Mine just arrived and the rec room floor is covered with parcel debris. I have several hours to clean up before Her Ladyship returns.
The wood in the butt is very nice. The foreend is nice but plainer. The fit is very good and there are serial numbers over the magazines and front sight block.
The bolt is stiff to operate on my rifle, but with some moly slide, it should get slicker. The magazine bolt hold open is annoying, but I may get used to it. I may convert one magazine so the bolt can close easier.
The bolt has a spring loaded ejector, a la Remington, so ejection should be very positive, unlike the 7,62 conversions, although, it's not really necessary on a target rifle.
The rear sight apertures are quite small, but the sight will be replaced with a Long Branch Mk 1 sight before supper. The front sight post is also quite small, and it is a rotating post to give elevation. If the Ockers were on the ball, they could have made the sight with two dimensions so those of us blessed with aging eyes could have a choice of thicknesses. This will give up some adjustment, but it could be of value to some of us. I'll probably turn down a new front sight when winter comes, unless some bold entrepreneur does it first.
It looks like the receiver can be fitted to take a Parker Hale 5C rear sight. It would require one longer screw to go through the rear sight hole, and a spacer as well as drilling and tapping one hole in the receiver. You would lose about 1/4" of right windage but the P-H has lots to spare. That might be another winter works project.
The cheek piece has two rough hewn and countersunk holes for attaching with wood screws. My plan would to inlet and epoxy two threaded anchors into the butt and attach the cheek piece with socket screws for easy removal with an Allen wrench. The cheek piece is made from an underwhelming piece of scrap teak, but seems very comfortable for scope use.
The butt plate looks like grey cast steel, but if I can, I'll try to find a nice brass one in my junk pile, and polish it up and replace the plain one. The large target sling swivel in front of the magazine can get in the way and will be replaced.
My biggest beef is the lack of charger guides. I would rather be able to load from the top with chargers, than have a spare magazine. I can see a trend to customizing these rifles a bit, not to the extent of the M-14 Norcs, but enough to be interesting. I can envision an enterprising machinist setting up to cut charger slots in these rifles, although it could require relocating the rear scope mounting hole.
The bore is bright and shiny, and I want to sneak out this afternoon to try it. However, my only ammo around here is Federal Gold Medal Match, and I want to keep this rifle strictly for cast bullets. No condom bullets are going down this bore.
Overall, I'm very satisfied with this rifle as it looks quite interesting, and interesting is one of the nicest compliments that I can pay about a rifle these days.
The wood in the butt is very nice. The foreend is nice but plainer. The fit is very good and there are serial numbers over the magazines and front sight block.
The bolt is stiff to operate on my rifle, but with some moly slide, it should get slicker. The magazine bolt hold open is annoying, but I may get used to it. I may convert one magazine so the bolt can close easier.
The bolt has a spring loaded ejector, a la Remington, so ejection should be very positive, unlike the 7,62 conversions, although, it's not really necessary on a target rifle.
The rear sight apertures are quite small, but the sight will be replaced with a Long Branch Mk 1 sight before supper. The front sight post is also quite small, and it is a rotating post to give elevation. If the Ockers were on the ball, they could have made the sight with two dimensions so those of us blessed with aging eyes could have a choice of thicknesses. This will give up some adjustment, but it could be of value to some of us. I'll probably turn down a new front sight when winter comes, unless some bold entrepreneur does it first.
It looks like the receiver can be fitted to take a Parker Hale 5C rear sight. It would require one longer screw to go through the rear sight hole, and a spacer as well as drilling and tapping one hole in the receiver. You would lose about 1/4" of right windage but the P-H has lots to spare. That might be another winter works project.
The cheek piece has two rough hewn and countersunk holes for attaching with wood screws. My plan would to inlet and epoxy two threaded anchors into the butt and attach the cheek piece with socket screws for easy removal with an Allen wrench. The cheek piece is made from an underwhelming piece of scrap teak, but seems very comfortable for scope use.
The butt plate looks like grey cast steel, but if I can, I'll try to find a nice brass one in my junk pile, and polish it up and replace the plain one. The large target sling swivel in front of the magazine can get in the way and will be replaced.
My biggest beef is the lack of charger guides. I would rather be able to load from the top with chargers, than have a spare magazine. I can see a trend to customizing these rifles a bit, not to the extent of the M-14 Norcs, but enough to be interesting. I can envision an enterprising machinist setting up to cut charger slots in these rifles, although it could require relocating the rear scope mounting hole.
The bore is bright and shiny, and I want to sneak out this afternoon to try it. However, my only ammo around here is Federal Gold Medal Match, and I want to keep this rifle strictly for cast bullets. No condom bullets are going down this bore.
Overall, I'm very satisfied with this rifle as it looks quite interesting, and interesting is one of the nicest compliments that I can pay about a rifle these days.
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