What is the most unique rifle you ever had?

H4831

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
151   0   0
Location
BC
Thinking back over quite a lot of firearms, one rifle always comes back in memory. I acquired a 303 #1, MK3, "sportserized," with the barrel cut and crowned at about 22 inches. I was just about to trade it off and make $5, when a wild thought came to my mind. I would rebuild it.
I sawed off the ears and surplus iron, then drilled and tapped Weaver bases on it. Routine stuff.
I had available some choice white poplar wood that had been cut for boat building and seasoned for a lot of years. I couldn't get over how light in weight it was, so I made a two piece stock out of it for the Lee Enfield. I made a high comb that just fit the face, while looking down the Weaver K2.5. Stained and oil finished, it was a good looking rifle and the lightest weight big rifle of any I have ever owned.
In keeping with my improvising, I pulled the bullets from military ammo and replaced them with sporting bullets. In the fairly wide open Peace River country I shot the largest mule deer buck I have ever shot. The rifle shot good and was sighted the usual 2 to 3 inches high at 100 yards. I don't know how far the buck was away, but a hold for an eighteen inch drop produced a one shot kill.
No, I don't have the rifle anymore, not even a picture of it.
 
The funest I had was a ar7 I had 2 50 shot clips taped together. If you slapped the bang switcha few times really fast it would go fully auto till it jammed. I mi§s that gun
 
I have a german made ferlach dreilling. Given to me by my grandfather. It's beautifully engraved with 16x16 ga over a 7x57, with a 22 mag insert for one of the 16 ga barrels. topped with a 6x zeiss scope. I have seen one gun with similar engraving but not with the same barrel selection. I guess I should find out what it's worth one of these days. not a spot of bluing wear and sitting in a fine piece of walnut. She sure is pretty on the eyes :)
 
While I have not been collecting rifles all that long, I did become the fortunate owner of an unfired Kimber of Oregon Custom Classic in 222. I virtually knew very little about the rifle except what I had seen on the net. It is my most beautiful rifle, real deep bluing , with a sweet piece of walnut, nice trigger, and a 1 hole shooter at 100 yards. I'm thinking it will be tough to find another. FS
 
A ross straight pull .303 that I sold years ago, a savage model 1920 .250-3000 that I still have, and a rare mannlicher schoenauer sequoia M1924 in 30-06.... of the three the savage is my favorite; I wouldn't call it unique really but it is old and not too common, and it is a sweet, light little rifle that was way ahead of its time I would say..... mine has a VERY low serial # , <1500. Never looked up the year.
 
A ross straight pull .303 that I sold years ago, a savage model 1920 .250-3000 that I still have, and a rare mannlicher schoenauer sequoia M1924 in 30-06.... of the three the savage is my favorite; I wouldn't call it unique really but it is old and not too common, and it is a sweet, light little rifle that was way ahead of its time I would say..... mine has a VERY low serial # , <1500. Never looked up the year.

Those Savage 1920's are great rifles... I've always admired their look with the classy schnabel foreend. Armco had one last year in nice condition, but I hesitated and it was sold.

My most "unique" rifle is a Marlin 1889 44-40 with a 24" half-octagon barrel, made in 1891. The rifle was covered with rust, had a 2x4 shaped as a buttstock, and a broken firing pin. Several of the screws were replaced with old brass Acme-threaded bolts and nuts. The rust came off and left a beautiful, smooth, brown patina with strong blueing in the recessed parts of the metal --- no pitting. Fortunately the bolts had left the receiver threads undamaged, so I replaced them with the proper screws and repaired the firing pin. I'm now in the process of fitting a reproduction buttstock. Once she's back in shooting condition, I'll determine whether to reline the barrel. I found out that the rifle is one of 508 that were made with that barrel configuration, so it's pretty rare, and I bought it for a song, so it's become a "never sell" rifle for me.
 
Hmmm, tough one, for sure!
One that comes to mind was the '76 M70 Palma rifle that was made by winchester for the canadian team members - stripper clip slot and all.
another , of course, is my 6.5X55 express gun that I hunt with.
The most unique, however, may be an Enfield that my fathe re-workerd, cuting off the rear tang and bedding the magazine frame into a one piece stock.
It has a very old Kahles scope in it with European reticle and a hand made flush mount magazine.
I do not know how many animals it has killed , but it is a solid 1.5" shooter at 100 yards and kills anythingit is pointed at .
with 32S&W bullets loaded light it's a great beaver gun as well and was used by my brother on the trapline for a number of years.
The bolt is as fast as anything I have ever cycled.
"The most unique" crown may have to go to my newly aquired but yet to be received 12 bore double flinter my Eric Martins, that I just got in a trade - I got hornswaggelded on the deal by a carpet bagging old viking decendant, but I kinda like the guy and felt sorry for him because he needed a classy gun to make up for his homely demeaner !!(grin)
Cat
 
Scmidt Rubin sniper rifle ZFK-55 all matching even the case for the scope has a matching serial number. Still has a Swiss border police sticker on the stock. Beuatifull rifle to shoot, the Swiss really make some nice rifles.
 
For me, probably the most unique rifle I've ever had, and actually still have is what I picked up to replace the Ruger No. 1 in 22-250 varmint/pred rifle I gave my son. I lucked into an old custom Winchester Highwall in 219 Donaldson Wasp with a matching vintage 10X J.UNERTL scope. Unique, and an antique and accurate. It's favorite diet is Hornady 50gr V-MAX. I've posted this info in past but here goes once more.

WinchesterHighWall219DW-1.jpg


WinchesterHighWall219DWcloseup.jpg


And to show what I mean about the Hornady 50gr V-MAX.

