Certainly not my words, as they were penned many years ago by Paul Anka in a song given to and recorded by Frank Sinatra. Regret, however, is what I felt this morning as I came upon these photos taken 7 years ago in preparation for the sale of the rifle which is the subject of this post. Here's the story on this one(I love stories). Eleven years ago this month I placed a WTB on the forum looking for a heavy barreled target style rifle in .222 Remington. I said I was looking for a Rem 700 BDL Varmint, a Tikka T3 Varmint, or a Sako HB( I really wanted a vintage L46) I guess any of those three would suffice but stated it had to be in .222. I already owned a rifle in that caliber but since I was planning on rebarreling it to a wildcat I wanted another. I got a couple of responses, one of which was interesting, but nothing really stood out. Then one day I received one that did. It was from a fellow who said he was acting on behalf of a friend whose husband had passed, leaving a rather large collection of quality rifles which he was helping her sell. One of the rifles was a Remington 40XBBR in .222 and would I be interested? I said I was and asked for a couple of photos. They were sent to me and although the photos themselves weren't that great the rifle did look very nice. He said the rifle was being offered for sale with a Leupold Vari-x III 6.5-20x40 EFR scope which was also in vg condition. I distinctly remember being told that the widow had doubted he had ever shot this rifle, as he had so many. I negotiated a fair price and the sale was made. When it arrived and I opened the packaging I was absolutely stunned, it was like new, no --it! There was one small compression ding on the left side of the stock (see pic) but aside from that it looked as though it had never been shot. The scope was in the same condition. The scope was mounted in Kelbly high rings which I didn't care for so I traded them for 3 lbs of N133 powder then used some Leupold rings to mount a B&L 36x which hugged the barrel the way that I preferred. Included with the rifle was some factory literature which said the rifle had a .250 neck and a prefered load of 23.5 grs of 4895 with a 52 gr Remington benchrest bullet. Included also was the initial bill of sale. It was dated 1973 and was from Bashaw Sporting Goods in Calgary Alberta.The serial # and date of sale revealed a production date of 1973 when Mike Walker was still running Remingtons Custom Shop. The original purchaser had also opted for a Remington 24xBR scope included in his purchase.( I can't remember what he paid for the combo). There was also a receipt from the original owner given to the widows husband upon his purchase of the rifle only. Since the sellers phone number was attached I gave him a call and introduced myself. He told me that he had shot one box(20) of shells through it and that it had sat in storage until he had sold just the rifle to the second owner. He still had the original scope and wanted to know if I would like to buy it, since the husband hadn't been interested in it . I can't remember what he wanted for the scope, but it wasn't exorbitant by any means. Aside from the nostalgiac value of reuniting the pair I decided at the time to stick with a more modern optic. I don't know if that was a mistake at the time or not. One of those things I guess...
I put together a few proven loads and began to experiment. I used the old standbys(for me anyway) H4198, H322, and to a lesser degree N133. Bullets were Berger 50 and 52gr and Sierra 52 and 53 gr pills. Winchester and Remington brass would chamber but Lapua brass needed to be neck turned because of the .250 neck. The one thing I found was that this rifle like to be loaded a little on the hot side. For the most part the rifle seemed to run best when loaded pushing max or right at max with a slight bullet jam. Forgive my bias here but you can't really go wrong with the .222 cartridge. I'll be the first to admit that while it's not flashy or neither new and improved, it is both predictable and respectable when loaded within its design parameters. It's also a lot of fun and when chambered in a decent rifle and used with a modicum of skill it can make you look better than you really are.Okay, enough with the talk. Here's some pics...
Some of those groups are decent enough, I've always needed more consistency at technique!
Merry Christmas to all!
I put together a few proven loads and began to experiment. I used the old standbys(for me anyway) H4198, H322, and to a lesser degree N133. Bullets were Berger 50 and 52gr and Sierra 52 and 53 gr pills. Winchester and Remington brass would chamber but Lapua brass needed to be neck turned because of the .250 neck. The one thing I found was that this rifle like to be loaded a little on the hot side. For the most part the rifle seemed to run best when loaded pushing max or right at max with a slight bullet jam. Forgive my bias here but you can't really go wrong with the .222 cartridge. I'll be the first to admit that while it's not flashy or neither new and improved, it is both predictable and respectable when loaded within its design parameters. It's also a lot of fun and when chambered in a decent rifle and used with a modicum of skill it can make you look better than you really are.Okay, enough with the talk. Here's some pics...
Some of those groups are decent enough, I've always needed more consistency at technique!
Merry Christmas to all!
