Ragingcaribou
New member
- Location
- Golden Lake, ON
I just purchased a Kleinguenther K16 in 7mm Rem Mag from a fellow CGNer and thought I'd share it here. I couldn't find anything on the interwebs about the K16 model, only the K14 and K15. From many accounts they were some of the finest hunting rifles you could get. Even the blue books only had values for the K14 and K15. I did a bunch of research and found out the following:
Kleinguenther Distinct Firearms (KDF) was incorporated in 1970 under Robert Kleinguenther and Phil Koehne. It was founded after Robert Kleinguenther convinced the Austrian company Voere that their Shikar rifle wouldn't sell well in the US, and began importing their barrels to produce the Kleinguenther K14. They were essentially a Voere Shikar that was accurized by KDF's shop in Seguin, TX. It was the first rifle to guarantee 1/2 MOA from factory, and incorporated some novel innovations that have been copied since. In 1975, KDF replaced the K14 with the improved K15 model.
Fun Fact: Robert Kleinguenther himself immigrated to the USA from Germany in as one of the head designers for Weatherby, and was a key person in the design of the Mark V.
I couldn't find any information on the K16 rifle anywhere, so I gave KDF a call and spoke to Phil Koehne himself. He was amazed that I had a K16, and that it had made its way to Calgary somehow. Phil said that they only made 3 of the K16 models before the project fell through. He also invited me to go hog hunting with him if I'm ever down in Seguin, TX as long as I bring the rifle with me
The K16 I got had been hunted with and the stock was pretty dinged up. The bluing was still pretty good though and the bore was excellent. I know any collectors would probably be mad, but I'm more of a shooter and hunter myself and I enjoy refinishing guns as much as shooting them, so I started on the refinish. I went for a natural walnut finish with burnt umber water based stain rubbed in to accent the nicks and the checkering. It gives it an aged look but still makes it look nice n shiny. It's a hand rubbed Tru-oil finish. Here are some before and after shots:
Before:
After:
Kleinguenther Distinct Firearms (KDF) was incorporated in 1970 under Robert Kleinguenther and Phil Koehne. It was founded after Robert Kleinguenther convinced the Austrian company Voere that their Shikar rifle wouldn't sell well in the US, and began importing their barrels to produce the Kleinguenther K14. They were essentially a Voere Shikar that was accurized by KDF's shop in Seguin, TX. It was the first rifle to guarantee 1/2 MOA from factory, and incorporated some novel innovations that have been copied since. In 1975, KDF replaced the K14 with the improved K15 model.
Fun Fact: Robert Kleinguenther himself immigrated to the USA from Germany in as one of the head designers for Weatherby, and was a key person in the design of the Mark V.
I couldn't find any information on the K16 rifle anywhere, so I gave KDF a call and spoke to Phil Koehne himself. He was amazed that I had a K16, and that it had made its way to Calgary somehow. Phil said that they only made 3 of the K16 models before the project fell through. He also invited me to go hog hunting with him if I'm ever down in Seguin, TX as long as I bring the rifle with me
The K16 I got had been hunted with and the stock was pretty dinged up. The bluing was still pretty good though and the bore was excellent. I know any collectors would probably be mad, but I'm more of a shooter and hunter myself and I enjoy refinishing guns as much as shooting them, so I started on the refinish. I went for a natural walnut finish with burnt umber water based stain rubbed in to accent the nicks and the checkering. It gives it an aged look but still makes it look nice n shiny. It's a hand rubbed Tru-oil finish. Here are some before and after shots:
Before:
After:
Last edited:
