Custom rifle new to me.

S

Savage99

New member
I got a new custom rifle. It's on an FN mauser action with a 24" bbl. 7mm RM and a well done walnut stock.

I have had a battery of hunting and target guns since the 1950's. The collection is compete enough and I am into bolt rifles with fine stocks.

This stock is very good art to my eye. There are no take backs on it except that it has no finish. I may get that done this winter.

The barrel has a 1-12" twist! Standard for the 7mm RM is 1-9". This is not a problem as it shoots 120's so far. In any case the price was right to get a stock like this. :)

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Those are the mounts that came with the rifle. The rings are too high. The scope was an extra for testing.

I will look through my mounts later. I may have a Buehler set that fits a FN.

The stock has been glass bedded around the action. Since it's twist is 1-12" I will try to get 120's to shoot. The 130 Speers did not do well on the first try.

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That appears to be a copy of a Mauser Model B, a pre-WW2 factory sporter rifle. Quite nicely done, actually. The stock probably has a tung oil or similar finish, which may look like it is unfinished, but would have fairly good weather resistance characteristics.

The 1:12" barrel makes no sense, IMO. You may get 120s to shoot well, but likely none heavier. I would take it off and install a 1:9".
 
You might try checking the twist again,this time near the muzzle.Why?A few of those crazy old guys with cut rifling machines made gain twist barrels.

If I had to guess,on a rifle that well done,a gain twist would make more sense than a 12 in twist.

But,if it will not shoot heavier bullets,it may be a 1 in 12.
 
Nice looking gun.

Watch the toe of your stock on that bench though, or it won't be so nice after a couple shots.;) Might be the angle of the picture that makes it look like it might scrape.

Oh, and get some lower scope rings man. Have mercy!:D Does the bolt require rings that high?
 
Nice looking rifle! I have two mauser sporters and they are great guns, just wish the one wasn't chambered in 7mm ackley magnum, so then I could shoot both.
 
I love old sporter Mausers, and your's is a nice one. I agree it's a beautiful stock

Try a 100 gr bullet with that 1:12" twist. Several out there to choose from. Would make one heck of a long range 'yote/varmint gun.
 
Thanks all for the comments and compliments. Something like this is what us rifle aficionados enjoy. I will use it as it is. The barrel looks quite new inside and out and seems throated a little short, perhaps for shorter bullets!

No need to re-barrel it!

Since it's heavy it will indeed be a varmint rifle for the most part.

I am looking for a color and gloss more like this:

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140's leaving a 1:12 twist 7mm Rem Mag barrel at 3100 fps spin about 186,000 rpm; enough to stabilize them way down range.

I doubt that barrel's got a gain twist. While popular with black powder long barreled Kentucky rifles shooting round balls and marginally popular with 30 to 40 caliber black powder centerfire rifles of years gone by, none have been used in modern, accurate rifle barrels.

Gain twist barrels with jacketed bullets is akin to threading a 1/4-20 soft bolt into a 1/4-28 thread hard nut. The bolt threads get stripped. So do jacketed bullets going through gain twist rifling. I'm not aware of anyone who can lap a gain twist barrel to internal dimension tolerances standard rifling twists allow.
 
Just got a couple of more boxes of the 120 gr Ballistic Tips at Cabelas along with some powder.

That looks like the primary bullet for this rifle. I can only shoot one bullet at a time anyway! :D

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The Stevens/Savage 7-08 had 1/11.5 barrel twist and you can find some post on 24hr campfire from John Barsness posting about that barrel twist.

Dan Lilja makes 1/12 twist (120gr bullets) and 1/14 twist (100gr bullets) for the 7mm and Shilen makes 1/12 twist 7mm.
 
Bart B.,

You wrote: "140's leaving a 1:12 twist 7mm Rem Mag barrel at 3100 fps spin about 186,000 rpm; enough to stabilize them way down range."

Maybe so but what happens on the target is the final word.

It keyholed with 140's and even the Sierra 120 flat base pro hunter was not accurate.

For the fun of it I will load up some more 140's, 130's and 120's and try them again with full loads to get all the spin this rifle will do.
 
Today the FN 7mm mag. made 1" and 7/8" two shot groups at 200 yds with 120 Noslers over H4350. :)

However the 140 flat base bullets did 3" at 100 yds. No keyholes, but no accuracy either.

Now to see if it stays sighted in with the 120's.
 
Here it is with lower rings on the original bases and a gloss Leu. VX-11 3-9 taken from another rifle.

With 120 Noslers over H4350 it put two into 1.75" at 200 yds.

All I see for sale now are matte finished Leu. scopes.
This rifle will be a range rifle that gets taken along on hunts to show off when I am near the car.

My battery includes rifles optimum for other conditions.

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