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Stock Check in Aisle C

6K views 47 replies 16 participants last post by  Rimfire-CA 
#1 ·
Hi Folks!

I was completely unprepared for this one, but today, I stumbed into this handsome 57M in 22 LR ...



The factory box doesn't, at least obviously, identify the particular model, but it appears to me to be a Montana Varminter. Correct?



Also, it came with nicely machined rings with no visible identifying marks. Did/does Cooper ship guns with rings?



Finally, it came with a magazine with more wear on it than the rest of the gun, which shows no wear at all. The mag also has a unusual, to me at least, scalloped floor plate. Are the mag and floor plate stock?

Thanks in advance for your help!
Dave
 
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#2 ·
Similar to my Montana Varminter.
My serial number starts with CF2xxxx.
Your magazine is similar to mine on the base but mine has a red plastic follower.
Anschutz mags work too. One of my mags was an after market one and it has a metal follower.
Nice rifle. Mine likes Remington Eley Match 1062 velocity.
 
#5 ·
Your magazine is similar to mine on the base but mine has a red plastic follower. Anschutz mags work too. One of my mags was an after market one and it has a metal follower.
Thanks! This one has a metal follower.

The current production name for your rifle is a Montana Varminter. When your rifle was made(10+years ago) it was called an LVT.
Ah, when I first saw it, I thought "LVT" but then I checked the Cooper site and didn't see that name. Now I understand. Thanks!

Be careful with centering the scope as the rear opposing screws can cut the receiver.
Eeek, thanks for the tip!

The magazine is a Cooper item,(which is a marriage of an Anschutz magazine and Cooper steel floor plate) perhaps not original to that gun, or one that the previous owner kept as an extra in his pocket.
The floor plate is really nice, stylish while offering a nice gripping area.

Upon daylight examination, the gun appears to be in excellent, close to new condition. The only issue is an area of roughness on the left side of the buttstock. It's invisible, but you can feel it. I'm not sure if it's a factory finishing issue or perhaps a storage issue. (That side would have been the down side in the box.) Any of you see that before?

Thanks!
Dave
 
#4 · (Edited)
Good looking gun

Leupold rings and bases, I believe. Some guns shipped with bases, but very rarely with rings. Be careful with centering the scope as the rear opposing screws can cut the receiver. I preferred other brands when I owned Coopers.
The magazine is a Cooper item,(which is a marriage of an Anschutz magazine and Cooper steel floor plate) perhaps not original to that gun, or one that the previous owner kept as an extra in his pocket.
...does the Cooper community still refer to that style as having "Buick vents" or am I dating myself?
 
#8 ·
Dave, Camster is correct (again) about the bases. Most Cooper rifles have been shipped with bases, some Leupold Standard/Dovetail and others with Warne bases. I don't think they ever supplied scope rings EXCEPT for the Warne case-colored rings that went with the Western Classic, and the rare engraved rings that accompanied an engraved rifle. I can't say for sure whether that is an original Cooper mag, but it is an original Cooper mag base, though its vintage may be different than the rifle's. Nice rifle, by the way. :bthumb::bthumb::)

Doug
 
#10 · (Edited)
I have a Cooper 57M Classic that has a two digit SN that I ordered direct from Cooper in 2001. That magazine is exactly like mine and it is original. The follower is blued metal. My magazine also shows more wear than the rest of my gun (which is in like 98% condition). I recently bought an aftermarket magazine on ebay for an Anschutz/Savage that fits it perfectly but doesn't have the nice scalloped floor plate of the Cooper original.

