"Talking to myself again...": I've got this Mauser.....

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

I've got this Mauser.....

I bought this at our clubs annual gun show, from someone I know. It's a basic, box-stock Interarms Mark X commercial Mauser bolt action hunting rifle in 30-06.

I bought it mostly because it could be the exact same one I had when I was 16, and hunted with for a few years. I regretted selling that rifle as much as any I ever have.

Taking it to the range, I quickly realized it's a shooter... as it places it's bullets into tiny little groups seemingly on instinct.

Making it part of a project, I came up with a load recipe that it approves.... and this rifle is SCARY accurate with it.

I'd had ...... thoughts..... of doing things with this rifle. Namely, restocking it in laminate wood and installing a decent Timney trigger. The thing is, after seeing it put round after round into one wide hole downrange, I'm askeered to touch a thing on it.

Sometimes, you get something in your life that is just too good to mess with. It has to be accepted and loved for what it is, without changing it. The flaws are minor... not even flaws at all... and turning even a single screw is just a mistake.

5 comments:

Hat Trick said...: With the highest shot of that group being a called flier that is awesome accuracy. I would leave it the heck alone and take very good care of it. Or sell it to me. Just kidding.; June 19, 2013 at 11:58 AM
JD(not the one with the picture) said...: IIABDFI, if it ain't broke,don't fix it.

If that were my rifle, all I would do is kiss it gently, wipe it down and place it lovingly back in the safe knowing I could depend on it to put 'em where I want 'em.; June 20, 2013 at 3:03 AM
og said...: That barrel wouldn't happen to be marked "Harry McGowen" would it?; June 21, 2013 at 10:58 AM
Carteach said...: Wouldn't that be something, Og? No... in this case, a box stock Yugoslavian Mauser imported by Interarms.; June 21, 2013 at 12:42 PM
og said...: My Yugo X has a Harry barrel on it. He made a lot of them that look just like that one- that one looks very similar to mine!

I'd put a bipod on it and call it quits.; June 21, 2013 at 1:18 PM

Robert Heinlein

"Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please — this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No — and to be rude about it when necessary.
Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you.

(This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)"

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.