doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Unknown Custom 98

I guess that one question that perhaps matters the most is: Are you happy with your purchase?

Hi PhysDoc, I spent more for a new iMac and the Nikon camera won't be cheap either, but maybe I'll be able to post a good photo soon. It must have been the old growth European walnut that made my eyeballs bug out, the grain seems curiously dense, checkering appears to be 24 lpi. "Frankencustom" isn't really custom is it, but actually a production rifle created by old world craftsmen, don't you think? At first I thought it might be some sort of glorified guild rifle, but I believe your initial call is correct, the barrel alone is a puzzlement, it's all one piece, full rib, ramp front sight, half round octagon too. Did I mention that the rifle seems to be in very near as when crafted condition, although not much is available for comparison, I've really only found three guns that might be related, one bolt and two drillings, the bolt has sold and the photos are intentionally degraded, it's a Hi-Power 22. I saw another rifle with the same barrel by a more well known maker at x4 dollars somewhere. I'm happy with my purchase, the stock to barreled action fit is very fine.

Good point, you can often resell a gun for what you paid for it or more, but you can't do that with a computer or digital camera.

You mentioned in an earlier post that the photographs on the auction site gave the impression that the engraving wasn't crisp.
What is your impression, now that you have the rifle in hand?

And how do you like the other rifle you bought?

The engraving looks as it should, it's a light type and almost every thing is case hardened. I read somewhere that case hardening isn't a very durable finish and rubs off easily, the floorplate is a little shiny, maybe not all kinds of steel take it well either. What really has me flabbergasted is that "The Thing" almost looks like it's been in a time capsule. There is a Simon Heim rifle in the Sedley thread that has the same barrel, express rear sight and slant cut fore-end. I don't know enough to have an opinion of build quality between the two, stock cleaning was the subject in the thread, one of those orange oil products worked well on a Remington 81, for removing a layer of grubby stock finish with a coarse paper towel. It looks like the separate slant cut fore-end piece might be easily removable, for barrel cleaning maybe? I have the correct bits, if the screws aren't tight I might remove it to see if information is printed on the barrel. The M-S Premier doesn't appeal to me that much, I'll try to write a more complete story in another post. I paid more for the iMac partly because it might be easier for me to use, since I don't really have any computer skills, six years from now it may prove to be worth it.