Last week while out on one of my periodic LGS and pawnshop crawls - (SWMBO had left the door unlocked again after she left for the day) - I had one of those creepy feelings "that I was being watched !". Being careful, not to give the game away that I was onto the spy, I let my eyes roam without that telltale twist of the head.
Sure enough, hiding behind a wide expanse of suede leather sling, I managed to catch a glimpse of polished Walnut and gleaming blued steel nestled in amongst a crowd of mundane antique Remingtons, Sears and Rugers. It looked so out of place amongst that rabble. Without giving the game away I chatted casually with the kid behind the counter ... a fresh consignment from an estate sale.
This morning early, armed with lighted magnifier, bore inspection light, a list of all known manufacturers and serial numbers, and a few samples of SV, IV and HV ammo, I headed back to town for another gander. Oh Joy ! It was still in hiding amongst the rabble !
This time it got the full treatment ! Serial Number ? A first year Nikko Tubular 1973(?) ... S/N T008XX ! Had an original Weatherby 4X50 scope mounted, lenses showing a nice accumulation of greasy film from long storage without lens caps. Other than some slight bruising, but without damage to finish, on the right side of the butt, the woodwork looked almost perfect, apart from long term storage dullness. Nicely skip-checkered on wrist and forearm ... rosewoood tip to forearm and grip with both black and ivory line spacers.
The receiver looked like new apart from dust film ... the barrel had slight freckling just ahead of the receiver on the left hand side. The muzzle crown looked like it had been smithed by an angry beaver, but easily re-cuttable. Whatever lubricant had been applied to the magazine tube and pusher had congealed with age and took some effort to remove ... BUT ... no signs of dings or other damage internally.
The innards ? It had obviously been well-used in in the past ... lots of caked-on powder residue in the inside front of the receiver and packed around all crevices in the bolt and chamber faces. The engine-turned bolt was "tight" ... again congealed lubricant and powder residue. The bore, under the burnt powder residue looked mirror shiny, with real crisp rifling. This is the first time I've ever looked down a XXII bore ... but I got the impression that it has trapezoidal rifling ... ??
Now the $64000 question ... "Can I test fire it to check whether it cycles and also goes into single-shot mode ?"
Yes ... certainly ! Do you have any ammo, or can we lend you some ?"
A target was set up on their indoor range and I loaded 5 rounds of CCI MiniMags ... figured that the HV stuff would be the best bet to start out in case things got sticky. Shooting Offhand, I put all 5 rounds in a nice 1-1/2" group about 2" below my aiming point. The bolt cycled perfectly in semi-auto and locked back correctly in SS mode. Starting to feel very interested !
I repeated the test with Federal AutoMatch, then Norma TacTarget and finally the slow Eley Target. The action repeated its' performance perfectly with each ! 20 shots spread across a 2 to 2-1/2" group !
When I left the store, I heard the soft patter of a rubber buttplate tip-toeing up the sidewalk behind me ... was still there like a faithful dog when I got back to the cabin !
Mick - The Fuzzy Limey
Sure enough, hiding behind a wide expanse of suede leather sling, I managed to catch a glimpse of polished Walnut and gleaming blued steel nestled in amongst a crowd of mundane antique Remingtons, Sears and Rugers. It looked so out of place amongst that rabble. Without giving the game away I chatted casually with the kid behind the counter ... a fresh consignment from an estate sale.
This morning early, armed with lighted magnifier, bore inspection light, a list of all known manufacturers and serial numbers, and a few samples of SV, IV and HV ammo, I headed back to town for another gander. Oh Joy ! It was still in hiding amongst the rabble !
This time it got the full treatment ! Serial Number ? A first year Nikko Tubular 1973(?) ... S/N T008XX ! Had an original Weatherby 4X50 scope mounted, lenses showing a nice accumulation of greasy film from long storage without lens caps. Other than some slight bruising, but without damage to finish, on the right side of the butt, the woodwork looked almost perfect, apart from long term storage dullness. Nicely skip-checkered on wrist and forearm ... rosewoood tip to forearm and grip with both black and ivory line spacers.
The receiver looked like new apart from dust film ... the barrel had slight freckling just ahead of the receiver on the left hand side. The muzzle crown looked like it had been smithed by an angry beaver, but easily re-cuttable. Whatever lubricant had been applied to the magazine tube and pusher had congealed with age and took some effort to remove ... BUT ... no signs of dings or other damage internally.
The innards ? It had obviously been well-used in in the past ... lots of caked-on powder residue in the inside front of the receiver and packed around all crevices in the bolt and chamber faces. The engine-turned bolt was "tight" ... again congealed lubricant and powder residue. The bore, under the burnt powder residue looked mirror shiny, with real crisp rifling. This is the first time I've ever looked down a XXII bore ... but I got the impression that it has trapezoidal rifling ... ??
Now the $64000 question ... "Can I test fire it to check whether it cycles and also goes into single-shot mode ?"
Yes ... certainly ! Do you have any ammo, or can we lend you some ?"
A target was set up on their indoor range and I loaded 5 rounds of CCI MiniMags ... figured that the HV stuff would be the best bet to start out in case things got sticky. Shooting Offhand, I put all 5 rounds in a nice 1-1/2" group about 2" below my aiming point. The bolt cycled perfectly in semi-auto and locked back correctly in SS mode. Starting to feel very interested !
I repeated the test with Federal AutoMatch, then Norma TacTarget and finally the slow Eley Target. The action repeated its' performance perfectly with each ! 20 shots spread across a 2 to 2-1/2" group !
When I left the store, I heard the soft patter of a rubber buttplate tip-toeing up the sidewalk behind me ... was still there like a faithful dog when I got back to the cabin !
Mick - The Fuzzy Limey