29 years ago and I finally killed something with it!
Right out of high school I attended a 2 year "Gunsmithing Technology" Vo-tech program. After I completed the required custom rifle build on a Mauser 98 action I had some extra time to build something else. Prior to the Mauser I built, nobody in my family owned a bolt action high power rifle. We were woods hunters and used lever guns, mostly Savage 99s. I was discussing this with an old boy that I worked with at a machine shop and a couple days later he brought in a copy of a magazine article he had been saving. It detailed how to convert a Marlin 336 chambered in 30-30 to a cannon barreled in 458 x 2 (aka 458 American). I was in!
I was able to find a cheap Marlin action in good shape without any wood on it. I ordered a Douglas barrel and got to work fitting and clambering it. There was a bit of enlarging to do to the internals of the action. I'm a serious John Wayne fan so this gun had to have a large lever loop. I ordered a new lever just to cut apart for pieces to add to the original lever. I put a barrel band front site and an express flip up rear site on it. I made up a few pieces of brass and fired it a few times. Then, life changed directions.
I worked as a gunsmith for a year then ended up in college working on a 4 year degree, got married, moved, took over the family business and had a couple of kids. The biggest change though was I got hooked on archery! My guns were serious safe queens. I had one safe that wasn't opened for over 10 years! When my daughters got old enough to hunt I started using guns again. Prior to this past deer season I pulled this gun out and worked up a load of 46 grs of Reloader 7 under a 300 gr Sierra bullet. I was really hoping to shoot cast bullets in it but haven't found any that it shoots accurately. The iron sights were removed and replaced with a scope. I carried it everyday during our 14 day rifle season and never saw a mature buck to try it out on.
This past week my youngest daughter and I had the chance to chase some hogs in Texas with some friends who live there. Good times! 2 shots were fired and 2 BANG FLOPS occurred!
Now, I hope to finish up the metal work and get a blueing/coating of some sort put on it. It will be my "go to" gun for 200 yards and under shooting.
Right out of high school I attended a 2 year "Gunsmithing Technology" Vo-tech program. After I completed the required custom rifle build on a Mauser 98 action I had some extra time to build something else. Prior to the Mauser I built, nobody in my family owned a bolt action high power rifle. We were woods hunters and used lever guns, mostly Savage 99s. I was discussing this with an old boy that I worked with at a machine shop and a couple days later he brought in a copy of a magazine article he had been saving. It detailed how to convert a Marlin 336 chambered in 30-30 to a cannon barreled in 458 x 2 (aka 458 American). I was in!
I was able to find a cheap Marlin action in good shape without any wood on it. I ordered a Douglas barrel and got to work fitting and clambering it. There was a bit of enlarging to do to the internals of the action. I'm a serious John Wayne fan so this gun had to have a large lever loop. I ordered a new lever just to cut apart for pieces to add to the original lever. I put a barrel band front site and an express flip up rear site on it. I made up a few pieces of brass and fired it a few times. Then, life changed directions.
I worked as a gunsmith for a year then ended up in college working on a 4 year degree, got married, moved, took over the family business and had a couple of kids. The biggest change though was I got hooked on archery! My guns were serious safe queens. I had one safe that wasn't opened for over 10 years! When my daughters got old enough to hunt I started using guns again. Prior to this past deer season I pulled this gun out and worked up a load of 46 grs of Reloader 7 under a 300 gr Sierra bullet. I was really hoping to shoot cast bullets in it but haven't found any that it shoots accurately. The iron sights were removed and replaced with a scope. I carried it everyday during our 14 day rifle season and never saw a mature buck to try it out on.
This past week my youngest daughter and I had the chance to chase some hogs in Texas with some friends who live there. Good times! 2 shots were fired and 2 BANG FLOPS occurred!
Now, I hope to finish up the metal work and get a blueing/coating of some sort put on it. It will be my "go to" gun for 200 yards and under shooting.
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