JOC Tribute Rifle

yep... very nice looking rifle... mine has more straighter grain on the right side, & then extra nice striping on the comb side... I have to assume that since mine was the 3rd of 3, that the other 2 had nicer wood... but mine is still quite beautiful, however the plainer side is the side visible when hung on the wall in my gun vault, so at 1st glance it blends in with the other rifles... once removed from it's hanging place, it's quite evident, that it's not your "run of the mill" rifle...

BTW... I've never "broken in" a barrel like MYSTRO, always more worried about damaging the bore with the cleaning rod, so I try to keep the cleaning rod out as much as possible... generally I'm quite happy with how mine shoot... but one can't argue with the way his rifle shoots... :) but it also looks like he knows what he's doing with the trigger ( I'm likely not as good a shot as he :o )
 
I usually like to clean the barrel after a string of five shots. I've never cleaned one after each shot, however, other than using a blow tube in my 45-70 BPCR to keep the fouling soft after each shot.
 
I think my break in procedure is Weatherby's break in recommendation. Since Roy and Jack were good friends, I felt obligated to do it on the JOC rifle.;)
 
Unfortunately I never got to meet Jack O'Connor but did meet his nemesis (Elmer Keith)at the 1974 NRA Convention in Atlanta. I also got to meet Roy Weatherby and his son and John Bianchi. Bob Munden, quick draw artist, was there as well. It was a memorable event.
 
I would love to have met Elmer Keith. I have a couple of Elmer Keith tribute revolvers. I guess since I was a fan of Keith, I never cared too much for Jack. Having said that, I am always in the market for collectible firearms. What is the pricing on the JOC rifles? I talked to one of my friends about pricing one of the JOC rifles. He was carrying on something about two grades of them and the higher grade was going to be the valuable one, but he could not find one at the moment.
 
Last edited:
He was a character. I knew it was him whe I looked toward the Guns and Ammo booth and saw a guy with a large Cowboy hat. Me and my brother went waltzing over and sure enough it was him. We talked a little and I saw Guns and Ammo had a mag called "Guns and Ammo Blackpowder" and bought one and asked him to autograph it. He said, "Sure-I think I've got an article in this SOB somewhere. He found it, an article on the Sharp's rifle and signed it. It's among my prized possessions.



I enjoyed both he and Jack's writings and didn't cull either one. They were on opposite sides of the fence but I still enjoyed it all.

The JOC rifles run anywhere from about $2100-2500.
 
I am a student of both...Elmer and my Handgun hunting and Jack and my rifle hunting. I always felt the Elmer pop shots at Jack were unnecessary and juvenile. On the flip side I found the way Jack never shot back extremely classy.
 
The way I look at these two is Elmer was to handguns the way Jack was about the Model 70. They would have been deadly together.:)
 
Even though I was not personally there when he signed it, one of the Revolvers has signed paperwork by Keith with it. I need to get the pistol out and look at it again. I had it prepped for long term storage in a packing grease that is similar to cosmoline and stored it away. It would have been awesome to have had the opportunity to meet him in person and talk to him.
Elmer was as accomplished with rifles as he was with pistols. Wby's .30-378 and .338-378 are directly attributable to his wildcatting.
 
Last edited:
Wow this thread was about a beautiful rifle, now were talking heros of the past.and Elmers one of my favorite... But lets talk about the op's original thread.
What can a fellar expect to pay for one of these beauty's?
 
Cost is kinda unknown at this point. They are getting harder to find not they were easy to locate when first released. Prices tend to be very firm.
Gunbroker has one up for sale for $2350.00 plus the usual charges. Keep in mind this is THE best model 70 ever produced by the Winchester Custom Shop. Winchester made it very clear this gun is a clear stand out from anything they have ever produced. Then factor in that they asked the family of Jack to borrow the famous #2 to laser measure every aspect of the gun. Then the family had a condition that this gun will be THE only time a Jack OConnor tribute gun is ever to be released. There are so many stars that were aligned with this rifle in itself to make it a no brainer collectors rile to own. This is the 1960's Shelby Cobra of the gun world. ;)


FYI...this is the custom case from the Jack O'Connor Center for these rifles. You need proof of purchase and serial number to even get one. Each gun comes with a claim certificate for the case. They will accept a copy of the certificate so you may keep all your original paper work together for collectors purposes.
JOCguncasenet.jpg
 
Last edited:
Just teasing Mystro. I've only seen one other that is misspelled. It wouldn't really matter to me if my rifle shot as well as his...or just close.
 
I don't have any riles or pistols that are not worthy to be used...waste of money, IMHO. I had a Colt Signature Edition 1861 Black Powder pistol years ago. It was so beautifully done and had Sam Colt's signature on the trigger guard I couldn't bring myself to defile it with black powder so, I admired it a few years and sold it. I'm getting too old to have safe queens.
 
The story behind the misspelling is that a few were done incorrectly and got out. I called the JOC Center and they said they would send out a new case with correct spelling but wanted the original one back. I thought it over and in the world of collectables, the rare misspelled case will certainly be more desirable. I won't use the case simply because I have enough gun bags that I don't have to worry about their collectors value.

JOC2guncasenet.jpg
 
I can't say that I blame you for putting it back. That's in all likelihood what I'll do. Trips back and forth to the range I carry all mine in hard cases. I won't be taking any chances getting scratches or bumps with the Tribute rifle for sure. It will be like a fine violin in the hands of the Mystro(pun intended).
 
The problem with guns like these is there is so much work put into how they shoot. Being that it is a Jack O'Connor gun, it seems like Jack would only approve of a gun with his name on it to be shot and that takes alot of pressure off using it as it was intended. I understand how some might not feel comfortable carrying around a expensive rifle in the woods but you can't take it with you and life if only valuable with what you do with it and the experiences made. Imagine how you will feel with that first game shot by your prized JOC Rifle. I would bet each trophy taken with it only makes the gun more valuable to you. The gun only becomes even more valuable when its handed down through the family as a true working heirloom.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top