Following on from last week’s sighing and longing comes yet another man’s work, one Norbert Fashingbauer. (His details can be found below the fold.)
At Steve Barnett’s Emporium of Death, Fashingbauer’s FN Mauser in 7x57mm:
Wait… a full-stocked FN Mauser in 7x57mm ? Ah, man… [wondering which of my children would sell for $7,000]
Okay, back to Hallowell & Co., this one a left-handed Savage 110, also in 7x57mm:
Good grief, that’s just gorgeous — and finally, an “affordable” option for the kack-handers amongst us, who always have to pay more for their Satanic Persuasion [/nuns], only $2,500.
Still at Hallowell, and sadly already sold, an Oberndorf Mauser in .270 Win:
I don;t know how many hours it took Fashinger to create this stunning masterpiece, but that’s why his guns fetch the big bucks.
From another Fine Purveyor of Exotic Death Devices, M.W. Reynolds of Denver, is a Fashinger Winchester Mod 52B in .22 LR:
Okay, as beautiful as this rendering is, I will concede that $8,000 may be a tad on the spendy side for a .22 rifle. But then, so is the $400,000 currently being asked for a 50-year-old rebuilt Dino Ferrari, and people seem to have no problem coughing up that amount.
More Norbert: this Oberndorf Mauser sold at auction, so I can’t give the price… but phew.
I have to say, I like the man’s work. Now, about those lottery tickets…
Have you seen Springfield Armory’s 2020 rimfire rifle in “Grade AAA Turkish Walnut”?
https://www.springfield-armory.com/model-2020-series-rifles/model-2020-rimfire-rifles/model-2020-rimfire-classic-22-lr-rifle-grade-aaa/
The copies of which I’ve seen pictures have some beautiful figured wood for stocks, and the reviews have all said that they are very accurate as well. And “only” around $1,100.
My problem, and the reason I don’t buy one of those SA rimfires, is that I’d be extremely reluctant to take it out of the house and actually, you know, shoot them. The thought of hauling one of those beautiful works of art through the woods, bashing against trees, having to lean it on a boulder, or set it down next to a fence while climbing over the barbed wire, makes me shudder.
My go-to .22 is one of several Ruger 10/22’s (truck gun, a few in the gun safe), while my wife’s Marlin Model 39A with the hexagonal barrel and wonderful wood stock is a range-queen only. My bad-weather deer rifle is an old Savage bolt gun in .30-06 in stainless steel with a black synthetic stock…you know, the one with the plastic cap on the pistol grip busted off and lost somewhere in the mountains. It’s been in rain, snow, and mud, and has been beaten to death, and still shoots as well as it did when I bought it. No, it shoots better because the only modification I’ve made was to drop a Timney trigger into it (bought ‘way before they had good triggers on Savage rifles).
So while I can join you in drooling over the beauty of those firearms, I know I’d never own one even if I was PowerBall-winner rich, because I like things that can be used without worrying about destroying not just its value, but its heritage.
Hire a couple of native bearers to carry it for you, or is that passe’ now?
There ya go, BW.
I’ll have to buy some lottery tickets on the way to work this afternoon.
I started looking at Sako Bavarian rifles S90 I think is the model, in 7mm-08.
JQ
Those Sako Bavarians are evil. And I say that in its most positive sense.