I don’t know why I do this to myself. Every damn week I go over to Steve Barnett’s website, look at the new listings and am constantly reminded why I hate being poor.
Take the latest such horror, this Rigby Rising Bite pair (right-click to embiggen):
I know, the sticker shock ($29 grand or so) is severe — as it always is with Rigby’s guns — but have mercy that’s a lovely pair.
In fact, I want that pair more than Paige Spirinac‘s… and I don’t even shoot 12ga.
Time was, the role of “truck” or “trunk” gun could safely be delegated to that old Mosin M44 that you picked up at a garage sale for $30. Time was.
Nowadays, even the skunkiest Mosins can only be had for $500 or more (!!!).
So then, if these are the times we live in, allow me to offer an alternative to a rifle which needs a mallet to work the bolt.
Such as the very handy and practical 1895 Oviedo Mauser, which has a much smoother bolt, and which shoots the 7mm Mauser cartridge (which will not dislocate your shoulder like the Mosin’s 7.62x54mmR).
I actually owned one of these, once upon a time, and I can’t remember why I got rid of it. Stupid me.
Anyway, one rumor I do need to dispel about this lovely little carbine is that the metal used is inferior to modern steel, and which therefore makes it “weak”.
It’s completely untrue. The steel is every bit as fit for purpose than any other, as Chuck Hawks wrote many years ago.
I’d have one of these excellent little carbines in the trunk of my car any day of the week. It’s just too bad that today’s gun prices have made the whole concept unworkable.
Every so often, a gun maker will get it right, as Merkel did with the Model 47SL:
They come up for auction every now and then, and generally sell for a grand more than they sold for the last time they were on the market.
In a heartbeat.
Okay, it seems as though the writer of this article really likes the new Ruger AR variant (“Small-Frame Autoloading Rifle”), although when last did you see a gun writer say about a new gun: “Nah, this really sucks”?
My longtime reservations about the AR-15 platform notwithstanding, I have to say that I like the look of this little thing, especially when I read about how light it is, for a .308 rifle.
What I’d like is to have one of these… in .270 Win. Why? From a hunting perspective, there’s not much the .308 can do that the .270 cannot; and the reduced recoil of the smaller bullet takes away the need for that anti-social, range-emptying muzzle brake. (I’m quite serious about this; the last half-dozen range sessions have been spoiled by the guy next door shooting an AR-15 with a muzzle brake, with earsplitting consequences for me despite the combination of foam plugs and ear protection which have become standard gear for me at indoor ranges.)
Of course, the mechanics (and magazine) of the SFAR would be unaffected by the change to .270 Win as it uses the same casing as the .308 Win; so all that’s needed is a rechambered barrel for shooty goodness and Happy Days Smileyface Kim. (Why not the 6.5 Creedmoor? Because I don’t have any of that on hand, whereas the .270 Win is, let’s say, well represented in Ye Olde Ammoe Locquere.)
But nobody’s going to listen to me; so there I go, shouting into the uncaring void, again.
On a tangential note: a kind Reader once offered to send me a replacement extractor for my busted M1 Carbine. For the life of me, I can’t remember who it was, so please drop me an email if it was you, and we can get the thing taken care of, financially speaking.
While idly wandering through the halls of gunny goodness, I happened upon this variant of the AK-47:
Okay, it’s as ugly as a pig’s ass in springtime — although “pretty” is not a word oft associated the the AK-47 — and that green laminate wood looks like it was on sale in the decking section at Home Depot.
But hold on just a minute. Why would one use green laminate wood for a deck? Why, to protect it from the elements (sun, rain etc.); and if that works for decking, why not for a utilitarian rifle such as this one, to be used in all kinds of stinking weather when battling the Forces Of Darkness? (If you know wot I mean nudge nudge wink wink…)
Of course, the price ($720) makes my nose twitch, but as so many people remind me, this isn’t 2004 anymore, when an AK could be picked up for a couple-few hundred bucks — and at least the gun is priced well below the $1,000 mark, which really makes my nose twitch when it comes to the AK-47.
For a stocking stuffer, you could do a lot worse, but you may have to deal with a few sniggers at the range when you unbox it.
Oh lookee here, at Gun Pusher Supreme Steve Barnett’s website: a delectable shotgun.
And yes, it fills all Kim’s checkboxes: side-by-side, double triggers, splinter forearm, straight stock, 20 gauge, 29-inch barrels.
Workmanlike-yet-classy gun case:
Decent-but not-showy engraving, plus a little case-coloring for a bonus:
And amazingly (for Barnett), a price that does not cause a nasal haemorrhage. (And for those who enjoy shoulder pain, they also have a 12ga version of the above.)
Have mercy.
