Newest Project
At the Shot Show, I got to handle and carefully examine several of these.
Kjetil Kverndokk’s college design project has served him well. He’s making these stocks and selling them in Norway, and now they’re for sale in the USA.
So I got one. I have an Interarms Mark X Mauser, a large ring design based on the M98. THe rifle shoots well- it’s a McGowen barrel, so it ought to- but it’s not the prettiest gun on earth- in fact, it’s pretty plain jane, as the earlier pictures attend.
So Saturday I got the stock, and Sunday I spent most of the day setting and doing some final inletting, and this is the result.
You can see the line is unusual and very interesting. The palm swell and the near-thumbhole look odd but feel comfortable under the hand, and the gentle trough in front of the grip naturally guides your index finger to the trigger smoothly and effectively.
The roughened surfaces are very good at giving traction to your hand, with the added benefit of having no distinct pattern. When checkering begins to wear, the broken diamonds are immediately obvious. When this wears, it just looks normal.
You can see where I have had to notch it for the Timney, and the stock blank comes with no bolt handle groove, so I had to cut that, but some coarse sandpaper wrapped around a #3 Phillips screwdriver shank made quick work of that. The notch and the bolt handle groove will have to be touched up with some varnish but that will wait until after I have test fired it.
There are several other items to resolve as well- the back of the receiver needs to be pillar bedded (The front has an integral piller in the receiver) and I need to get the spacing perfect for the magazine cover to open, but it is a handsome looking rifle. I’m not a big fan of “Tactical” looking stuff, but this is- I think- a pretty enough stock that it transcends mall ninja and goes on to abstract art. Still, it feels well, and I will put an American made bipod in front of it and strap out a good leather sling, and I think I will be in business.
The scope is crap, a $100 BSA that really belongs on a 22, and the rings are leupold which I have come to hate. I will be putting some hardcore rings and bases on it come spring, as well as as much mil-dot scope as I can afford, and we shall see if I can reach up to the quality of the bore.
11 comments Og | Uncategorized
Looks like a shooter. What caliber did you end up with on this? Still the original or did you make it something like 7mm or .338?
I might have to get one of these to put under a 30-06 I am slowly improving.
Its still the original 06
Og, if you’re wanting a mil-dot scope, do check into the Vortex Viper PST. I opted for the 4×16 magnification. It’s a 30mm, one piece tube, and is very well made.
I’ve got mine in MOA reticle and turrets, but the optics are right up there in quality. (I just prefer MOA setups…more intuitive to me, I guess)
The PST is available in both first and second focal plane reticles.
No noticeable spherical distortion, no pincushion or barrel distortion, fantastic line-resolution, no spectral abberations…. and very VERY bright and clear optics.
The reticle design just WORKS, and the illumination feature is a plus.
It’s a hell of a lot of scope for about $800, street.
Or, you can go up the Vortex Razor, a 35mm tube, optics to rival Nightforce or Zeiss, and a $2k price tag…. still a bargain in it’s range.
Oh, and my Viper has proven to be highly durable, as it took a full fall from waist height, and didn’t lose zero. Plus, the adjustments DO come back to zero, every time. I’ve run it in 3 gun matches, ranging from 15 yards to 350 yards, and it’s just ON.
Highly recommended!
Plus, that’s a hell of a stock, amigo. I intend a “prettier” stock, but that one is certainly…. tempting.
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
Wonder if I could fit my 8mm to that.
Yes, you could.
The grip resembles what the prone/Palma guys use. Probably don’t have to mention this but leave enough room in the bolt handle slot, if it touches in recoil accuracy will suffer.
Blind: I need to shoot it a bit, then adjust everything. But yeah, you are dead on. Once it has some rounds through it I’m sure things will change/move around.
Lovely! Thanks for the good pictures.
I’m very pleased with the new camera. Of course it also takes great pictutres of the cat hair all over the blanket, showing what kind of housekeepers we are.
Og, cats can just look at something and cover it with hair. No stony aspersions re: housekeeping cast from here; too many glass walls here at Fuzzy Manse.
Nathan: we don’t have a cat.