. Here is a picture of me filling the front transmission.  Getting my hands and a wrench in there was quite the endeavor. 

 You would think that this is a picture of me draining the oil. But actually this is a picture of the oil draining after I filled it. I forgot to put the plug back in after I drained the oil. Remember I said that I decided to use this as a learning experience for my son. Well in this case it was learning how not to do it. 

Eventually I did put the plug back in and filled up all the fluids and the Ranger is now fully serviced and ready to be put back to work.