My Cooper 57M came with Leupold std bases, which it turns out is a good thing. After 20 yrs owning this great shooting rifle I very recently decided to put Talley Lightweight mounts/rings on it when I ran out of elevation trying to zero it at 100 yds. When I put Talleys on and went to zero the rifle I ran out of windage adj on my Weaver V24 scope. I then put the Leupold bases and rings back on and put the scope's windage adj in the middle and bore-sighted it. I had to move the rear dovetail rings way over to the left to bore-sight it. Now, I used and competed in local 50 yd BR matches with this rifle for years and never realized that the mounting holes on the rifle were so off-center. I can't use the Talley Lightweight High mount/ring on it (anyone wanna buy it cheap? incl the bubble level ring top.). I'm now waiting for the Burris Posi-align Signature rings to arrive from Brownells to hopefully correct my alignment issues.

My memory might be failing, but I seem to remember that some of the early Coopers came with a choice of either Leupold or Talley mounts. And, that model was known as the LVT back when it was made. Again, unless my memory is failing, I don't believe the LVT was available in the first yr of production. I think it was offered just in the Classic, Custom Classic and possibly Western Classic then.

ps. My original magazine does not have .22 or any markings on it.
 
#11 ·
I erred in saying the scope bases were either Leupold or Warnes. You are correct, 2500X, they were Talleys instead. And my three digit serial # Western Classic has that same sculpted magazine base in a case-colored finish. And the case-colored bases and rings are Talleys. See pics below.

Doug
 

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#13 ·
Hi Folks!

For a few moments this afternoon, the sun came out and the temps rose above freezing. So I grabbed a handy scope and scurried off to the range and get a few first impressions of the Cooper ...

- With the beavertail forearm, the gun rides bags very securely.

- The trigger on the gun is lovely. It's not particularly light (is it adjustable?) but it breaks very cleanly.

- The gun's Anschutz heritage shows in many ways, including in weak ejection. Baby the bolt and you'll be picking the empty out of the ejection port.

- The gun is oddly quiet. At first I thought it was just me that noticed, but others at the range wondered if there was some sort of suppressor on the gun. It is a long, relatively large barrel.

- Under less than ideal conditions, the gun showed its potential to shoot well ...



The big limiting factor was the scope, a 3-9x Leupold. I had it mounted as far back in the rings as possible, but I still couldn't get a full sight picture without climbing way up on the comb. I also didn't help that I forgot my shooting gloves and my hands were numb. Eeek!

Enjoy!
Dave
 
#15 ·
The magazine floor plate is the same as was standard for their earlier model 36 guns. The basic magazine configuration did not change much when the 57M’s came out and the floor plates were probably interchangeable. The magazine floor plates were changed from the scalloped version you have to a flatter non-scalloped version sometime after the 36’s were discontinued. Your magazine floor plate may have been a leftover.
 
#16 · (Edited)
The magazine floor plate is the same as was standard for their earlier model 36 guns. The basic magazine configuration did not change much when the 57M's came out and the floor plates were probably interchangeable. The magazine floor plates were changed from the scalloped version you have to a flatter non-scalloped version sometime after the 36's were discontinued. Your magazine floor plate may have been a leftover.
You beat me to it Vert. I just realized that it was the earlier 36 style myself.
I should have realized it much sooner, considering how many of the later style plates I've purchased.
 
#17 ·
Dave,

Shoot over wind flags when getting serious and I would suggest you try some Lapua ammo. That's what Cooper tested these with for years and it's what my early Cooper greatly prefers. Wind flags would give you an indication if that flyer with RWS was ammo or conditions. Mine does not like Eley nearly as much as Lapua. I never tried it with RWS.
 
#18 ·
Shoot over wind flags when getting serious and I would suggest you try some Lapua ammo. That's what Cooper tested these with for years and it's what my early Cooper greatly prefers. Wind flags would give you an indication if that flyer with RWS was ammo or conditions. Mine does not like Eley nearly as much as Lapua. I never tried it with RWS.
Hi 2500X!

Oh, I understand and agree about the wind flags. Indeed, if I get serious about this gun (as opposed to just flipping it), I'll put a serious scope on it and turn it over to my friend dgeesaman (who's simply a better triggerman than I).