219DWrecenttests.jpg


219DWprevioustests.jpg
 
Norwegian Krag cavalry carbine 6.5X55 original wood sporterized, super light, good iron sights. With a leather lace through the saddle ring and the loop around the shoulder like a bandoleer it was as easy to carry as a handgun, quick to shoulder. Didn't like heavier bullets but smoothest bolt gun to cycle, best center fire magazine system ever produced. Makes any of the present day scouts look lame. Just my .02$ Art --kept several of my farmer friends venison fed.
 
Tough one Bruce, there are only a couple in the safe that you could call normal.

I guess my Savage 40 in 250-3000 would be my favorite of them all. Not that it is so special per se but it was a challenge to locate and has sentimental roots.
It was worth the wait, she's a shooter. After two years the proper T2 scope mount was procured and arrived in the mail today.

Now we must chase the elusive Mule Deer.
DSC03949.jpg


I guess the two 25 Remingtons I have would be next in line and then Great Grampa's Browning T2 T-bolt, my first rifle.:)
 
That is a hard one to answer since I like unique guns right now it would be my William Powel 16 bore pinfire double rifle or my cased Ross1901 Lancaster oval bore rifle
 
Thinking back over quite a lot of firearms, one rifle always comes back in memory. I acquired a 303 #1, MK3, "sportserized," with the barrel cut and crowned at about 22 inches. I was just about to trade it off and make $5, when a wild thought came to my mind. I would rebuild it.
I sawed off the ears and surplus iron, then drilled and tapped Weaver bases on it. Routine stuff.
I had available some choice white poplar wood that had been cut for boat building and seasoned for a lot of years. I couldn't get over how light in weight it was, so I made a two piece stock out of it for the Lee Enfield. I made a high comb that just fit the face, while looking down the Weaver K2.5. Stained and oil finished, it was a good looking rifle and the lightest weight big rifle of any I have ever owned.
In keeping with my improvising, I pulled the bullets from military ammo and replaced them with sporting bullets. In the fairly wide open Peace River country I shot the largest mule deer buck I have ever shot. The rifle shot good and was sighted the usual 2 to 3 inches high at 100 yards. I don't know how far the buck was away, but a hold for an eighteen inch drop produced a one shot kill.
No, I don't have the rifle anymore, not even a picture of it.

Reminds me of the first rifle I hunted with, and got my first deer...a 4x4 mulie...when I was 14, some 42 year ago.

Dad bought the Lee Enfield from Eatons, circa 1963 or so, for the crisp sum of $10. It was typical military surplus, and weighed probably 10 lbs or more.

As you can see from the photo, he chopped the hell out of it, the barrel down to about 19" and stripped every single scrap of extra weight off. He carved the stock out of mahogany himself, but salvaged the forearm. Had the clip trimmed to 5 shots, making sure it was flush fit. Then had Williams peep and Sourdough sights installed.

I'd estimate it weighs about 6 lbs, and carries like a lever 30-30. And shoots pretty good, too. Unfortunately, last time I had it out to the range some 20 years back, discovered it was perforating the primers. Haven't shot it since. But no way will I ever part with it! One of these days I'm gonna have to get that problem fixed.

Thenandnow001.jpg
 
I had a Norinco SKS-M back before C-68, with full capacity AK mags and 16" barrel it was a handy little rig. Technically I never owned it, was to young at the time of purchase and was in fathers name, then I sold it when C-68 passed and I gave up on all firearms for nearly 10 years.

Wish I had it today but the 16" barrel would have likely made it restricted, so no more deer or coyote hunting, but still a fun/cheap range toy.
 
A SVT-40 that my Grandfather traded a Remington Nylon-66 for, the fellow that trade it to him was Finnish I believe and apparently the rifle was captured during the Winter War ( the war the Finns faught with the Russians before WWII) and came with the Finn to Canada. The original Magazine was lost and replaced with a cut down 5 rounder procured for 50 cents from the fellow who ran Globe Firearms in Ottawa. Along with the Magazine came two boxes of 7.62x54r Ammuniton in Globe Firearms boxes, the tags read 1.95$ . The ammuniton was military surplus hard ball with the Full metal patch bullets pulled and replaced with 180 grain softpoints.
 
Reminds me of the first rifle I hunted with, and got my first deer...a 4x4 mulie...when I was 14, some 42 year ago.

Dad bought the Lee Enfield from Eatons, circa 1963 or so, for the crisp sum of $10. It was typical military surplus, and weighed probably 10 lbs or more.

As you can see from the photo, he chopped the hell out of it, the barrel down to about 19" and stripped every single scrap of extra weight off. He carved the stock out of mahogany himself, but salvaged the forearm. Had the clip trimmed to 5 shots, making sure it was flush fit. Then had Williams peep and Sourdough sights installed.

I'd estimate it weighs about 6 lbs, and carries like a lever 30-30. And shoots pretty good, too. Unfortunately, last time I had it out to the range some 20 years back, discovered it was perforating the primers. Haven't shot it since. But no way will I ever part with it! One of these days I'm gonna have to get that problem fixed.

Thenandnow001.jpg

I like that rifle. Looks very smooth.:cool:
 
My Odd Ball

Think the neatest firearm in my collection (so far) has to be my 7.62x39mm, Eygptian made Rasheed (Rashid) Carbine. According to Wikipedia (so it must be true.... :)) it is one of only about 8,000 ever made.
It shoots good, and is very unique.

I don't have a picture of mine I can post, but here is one I culled from the internet.

Carbine_Rasheed.jpg
 
I don't really think this one qualifies as all that unique, but I have only seen a couple. The Baikal TOZ 17 in .22 long rifle. I bought it new in 1977.

The other one I had, (and still kick myself to this day for selling it) and again not unique was my Savage 250-3000. I don't see that many of them around.
 
Back
Top Bottom