Alpine Firearms Co = PH clone?

[kell2784]

A recently acquired .243 rifle I picked up has the 'Firearms Co. Alpine" marked on the barrel, but it definitely appears to be a Parker Hale action. Does anyone have any info on these old rifles, or what the Alpine resembles most? (ie: a PH 1200? or Santa Barbara design?
It feeds great, and the ultra slim barrel is nice to carry all day, but the bolt handle is a tad awkward, and I may turn it down, or install another one.

Thanks

 

[dan belisle]

The later PH rifles were Santa Barbera actions. At one point they marketed a lightweight (slimmed down stock, pencil weight barrel) rifle very similar to what you described. There were quite a few "manufacturers" back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s who just bought 98 style commercial actions, either from Spain or eastern Europe and put together sporter rifles. - dan

 

[bearhunter]

Most of the Alpine models I have seen were made from "surplus" military K98 actions. When Alpine went out of business in the mid 70's, Lever Arms in Vancouver was selling off a bunch of the leftovers. Picked up several actions and barrels (new manufacture) and stocks dirt cheap. I still have one kicking around.
They had a nasty habit of grinding off the tops of the recievers to get rid of the markings and crests. In my opinion they gorund off to much.
They may well have used commercial 98 actions as well, it's easy to tell, the surplus actions have have the thumb cutout on the left side.
The actions I bought were well finished and made by several different factories, FN, BRNO, etc. The actions weren't quite sanitised completely yet so some of the origins were still visible. bearhunter