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taw1126
.333 member


Reged: 24/07/07
Posts: 290
Loc: Texas
My "Round the World Rig", Finally Completed
      #215468 - 25/08/12 01:39 PM

And what a long, strange trip it's been.

I love rust blue and well-finished walnut as much as anyone, but be warned...this is a "working rifle" built on a modern Mauser action, and not one of the works of art that gets posted to NE pretty regularly.



This Empire Rifles takedown was acquired in December 2009 with a 24-inch barrel in .30-'06 and a 26-inch barrel in 6.5-'06. Each barrel had a banded front sight but no rear sights since the rifle had been ordered with the optional peep sight that mounts on the rear bridge dovetail. George Sandmann was selling it for the original owner, who was apparently feeling the effects of the economic downturn. Unfortunate for him, but I was able to buy the rifle at a substantial discount.



If the second barrel was in 6.5x55 I probably would have left the rig alone, but the 6.5-'06 never turned me on. When I bought the rifle I asked George about getting a 9.3x62 barrel assembly built & he didn't seem all that eager to do it “due to the backlog of orders" he had to work through (we'd find out later that wasn't the full story).

In April 2010 I sent the 6.5-'06 assembly to Empire. I'll spare everyone the full story, but by February 2011 I had pestered George enough that he agreed to get to work as soon as I sent him a 50% deposit and the action/stock assembly. In May or June of 2011 it was clear that Empire was in serious trouble, and I couldn't get return calls or emails. I ended up calling the local police chief and got my rifle returned, at my expense, and lost the deposit I put down.

I took some detailed measurements of the 6.5-'06 barrel and figured out that it was beefy enough to be a candidate for re-boring to 9.3x62. In August of 2011 my local gunsmith sent everything to Danny Pedersen (Classic Barrel Works) and by January 2012 we had it all back and ready for the other "stuff" I wanted done. Length was cut back to 20-inches and a banded Masterpiece front sight was mounted with a gold sourdough on top. Warne QD rings and a rib were fitted so I could use a 2.5x scout scope for hog hunting (I use a Leupold 3.5-10x40 in Empire QD rings with the .30-'06 and I have another set of the same rings that I'll probably mount a fixed 4x in for use with the 9.3).

Cutting foam to house everything neatly in the Storm case is on my "to-do" list but I haven't figured out which tools will get the job done to my satisfaction so that may take awhile to get done.

In practice I really doubt that I'm done acquiring rifles, but in theory I think I could hunt anything & everything I'll ever run into with this 2-barrel set!



Edited by CptCurl (12/11/12 02:58 AM)


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tinker
.416 member


Reged: 12/03/05
Posts: 4835
Loc: Nevada
Re: My "Round the World Rig", Finally Completed [Re: taw1126]
      #215469 - 25/08/12 02:27 PM

Nice set.
sorry to hear about the troubles.

How does it shoot?




Cheers
Tinker

--------------------
--Self-Appointed Colonel, DRSS--



"It IS a dangerous game, and so named for a reason, and you can't play from the keyboard. " --Some Old Texan...


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gryphon
.450 member


Reged: 01/01/03
Posts: 5487
Loc: Sambar ground/Victoria/Austral...
Re: My "Round the World Rig", Finally Completed [Re: tinker]
      #215474 - 25/08/12 03:25 PM

I would be very happy to house it here,nice.

--------------------
Get off the chair away from the desk and get out in the bush and enjoy life.


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Rockdoc
.400 member


Reged: 07/12/06
Posts: 1213
Loc: NSW, Australia
Re: My "Round the World Rig", Finally Completed [Re: gryphon]
      #215492 - 25/08/12 08:52 PM

Wow that is a really nice and practical setup.

Is that a custom - propriertary stck?

Cheers, Chris


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NitroXAdministrator
.700 member


Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 39928
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...
Re: My "Round the World Rig", Finally Completed [Re: Rockdoc]
      #215528 - 26/08/12 05:35 PM

When I hunted with Brian Harre in NZ in 1993 he was making takedown rifles mostly M70's.

