A mid and big bore family portrait

[stickhunter]

Hi all,

I was doing a safe cleaning/inspection today, and thought I'd post up some pictures of three rifles that I feel very fortunate to own. I've been lucky over the years to find some interesting and beautiful custom rifles on the used market that I would have never been able to entertain purchasing at bespoke prices. I'm also a collector and reloader, so I have troubles turning down a reason for getting into yet another cartridge.

From left-to-right is a Sauer 90 in 9.3x64 Brenneke, which I believe was built by Ed LaPour in Washington State, a Santa Barbara Mauser 98 in 416 Ruger built by Martini and Hagn in BC, and a Ruger Safari Magnum in 505 Gibbs built by Steve Holborn in Ontario. The 9.3x64 Brenneke came with a Zeiss 1-4x20 scope in Warne QD mounts and the 416 Ruger came with 2-7x32 Kahles scope in Recknagel pivot mounts.

There are inlayed silver markers on the 9.3x64 Brenneke's rear sight leaves and the Ruger 416 has has some very tasteful (IMO) engraving and timed screws. The 505 Gibbs has an extended magazine and is a working rifle, but it's got character!

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

 

[Mik123]

Wow. Those are some beauties. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Buckmastr]

Very nice rifles!

 

[ohdot]

Those are really sharp with great looking wood

 

[freddyfour]

That Mauser to me stands out the most, quite the beauty.

 

[Big bore dinosaur]

Nice iron. Thumbs up

 

[DGY]

Real nice… especially the middle one!

 

[65cutlass]

I am getting drool all over my screen. Thanks for sharing the pictures

 

[dan belisle]

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing. - dan

 

[deerfarmer]

Great looking family you have there!

 

[Why not?]

WOW! WOW! and WOW!

I have seen and handled quite a few very fine examples over the past 50+ years. Congratulations on probably the finest firearm trifecta I have seen in a long time.

Ted

 

[BlackRam]

Very nice!
Hope you get to shoot and hunt with them too!

 

[conor_90]

That ruger is something else; can’t imagine how many hours went into that gun.

Thanks for sharing

 

[medvedqc]

thank you for sharing.

 

[Eagleye]

Beautiful rifles!! Thanks for sharing. Dave.

 

[boxhitch]

TFS
meant to be shared and displayed, if not used out in the field too

 

[stickhunter]

I'm still looking for an opportunity to take these rifles out to the field. I lent the 505 Gibbs to CGN member Ardent a number of years back for an African hunt he was planning, but unfortunately his trip fell through. He did make a good video testing out a few different rifles, including my 505 Gibbs:

I'm a pretty novice hunter, so just stick to our small Vancouver Island blacktail and black bears. I've gotten the idea to put together a light cast load for the 505, and that might work a treat for the bear. Otherwise, I'm longing for a chance to hunt Bison in Yukon, and would definitely bring one of these rifles with me.

 

[mimile]

Absolutely gorgeous!

 

[smokeater40]

I got wood, looking at all that Beautiful wood.

 

[stickhunter]

Here's a picture of the cartridges - 9.3x64 Brenneke unloaded, 416 Ruger loaded with Hornady 400gr DGX bullet, 505 Gibbs loaded with 600gr solids.