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Minimalist .375

My Frankonia "Safari" .375 H&H Magnum.
Made in Germany in 1983.
Its built on a war-surplus Mauser-98 C-ring receiver.
Easy to carry, 7 lb. without scope.

I made a few changes to make this basic, functional and reliable rifle even more basic, functional and reliable. The original trigger was a Timney (see 1984 Frankonia catalog below). I don't want a fussy trigger on a big game rifle, so instead of messing around adjusting a Timney, I swapped it out for a bullet-proof single stage FN Mauser-98 trigger that breaks very clean at approx. 5 lb. Because I wanted to scope it (and only because of that) I replaced the three-position military safety and shroud with a two-position bolt-locking safety installed in a shroud that I already had on hand. The safety worked very smoothly and positively with the new bolt. No modifications to trigger or safety were necessary and both installed in minutes. An older and very reliable Swarovski 1.5–4.5X20 in Warne rings was mounted as low as the bolt handle and safety would allow. I oiled and waxed the stock inside and out and hosed the metal down with G96 Gun Treatment. I prefer the more difficult to remove (accidentally or not) military-type floorplate (with no protruding release button!) rather than a folding floorplate.

The open sights are basic, functional and reliable as well: for the rear, just one very sturdy fixed leaf and up front a big square brass "bead". This is a type made by Recknagel/ERA in Germany and apparently now sold by NECG for the USA.

For fun I polished the brass mag follower and lightly polished the bolt, just because I don't like blued bolts.

Edited by rpeck (13/05/17 10:35 AM)

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