Been gone but went to a gun show last weekend

[skeet]

Went to a small gun show in Miles City Montana last Friday. Not a real big show but I did ok. Went lookin for reloading items as usual. Found a few items including some older Lee Loaders. I do real well on them if they are not current calibers that they still make. Got 8 sets of RCBS dies with one set of Carbide 44s and a RCBS JR2...all cheap. Bunch of Speer bullets for my 223 and the 41 mag. new 45 Colt cases for mommas Ruger and a bunch of ammo of all different flavors. Bought another Kimber Rifle..this one a pretty 84M in 260 Remington. Paid a bit much at 900 bucks but it had a Leupold VXII 2x7 on it and I got 7 boxes of 260 Factory ammo..less 7 rounds. Figure the scope and ammo is worth at least 250 so the rifle wasn't too badly priced and the 260 is a kinda sought after caliber as it is no longer catalogued with a walnut stock. I'm not a Tupperware stock guy but I also have bought a Kimber Montana in 338 Win Mag. Gonna use it for my Elk/moose rifle. It was new in the box but I got it for 900 also. Sold the kimber 308 though. and I got(guess)...yep...900 but it was a pretty rifle. and I gave 'em a set of Kimber Bases and Rings. So..now I have 9 Kimber Rifles....and I don't really know why.

[GoodOlBoy]

Sounds like you did pretty decent buddy. I can't take the crowds in shows (or restaurants, or big stores, etc) anymore so I guess I am out on that front. Smaller shops I can handle if there isn't alot of people in them, but shops around here are still dry dry dry.

Richard

[skeet]

Well the shows have been pretty crowded lately. I really don't like to be in a crowd and presses in. It's ok if I am on the sellin side of a table. I actually do know why I have 9 Kimbers..and want one more but I want a walkin around type of Varminter in 22-250..Heck I'd even take a Swift if they made one. I have found a way to stay away from any 28 calibers so far. but I do have a 22 24 25 26 30 338..some more than once...or twice. Gonna reduce the herd a bit if I can find the 22-250. I find the Kimbers to be well made pretty rifles. A kind of slimmed down lighter copy of the pre 64 Win M-70. And that brings up anothe thing. Been seeing the pre 64s at gun shown for the last few years. They have seemed to have flattened in price lately and they still aren't selling. I guess all the old guys(like me) have all they want or need and the young'uns don't really know all that much about them. Well the young'uns all want rifles with tupperware stocks and ugly finishes in all kind of ultra ubber mangle-um calibers. I did come close to buying a pre M-70 in 264 Win Mag..but it was a Featherweight..with 22 in bbl. Burn a whole lot more powder to get maybe 100 ft per second than the 260 Rem caliber..Kind of a waste. How's things going GOB? Gettin any better? Findin any DECENT jobs?? Work is kinda tight round here but the summer tourista season is comin...and all kinds of stuff is happening here. Lot of construction

[Rapier]

Skeet,
On the way to Tulsa we had a long serious discussion about the "classic" guns. Our group, of five long time collectors and shooters, have worked out a fairly good theory. The younger folks simply are not all that interested in the guns like the Win M-12, pre 64 M-70, etc. Some sections of the country still like the A-5 but in others it is old hat. Similar situation is the high grade wood stocks that us older guys like, while the younger guys just buy a black plastic stock and spay paint it. We are passing on, dying out, without transferring our appreciation for the fine guns we love. You go to a show around here and it is infested with black guns and buyers that consider a 10.5 inch paper plate an adequate group at 50 paces. We as a nation are loosing all the riflemen, and we, of the great gun generation are not going to be around much longer. Perhaps the writers share a bit of responsibility for all this by writing how wonderful some of this "junk" is to help sell the sponsor's new whiz bang.

Is the Kimber rifle still based on the Montana Rifle Co action? I built 3 rifles based on the MRC actions and they are fine actions, using the best of the K-98 and the M-70 actions in combination.
Ed

[skeet]