BTW ... I did put a few rounds of Center-X through it, but the groups were only OK. However, by that point, my hands were just too cold to reliably do anything :eek:

Thanks!
Dave
 
#20 ·
BTW . . . you forgot to mention price!

I eventually gave up on Lapua CenterX. Got two partial bricks of Lapua Polar Biathlon. The Varminter likes one lot but not the other. The JSR shot the good lot at under one inch at 100 yards (50 - 2X), then I went back to the poorer lot and same bad accuracy. Switched back to the better lot and it was not quite as good as before(2 in the 10-ring and a shift to the left).

Barely discernible wind.

Do most of my shooting at 100 yards/metres. Scopes are Leupold BR36 and a Bushnell 6500 set at 30X.

Since you were even considering flipping it . . . the price must have been fantastic.
 
#22 ·
Since you were even considering flipping it . . . the price must have been fantastic.
I won't say fantastic, but quite good, less than the $1,600 I've valued it at. However, the real arguments for flipping it lie elsewhere ...

1. I've been taking advantage of the super hot gun market and thinning my collection the last few months.

2. I don't really know where this gun fits in my remaining collection. Even with lot testing, a better scope, et al, I can't imagine it could ever be better as a bench rifle than my Remington 37. Yet I couldn't imagine it could ever be a better field rifle than my Sako Quad. And it's simply not as good looking as my Savage-Anschütz 54 Sporter.

But the price was right. So I jumped on it.

Enjoy!
Dave
 
#30 ·
I just got back from a quick trip to the outdoor range shooting my Cooper 57M. I'm lucky that it was 46 degrees here in upstate NY this afternoon. I put on some Burris Signature Rings with Posi-Align inserts and now have plenty of windage and elevation adjustment. I had to use the 20 Mil insert. I re-sighted it in with some old Lapua Master M that I had and shot 5 Xs on first 5 shots on the IR50/50 target. This has always been one fine shooting rifle.
 
#31 ·
hy dbuffington

That is an LVT , with the #8xxx probably built 2006 to 2009
I have an LVT #100XX built 2011.

The Montana Varminter would have a steel grip cap
(check Cooperfirearms.com) and AA+ wood.

The Montana is all in the stock over the Varminter.
 
#40 ·
Wagner has helped me out with some Talley bases. Thank you sir. Can someone tell me the finish I should go with on the rings? I don’t want to do this twice. Seems they have two finishes that are close and I do not know the difference. Is it matte I need or satin? Thanks in advance you knowledgeable people.
 
#43 ·
It occurs to me that Millet sells "engraved" scope rings for standard bases (not Mangle-Lock though the rear windage mount requires careful adjustment to align properly with the front ring to avoid scope damage) and the previous owner thought they'd be a good match with the engraved receiver.

My preference for scope mounting would be the Warne Maxima steel bases that will accept the Burris Signature ZEE scope rings. The latter are available in a sorta gloss finish (Burris calls "Black") or Matte. I've found the Medium height rings work well with scopes having up to a 42 - 44mm AO objective and up to 50mm with Side Focus. But there are many options out there.

Doug
 
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#47 ·
Well, you got me curious, so I dug out my Western Classic from the back of my safe. (So you know how much I shoot it; after determining that it shoots Eley Tenex, SK Match, SK Rifle Match and Center-X really well, I don't think I've had it to the range more than a couple times. I should fix that.) Anyway, my Western Classic mag has an un-blued steel follower, i.e., in the white. So a transition mag maybe?

Doug
 
#48 ·
Well, you got me curious, so I dug out my Western Classic from the back of my safe. (So you know how much I shoot it; after determining that it shoots Eley Tenex, SK Match, SK Rifle Match and Center-X really well, I don't think I've had it to the range more than a couple times. I should fix that.) Anyway, my Western Classic mag has an un-blued steel follower, i.e., in the white. So a transition mag maybe?

Doug
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One of the first Model 57M's,CM3's magazine has a blued metal follower. The base plate is the same as my model 36 Western Classic except it is blued and not case hardened.
 
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