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Old 03-03-2019, 06:59 PM
Teddy Bear Rat Teddy Bear Rat is offline
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Default And Now For Something Completely Different


Some will no doubt recognize this little rifle. One of the newer members here had inquired about it, and there was quite a bit of back and forth, both positive and negative, before he ultimately put it up for sale. I was lurking here, not yet registered, but finally was able to contact him, and we hammered out a deal. I just received it a few days ago, so here is my assessment.

First, as was discussed, there appears to be very few, perhaps ten or less, of these rifles in the US. The two that I have seen differ slightly in features: stainless barrels, non-Mannlicher-style stocks, etc., so they may have all each been a prototype…just a guess. The examples I’ve seen were listed as caliber “.17,” without further clarification. The seller had the barrel slugged and had a chamber cast done, both indicating the classic .17 Javelina wildcat, maybe the most popular .17 at that time. Judging from some of the proof marks, the rifle was likely made in 1969, right before Remington introduced its .17 Remington.

Much of the debate held here involved the OP’s intention of rechambering the rifle, since getting set up with forming and reloading dies would be expensive and he didn’t have time or access to his shop. I can confirm it would, indeed, be expensive, and punching the chamber out to .17 Remington would be a very practical option, since the magazine appears to be from a Sako L46 .222. It was this suggestion, though, that brought about most of the heartburn. I personally would never do that, but I also have no intention of getting set up for the .17 Javelina, just to burn a barrel out in 1000 to 1500 rounds. Yes, I know the barrel would likely go longer for shooting prairie dogs and such, but I’m talking about top accuracy life.

Instead, my intention is to re-barrel this rifle to .221 Fireball, replicating the original barrel contour to avoid any modification to the stock. This would allow me to shoot it, using one of my all-time favorite rifle cartridges, while preserving the originality of a nice, unique, and very rare rifle. This is the reason behind my previous thread with questions about .221 FB feeding from a .222 magazine.

So, my impressions:
First, the thing that drew me most to this rifle, like most of you, was its action. The petite size, the apparent build quality, the unique design, the tang safety, the DST were all speaking to me. The pictures were not the clearest, but upon receipt, I realized this little rifle is exactly what I was hoping it would be. I build rifles as a hobby, sometimes from scratch, so I am acquainted with precise machining and fitting. Jumping to the chase, this little gem is extremely well made, with crisp and precise machining and hand fitting.



After cleaning off a considerable amount of solidified lubricant here and there, you will note the crisp machining of the bolt body, handle, and cocking piece, including the tasteful knurling on the firing pin. The receiver is similarly very well machined, and I note that the broached lug raceways are not blued. Judging from the smoothness of the reciprocating bolt, I believe the races were probably lapped. The bolt lift is as smooth as one could ask for, imbuing that indescribable feeling of precision, and the fact this little action features two opposing lugs and a longer cocking stroke, instead of the shorter, more abrupt stoke of the three lug actions so many seem to favor, contributes to the smoothness and quickly drew my attention when I saw it for sale.

The tang safety operates positively but still silently. When the safety is engaged, the bolt handle is locked. Unset, the DST breaks pretty darn crisply, rather rare for a DST, and it is breaking- glass-rod crisp when set. My uncalibrated finger tells me it breaks at about 12 ounces. The elegant shotgun-style trigger guard exhibits very sexy lines and is inlet into the stock with great care. The equally elegant sliding magazine release seems to work well and is unobtrusive.


A unique feature of this little action is the design of the primary extraction cam and how it controls, or serves to divert, gas. As I think about it, it is very similar to the Sako L46 in this regard. You’ll note in the picture the primary extraction camming is accomplished by the large diameter bolt shroud rotating against an angled surface at the left rear of the receiver. It appears to realize about .100” of cam distance, and the larger diameter shroud bestows greater leverage and smoothness. At the same time, that same larger shroud essentially blocks the two lug raceways in the receiver, protecting the shooter’s eyes from escaping gas. Again, very well thought out, and I’m guessing Stuart Otteson and Frank DeHaas would approve.

The entire barreled action exhibits very fine polishing and deep blue, reminiscent of the same era Belgian Brownings, and the crown just exudes quality. The receiver top is both dovetailed and D&T’d for scope use (the rifle came with the vintage 3-9x Redfield and the pretty darn nice steel rings that match the dovetail perfectly).

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  #2  
Old 03-03-2019, 07:06 PM
Teddy Bear Rat Teddy Bear Rat is offline
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The stock is different and probably not for everyone, but an openminded person with eyes to see will quickly appreciate some of the rakish and extremely elegant lines in this stock.




Even the fish-scale checkering and carving, not really my cup of tea, are very well executed and starting to grow on me. The unique flared area on the otherwise very narrow fore-stock allows larger hands to get a firm grip and avoids the broom stick feel of most Mannlicher-style full-length stocks. In all my years of viewing and building rifles, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this treatment of the toe-line area of a stock, with a long, contrasting wood cap/inlay extending almost to the stock toe.

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Last edited by Teddy Bear Rat; 03-04-2019 at 03:49 PM.
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Old 03-03-2019, 07:22 PM
Teddy Bear Rat Teddy Bear Rat is offline
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The serial number is stamped on the receiver, the barrel, the bolt body, the bolt shroud, the firing pin, and the magazine. It may be stamped elsewhere, but I haven’t removed it from the stock yet to look.


Flies in the Ointment:
Other than the oddball chambering, though, there were a couple of other issues. What was not visible in the pictures were the small (some not so small) chucks missing from the ebony/horn grip cap/toe area and fore end tip. Oddly, the chucks are confined to the horn only; no real scratches or even dents in the laminated walnut…go figure (would horn do that spontaneously???). I haven’t decided whether it’s ebony or horn, but when I take it out of the stock, I plan to scratch and sniff the inside of the fore end tip. In either case, some color matching with dyed epoxy should make short work out of those gouges.