I dreamed of a similar rifle for two decades as an "international hunting rifle" with two or three barrels. In full custom setup would have cost a substantial amount, so finally settled on my factory "Extreme" model Mauser M03 with several barrels. Also a 'plastic' stock.

Nice rifle you have. I'm not personally for a scout scope setup but everything else looks very usable to me. Good chamberings too.

I'm going to check out a wider storm case to, as it is difficult to transport several barrels, scope etc without something like that.

Coincidentally I have recently been thinking of what to do with my heavy .30-06 barrel on my M03. And also was thinking could it be bored out to a new calibre? Time to start a new thread on it.

I do like the takedown size, where it separates in front of the action. Nice and compact.

--------------------
John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"


Edited by NitroX (26/08/12 07:47 PM)


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taw1126
.333 member


Reged: 24/07/07
Posts: 290
Loc: Texas
Re: My "Round the World Rig", Finally Completed [Re: Rockdoc]
      #215593 - 27/08/12 03:05 AM

Quote:

How does it shoot?

Cheers
Tinker




Tinker- only time I’ve ever shot it for groups was about two years ago, getting ready for a Coues hunt. I shot two groups off sandbags at 200 yards (with the .30-’06 barrel) that went around 1.8” using factory Federal 180-grain Power-Shok. I was very happy with that from a takedown, and when I check zero at 100 yards I feel like 220-grain RN group better than 180’s. I did have trouble getting 200-grain Sierra Game Kings to shoot consistently for some reason I can’t explain.

I did some plinking Saturday afternoon with the 9.3 barrel. Shoots fine with sights or scope from what I can tell, but chambering rounds feels a little “sticky” so I’m going to have the ‘smith take a look at it.

Quote:

Is that a custom - propriertary stck?

Cheers, Chris




Chris- I owned one of Empire’s lightweight “Liberty” rifles and it had a Bansner stock on it; the stock on this takedown rig is way too heavy to ever be confused with a featherweight NULA or Bansner. I’ve read that Empire’s “standard” synthetic stocks were made by Bell & Carlson but the design is definitely unique. In addition to the very open grip and cheekpiece, this stock has about 3/8” of cast-off… I’ve never seen another synthetic with cast. I’ve got a photo that shows this pretty well but Photobucket won’t work for me right now.


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taw1126
.333 member


Reged: 24/07/07
Posts: 290
Loc: Texas
Re: My "Round the World Rig", Finally Completed [Re: NitroX]
      #215595 - 27/08/12 03:12 AM

John- I like the Mauser M03 design much better than its peers/competitors (Blaser, Sauer, Merkel switch-barrels). Had a standard version in .30-'06 for awhile, and if I could find an Extreme for a better-than-average price I'd probably buy another.

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Igorrock
.400 member


Reged: 01/03/07
Posts: 1651
Loc: Finland
Re: My "Round the World Rig", Finally Completed [Re: taw1126]
      #215661 - 27/08/12 05:47 PM

Mauser M03 has been very long time my favourite "change-the barrel-easy" -rifle but last spring I firs time dried Schulz & Larsen M97 rifle. Here in Finland it´s price is very compeitive, I feel it very handy and it´s outfit looks me more like normaly hunting rifle. You could have the stock with a straight butt comb too. They have a real take down -model and a custom models too but they cost much more.



--------------------
http://promaakari.wordpress.com/

Edited by CptCurl (12/11/12 03:00 AM)


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taw1126
.333 member


Reged: 24/07/07
Posts: 290
Loc: Texas
Re: My "Round the World Rig", Finally Completed [Re: Rockdoc]
      #215685 - 28/08/12 12:43 AM

Chris-
Finally got photobucket to work...here's a photo attempting to show the cast in the stock.



Edited by CptCurl (12/11/12 03:01 AM)


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