The Kimber is basically a Winchester M-70 that has been slimmed and prettied up. The Montana is based on the Mauser 98..also slimmed and prettied. I defineitely like the Kimber much better than the 98 No matter what is done to the 98..it is still a 98. But they can be made to be very pretty. and they always seem to work. Same with the M-70. And your assessment of the "classics"is spot on. But in another 20-50 yrs..the Classics will once again be in vogue. The young'uns will finally see the differences and come to appreciate the finer things in guns..but of course they will then be the old guys and will have more money to spend. This is of course pre-supposing that guns will still be able to be owned. We are lucky right now that Nobama and his crowd have more "pressing" matters to be concerned with ie the Benghazi mess and the Infernal Revenue mess. Be nice if we could keep them busy with their messes. This bunch REALLY seem to have been covered thickly with Teflon. BTW I am seeing quite a few custom guns built on M-70s at the shows with very high prices..just because they are M-70s. Watching at the shows though I really don't see many 1000 dollar firearms selling..except a few SxS and O/U doubles in shotguns and some SxS rifles. I sold another guys Krieghoff 470 Nitro not long ago. There is a lot of interest in African firearms..and I've seen a lot of interest in Wincheste pump and bolt 22s. Some of the pumps are getting REALLY spensive. I bought and sold a really nice little 61 Win 22 mag not long ago....for 1900. But it really was a nice one.

[Rapier]

The MRC action externally looks just like a M-70, the 98 portion of the design is the one piece trigger guard (M-70 is two) and the cone / extractor cut being in the action not the barrel. The barrel fits the MRC action just like a 98 making it easy to put together. You must be thinking of a different action. I do know that the early Kimber rifles used the MRC actions, saw them at the Shot Show.

This is one of my MRC 300 WSM guns in stainless, look real close, it looks like a new pre-64 M-70.

[Rapier]

Oh, an Amen to the O'Bozo up to his neck in HS, hope he stays in that position.
Ed

[skeet]

Ok..which early Kimber?? Kimber of Oregon or the current company? BTW that is a pretty rifle. I did have a Kimber BGR Super America grade many years ago..what a pretty rifle. Stock was done by Lenard Brownell. Shoulda kept it..but mo money was ALWAYS needed back then

[Rapier]

Ah, if memory serves, it was Oregon because my memory is they were located in the far NW. It was shortly after Kimber started making rifles other than the rimfires that I saw the MRC actions on their guns. If memory serves they started with the high end rimfires, very nice rifles, then went to the centerfire, using the MRC action. I do not know what action they are using now if not the MRC action. Easy way to tell is to look at the trigger guard, if there is no screw between the floor plate and triggerguard it is not a Win. It is an MRC.

Thanks for the note of appreciation, the photos were made before I got it completed and took it to Africa. That is a exhibition Bastogne walnut stock with a Madagascar ebony tip and cap. The partial inletting was done for me by the late Ed Shulin of CO, Ed was the stock making instructor at the CO School of Gunsmithing, I sure miss him. The barrel is a SS computer lapped light magnum match barrel by Lothar Walther. I ordered the action, pre production, from MRC.
Ed

[skeet]

Well it is a pretty rifle. I have seen a few Montana Rifles and can say they are great lookin rifles. A friend called today and he just bought an upgrade Cooper Rifle in get this..250 Savage from a sales rep. Think they were trying to unload it but he got a pretty good deal. He asked if they could do the 250 Ackley improved..and he said they would do that for him..He was looking for 25 caliber bullets and knowing I am a 25 caliber fan..he called the guy with plenty 25 calibers bullets. I had a couple of the older 250 rifles that had been AId and really liked 'em...but as i said..we always need mo money when we is younger. Only 250-3000 I have left is a pre War M-70..It'll get sold later this year...probably next month at the Winchester show locally..if they got 'nuff money. Sold my 7.65 Arg M-70 last year. Next year I will sell the 35 Rem.. Still trying to find a 22-250 walking varminter.

[GoodOlBoy]

very nice rifle! Well to be honest Skeet, ain't findin' NO jobs, much less decent ones. The one I had a shot at I had a panic attack during the interview and then was "over qualified"....

Richard

[Rapier]

The 250 Savage is a fine round with the 250AI being a round that benefits from the 10% additional capacity. I built a 22-250 AI several years ago as a long distance crow rifle it has a 1-7 twist Lothar Walther SS 26inch bbl.

I have two friends that use fast twist 223 rifles that they use to fill their deer predation permits, 90 deer per year. By their data they have shot many deer out to 800 yards with the 80gr Sierra with full penetration end on end. I have also used this rifle for shooting deer over peanut fields, out to 450 yards.

GOB, I sure wish you better luck. Over qualified, huh, I thought only idiots used that BS to start with and the use had stopped. You really did not want to work for such an obviously under qualified boss. :-)
Ed

[buckhunter]

Hey Rich,

Hang in there. You will land something pretty soon and if you don't you may be able to go to work for the IRS hounding liberals. Or may I know nothing Holder's office harassing the press.