Also, a ham-fisted fellow used a very poorly fitting screw driver to remove, or attempt to remove, the front action screw, with unsightly results not visible in the pics. The wood screw securing the tail of the trigger guard was also buggered up, but not as badly. Both will be spun polished in an electric hand drill and then re-blued, so no harm there really. Oddly, the rear action screw remains untouched, so, I’m guessing the guy gave up and never got the barreled action out of the stock…or he suddenly improved his hand tool skills.



Finally, though I mentioned the apparent lapping of the lug raceways, when the bolt is reciprocated quickly, there can be some resistance, or binding, right as the lugs enter the receiver bridge area…these raceways may be too tight on the tolerances. Of course, we all know what Winchester did on the M70, with that small lug on the top of the bolt, and Remington with the guide slot in the top locking lug, to eliminate binding and smooth up the bolt movement, but that is missing from this action. Nonetheless, I have discovered that placing the ring finger of my right hand on the bolt handle stem while retracting the bolt avoids any jerkiness. I guess that’s the only design flaw I can find, without having fired it.

Although it is a shame to not use the Bohler Rasant barrel, again, I'm not really interested in gearing up and shooting out this .17 Barrel. So, I have a Shilen sporter contour .224 barrel with a 1:12” twist, and I’m thinking a tight-necked .221 Fireball will be just the ticket. The barrel will require some lathe work to match the existing barrel channel, that’s easy enough, but I can’t seem to find my tight-necked .221 reamer. I bought one years ago, using it only once or twice, but it’s nowhere to be found.

Honestly, if I could find some .17 Javelina ammo somewhere, that I knew was not overloaded, I would like to shoot this before I go to the time and expense of rebarreling it. Any takers?

TBR

Last edited by Teddy Bear Rat; 03-04-2019 at 03:44 PM.
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  #4  
Old 03-03-2019, 07:43 PM
Gary in Illinois Gary in Illinois is offline
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Default 17 Javelina

I will lend you my dies and provide some formed brass for the cost of shipping the dies to you if you are interested. I can make the dies available until no later than the middle of May. I will need them back by then to load some ammo for a prairie dog shoot.

I would rather not provide loaded ammo, especially for a wildcat cartridge. What works in my rifle might not work well in yours.�� PM me if you are interested.

PS-
I can expand the cartridge necks to 19 caliber which should allow you to set the headspace on the cartridges to match that of your chamber via a false shoulder when resizing them for your chamber.
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Good shooting!

Gary

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Last edited by Gary in Illinois; 03-04-2019 at 11:51 AM.
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  #5  
Old 03-03-2019, 08:16 PM
Teddy Bear Rat Teddy Bear Rat is offline
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Wow, many thanks! I will PM you tonight.

Thanks
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  #6  
Old 03-03-2019, 09:39 PM
Flynmoose Flynmoose is offline
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That is a beautiful Rifle, great score on your part! I am officially in lust!
Bill
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  #7  
Old 03-03-2019, 10:33 PM
Bill K Bill K is offline
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That is a very nice rifle, even with some of the slight damage. Your choice of making it into a 221 Fire Ball will give you a fine critter rifle and you will enjoy it too the full. Thanks for the photo's and information on it. Bill K
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Old 03-04-2019, 03:04 AM
rick w. rick w. is offline
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Kinda odd marks on the ebony(?) tip. Sometimes one can use some ebony dust mixed in an clear adhesive, can be remarkable how black, black can be. Sometimes ebony nowadays has some brownish tint, tis harder to match up.

Seems like action screws always take a beating from gymkana screwdrivers, the multi tip sets are really nice. Sometimes one can move the screw head material around a little with a flat faced polished hammer and/or similar punch before refiling the slot with those little high dollar slot files.

All of the above, tis nothing new for you I know. Hope it works out well.

I hear you on the 17 javelina dies, years ago I bought the piloted reamer and barrel, but the dies have eluded me, at least on my pocketbook viewpoint. Guess should just make them up huh?.............all takes time. Generous folks here on this forum, mighty nice.
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Old 03-04-2019, 03:04 PM
Teddy Bear Rat Teddy Bear Rat is offline
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Yes, indeed, many thanks to Gary. I really want to want a .17 Javelina, and I'm working on that in my mind...we'll see after I shoot it. I mentioned this to Gary, but I'm not 100% confident it is, in fact, chambered for the Javelina, though. I guess we will see.

I really and truly love small .22 centerfires, though, and I made up a .221 FB rifle using an XP-100 action years ago, way before the FB became available in rifles, and, since I already have a .224 Shilen Match barrel, as mentioned, and the contouring to match the stock's barrel channel will be minimal, I'm guessing that's what I will end up doing.

Also, I plan to fill the gouges with blackened epoxy, but, honestly, this does not smell like ebony...it really could be horn. This apparently spontaneous chipping, with no evidence of scratching or gouging anywhere else, is rather baffling...would an animal try to chew on horn and leave the walnut alone??? Or, would insects eat horn?

I'll keep you posted.

TBR

Last edited by Teddy Bear Rat; 03-04-2019 at 03:47 PM.
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  #10  
Old 03-04-2019, 05:24 PM
david s david s is offline
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Interesting rifle and stock design, laminated stock wood in 1969 would have been unique. The holes in the grip cap (and it is almost surely horn) are from insects. Quite a few of the old German rifles that had horn trigger gaurds, grip cap, forend caps or butt plates suffer the same way. Being left handed I'm a big fan of tang safetys, a silent one though is almost unheard of.
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