Mannlicher Metal Nose Caps And Full Length Wood?

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Rick

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My friend/gunsmith wants to recreate this rifle: It's a custom Mannlicher stocked Husqvarna Husky (selling name here in Canada in the 1960s, not correct model number) with a Mauser steel triggerguard/floorplate and magazine rather than the original alloy, chambered in 35 Whelen:

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Metal schnabel nose cap semi fully fabricated. He would prefer not to have to go that route.

NECG and others used to sell this nose cap:

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I have contacted NECG, who told me they sourced these Mannlicher nose caps from a company in Germany who is no longer making them. Web searches of other potential sources who used to offer them for sale i.e. Brownells have been fruitless. The source ended about three years ago, apparently, and everything that had made it to North America is gone now.

So:
  1. Does anyone have one of these laying around unused, they'd be willing to sell for less than handing over my first born (which we were unlucky enough to not have to offer in trade anyways)?
  2. Does anyone know of something similar in shape and lines being offered to the gun trade, and who that would be? Brownells' currently available nose caps look (to my eyes at least) intended to do double duty as field expedient bottle openers.
  3. Does anyone have a rifle with this nose camp mounted that they can take pictures from various angles of for me to give my friend (the nosecap on the rifle pictured above is not from NECG but an altered nosecap) as the basis for another alteration project.
As for the full length stock blank, Jerry Fisher's widow Celeste had a very nice Mannlicher length blank for sale among some of his other stuff at the Kalispell gun show a few weeks ago. When this project came up a week later I called her up and she told me one of Jerry's gunsmith friends had come by to visit just the day before and decided to take it off her hands.

So I'm back to looking for a full length Mannlicher blank. I'd like exhibition grade wood of course, but this is specifically intended to be a hunting rifle, not for show, so if it isn't blonde and has some decent dark figure in it, I'll be happy.

Thanks for any help; at 70, this is probably going to be my last rifle and hopefully we'll get the components sourced and the rifle done while I've still got the legs to hunt with it for more than just a couple of seasons.
 
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That looks close enough and the price is right for now - cheap like borscht as a friends' mom used to say. I'll buy one of those while waiting to see if something closer to that NECG nose cap becomes available. I tried to get a detailed look at pictures of Ruger's International rifles; but what I saw was pretty vague and some suggested they might look more like what Brownells' offers, but at that price I'm going to grab one

Thank you!
 
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Rick said:
I tried to get a detailed look at pictures of Ruger's International rifles
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The Ruger International has a nice classic shape overall. I like the straight comb. Something similar to that would be my choice for a full stock rifle except it needs to have a 20 or 21" bbl to make it less clubby in appearance.

Just my 2 cents. :)
 
I wish I had bought on of these Remington Custom Shop Model Seven MS in 35 Rem when they were offered. With a young family and a stay at home mom, a gun like that was not an option. Now they are scarce and quite expensive.

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SuperCub said:
I wish I had bought on of these Remington Custom Shop Model Seven MS in 35 Rem when they were offered. With a young family and a stay at home mom, a gun like that was not an option. Now they are scarce and quite expensive.

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Those are beauties, always wanted one in 7mm-08. Like you, too poor at the time. - dan
 
SuperCub said:
The Ruger International has a nice classic shape overall. I like the straight comb. Something similar to that would be my choice for a full stock rifle except it needs to have a 20 or 21" bbl to make it less clubby in appearance.
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The donor rifle/receiver was a Tradex Husqvarna Mannlicher stocked rifle. There were two things I didn't like about the rifle.

First, the forend was a two piece stock; they did an extremely good job of matching the wood and grain and the joint is barely visible, but I wanted a single piece stock. Second is that the lines of the forestock made it look whip thin, like it was too long.

I don't recall what the original barrel measures, but the barrel on the rifle at the top measures 21" - pretty close to the original barrel length on the Tradeswinds imported "Husky" featherweight rifles they imported in the 1960s (I think they were the 4000 series with some changes made for the North American market). The forend and lines on that rifle, in my perhaps prejudiced opinion, are just about right to give the rifle a look of proportion. Not too skinny, not too clubby.

I did ask him to recreate the thin butt and comb that is on the Husky model of rifles simply because 50+ years of hunting with three of those rifles has taught me they put my eye exactly where it should be behind the scope when I bring a rifle up into the aim. I don't want to change what works for me at this late stage of my hunting career.

Whoever ends up with it after I go for the long dirt nap can modify the stock with no complaints from me.
 
Sako had mannlicher carbines with a steel muzzle cap -- it wasnt a schnabel design but it did have an integral ring that enclosed the end of the barrel which was an elegant feature imo
 
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