Ben and I went for a little walk in the woods today and he got his first squirrel. The Squirrel was hiding pretty good and I had to help him find it, but once he saw it he acquired a stable position and waited for a good shot and he got him right in the eye. He was so excited that I thought he was going to wet his pants.




The scope is one of the little Chinese knock offs of the old redfield 3/4" tube rimfire scopes. We mounted it yesterday and got it zeroed this morning. The optics are good, but the quality is typical chinese junk, and I noticed when zeroing it that at 25 yards it has a mile of paralax. Not good for a new shooter who may or may not have his head lined up directly behind the scope. I had another rifle with me with an original redfield on it and it hardly had any at 25 yards. I'll probably pull this one off and put an original on it.

The rifle is a Rem 514 that I gave him for his 4th birthday. I dolled it up a little before I gave it to him.

Thanks for letting me brag a little. It was a great day.

John

Who "almost wet his pants"?
Dad?

Congrats, a great shot and moment to be proud of! I'm looking forward to these kinds of moment with my kids. The oldest is 3.5 so we've got a ways to go.

That squirrel looks enormous!

Tom

Of course you can brag.....all of us would! Congrats to dead-eye a fine shot and knows how to aim small.

Also a little credit to the teacher...Dad

Well done!!!!!

Thanks for sharing!

Nice 514. Can we see a better view?

John,
Just wait until you do the same thing with a grandson.
Mike

I was out squirreling too. But mine isn't quite so big, plus it took me two shots to connect. And then there was the one I flat out missed... I'd say Ben is doing better than me.

I love the look on Ben's face in the top photo. That is a kid who means business. Good times, great memories. Thanks for sharing.

I thought I had made a thread about the rifle back when I was working on it, but I can't find it now. The rifle is a rem 514, a cheap single shot .22. It is a cock on closing action which I like for a small boy as they usually can not close the bolt without help.

This is Ben looking over SDH's book deciding what features he likes.



A few work in progress photos.





And a happy birthday boy.



And doing some sitting practice.


I did the stock work and checkering, Jerome Glimm did the engraving and metal checkering. I rust blued the small parts and Parkerized the receiver. The barrel gave me fits so I sent it to a forum member here and he rust blued it for me.

Ben is 7 now and he is already about to outgrow it so I guess it is time to start on his next rifle.

Thanks,
John

Oh, and on the grandpa thing. I got started on this whole dad thing late in life, so I could likely be in a nursing home by time grand kids come along.

Heck of a nice rifle. He is going to be spoiled for really nice shooting tools. Nice work!

John,
They are worth waiting for, even in a nurseing home.The rifle will be a wonderful heirloom for Ben to pass on to his son.
Mike

Wow, a lot nicer than the plastic stock Stevens 87 my dad gave me!!
BTW, if you can see a way to move the front lens on that Chinese scope, the 25 yd parallax can be tuned out. Unscrewing the front lens about 1 turn on a 4X scope of mine fixed the parallax for me when I moved it to my 10/22 and sighted it in for 50 yds instead of the 100 yds most scopes are set for. Too bad if the lens ring is super glued.

Thanks for the information on the scope. I'll see if it looks like it can be moved. My dad said he could recall moving the adjustment turret for and aft on some of the old scopes to adjust the parallax. No doing this on one of these scopes. If anone is interested, here is some info on the scopes if anyone is interested. http://www.grubeeinc.com/Wolf%20Pup%20Scope.htm

John

Sweet looking 514! I like the customization you've done to it.

I have a 514 carbine that my folks gave me for Christmas in 1962 or 63, as they did for my older brother in 1959 or 1960. I shot a pile of ground squirrels with it.

That has to be about the nicest looking 514 I've ever seen. Good job. What a great memory for you and your son on the squirrel hunt.

This is why I come here. I have one, looked it over 100 times and never saw any potential, now this. Did you rework the original stock, or start fresh?

I really like that 514 single shot with the lightweight barrel, scope and all the custom appointments. Very cool rifle, pics and story. And I'm tickled to see my book influencing a younger generation.

Years ago I did a story on remodeling a 513T for a Little Brother when I was in the Big Brother program. The story was published in Rifle magazine.

My grand-nephew was here to visit with his parents yesterday, he is almost 3 and a bit young for a custom rifles. I gave my niece, Robbie's mom, my Dad's .22 Kit Gun for her baby shower, so he's got one .22 waiting.

It is the original stock. This is actually the third 514 I have done something similar to. The first was for a friend many years ago, his son never showed much interest in shooting so he sold it to a mutual friend who's son enjoyed it very much. The second I did just to see if I could do one better than the first and sold it down the road 25 years ago.

SDH. I think I remember reading that article many years ago.

Regards,

John

Congratulations to son and Dad! My goodness....55 years ago that was me...but the rifle certainly wasn't like that. Nice work.