Hagler.450Ex
AH senior member
Part work-gun, part Old Hollywood, all legend....
The story:
If you were like me, you grew up with the black and white "tropical adventure" movies from the 30's and 40's constantly on the television. I don't know how, and at that age, didn't care, but they were always playing, and especially on the weekends. Almost as if they used the same guns on every set, 9 times out of 10, you would see a medium-bore Mauser. A small percentage of time, you would see the Mannlicher Schoenauer, however the vast majority were Mausers. As a kid, I witnessed them work wonders on everything, from tribal natives, giant crocodiles, and even the occasional living dinosaur, which this rifle gets its name from. Of course, we all know that Hollywood and reality are two different things. But ever since then, I have had a longing for a Mauser that meets the following criteria and has that same style, the style we all know so well:
1. A medium bore that is cost effective, especially in loading. Nothing less than 9.3mm, and nothing more than 9.5mm/.375, which narrows the field considerably.
2. It has to be a Mauser 98 'standard action'. I never saw a magnum action in any films of that day, at least none that I can recall.
3. It has to be pre-war. Bear in mind that this one is a 1940, but the actions were acquired from FN and sent to Husqvarna prior to 39', so this technicality can be overlooked as far as the action itself is concerned. Admittedly, this is a blurry area and can be looked at both ways, however, I chose to go by the date of the action itself, so as to ease the mind.
4. I love projects.
5. This was to be a 'work' gun, so it needed to fit "me", and not a thousand other people. I knew exactly what I wanted, in every detail, in my head, and I would make it so.
I knew of the Husqvarna's earlier, from having seen them on Simpson Ltd., so I felt this would be a good foundation. Little did I know that it would take many weeks and months until the perfect one showed up on their site. I sat for days, checking their new daily offerings. As most probably know, new additions that come in, get grabbed almost immediately, so one has to actually be glued to the site and check it throughout each day. This is NOT fun, and I will NEVER do it again. But I managed. And through the ordeal that lasted months, FINALLY, the light came through.
A near-perfect Husqvarna, an FN-98 action, un-butchered for a scope, great bore, and zero stock cracks.
~(Many thanks to Simpson Ltd. for being very courteous and a pleasure to deal with)~
Upon its arrival, I knew immediately that I had months of work ahead of me to bring this vision to life. Everything would have to be deep-cleaned and inspected. All of the metal was in good order, in fact, very little had to be done in that respect. The wood, however, was another story. The dings, scratches, dents, all taken out. Special touches added. And most important, it had to fit me.
Luckily, the stock came with the amount of cast-off I prefer, so I left that alone. A lot had to be removed underneath, because I didn't see needing to use my rifle as a canoe paddle. For some reason Husqvarna made these very wide, presumably for mass consumers of every size and stature.
It came with an extremely ill-fitted off-brand pad that I immediately removed and trashed.
Upon deep cleaning the action, there were no less than two moose hairs that were washed out to once again see the light of day. No kidding, I'm not making this up.
I will not go into all that was required to finish this project, or how many hours looking through an eye-loupe was involved, because it would require pages, and more time and energy than I currently have, but suffice to say, it was a lot more than I had expected. I usually go into these things full-tilt, and by the time I am almost finished, the small unseen bits multiply and the nights seem to drag on and on the closer I come to completion. It happens every single time, and this was no exception. The final day, however, always comes.
It was going to need a Silver's pad, and some ebony. Gabon "ghost" ebony, in this case. Also, a front cross-bolt.
I don't care to go overboard with bedding, only in critical areas, and that was done in a tasteful manner. These older stocks, whether one likes it or not, DO require it, if they are to make it another 100 years.
So, sitting there with a 9.3x57, bright and great bore, un-butchered by scope users, it occurred to me that there was no way on earth I was going to alter the chambering. Too many are being punched out to 62' now, and while I would have no qualms about doing it to a rifle that was already butchered by the scope people, I would NEVER do it to this one.
I'm also one who likes to keep velocity at 2050 fps for most everything. It's just something I like. If I need more, I go up in caliber, not velocity. This has worked for me all the way up to .577, which is naturally settled there, from its creation, and the angels rejoiced, as it were. I won't go into my reasons, because again, that would take pages, and I humbly ask that this thread not be de-railed to discussions of velocity.
With that out of the way, and knowing it would remain a 57', I acquired the brass from ravenrocksprecision.com, and great brass it is, Norma with correct headstamp.
I decided to leave checkering off the forend, and asked myself if it was due to laziness or some other factor, and I'm still not sure, but as I worked, I grew to like it without. All other checkering was re-cut and cleaned.
Then there were the 'drying' times, as something is always needing to dry, and usually for long periods, especially color, so I spent that time doing actual life.
She was finished a while back, but I have only now felt the urge to take photographs. I've not really had the time until now, and the months and weeks seem to be growing faster for some reason. Please forgive the quality, quantity, or size, and furthermore the white towel's decision to become a mirror, and so on, as I am not proficient in ANY form of technological gadgetry, and my skill level with such things is akin to that of a 3-year-old.
I had to do very little sighting, as the factory witness mark from 1940 on the rear sight repeatedly put 286 grain PPU's into one inch at 50 yards with my load of RL-15, rested in left hand over the hood of the "self-propelled shooting bench". So, that was easy enough. Not hard with the fine silver bead. The exact type of bead I prefer. I always expect some kind of challenge to work through, but there was none. Bear in mind, these sights are made to be dead-on at what I'm estimating to be 150 or so, so the one inch at 50 is going to be 2 inches high. This needs to be written in stone and engraved in your head.
I prefer a two-stage trigger on Mausers, so I left that alone, and it is very nice from the factory, so no complaints.
No bells or whistles, just a working-man's Mauser, oil rubbed, and a 9.3....I blended most 'new' elements to match and show equal age, so if those are noticed, they were on purpose, as my goal was a specific overall look with a bit of distress here and there to match....
Taylor always got on my nerves by calling these "junk rifles". The correct well-fitted Mauser is anything but that....
I will say, and if I only have one complaint, it would be that it would be much handier with a 22" barrel. But it's not that terrible of a concern with me.
So there you have it, a Husqvarna that has been acclimated to our warmer tropical climates....the "Tropicalization of a Husqvarna" I suppose....and it CAN be done....
As for me, it's Elk sausage tonight, and maybe the 1933 Kong....because sometimes it's healthy to escape current reality, if only for a couple of hours....
The story:
If you were like me, you grew up with the black and white "tropical adventure" movies from the 30's and 40's constantly on the television. I don't know how, and at that age, didn't care, but they were always playing, and especially on the weekends. Almost as if they used the same guns on every set, 9 times out of 10, you would see a medium-bore Mauser. A small percentage of time, you would see the Mannlicher Schoenauer, however the vast majority were Mausers. As a kid, I witnessed them work wonders on everything, from tribal natives, giant crocodiles, and even the occasional living dinosaur, which this rifle gets its name from. Of course, we all know that Hollywood and reality are two different things. But ever since then, I have had a longing for a Mauser that meets the following criteria and has that same style, the style we all know so well:
1. A medium bore that is cost effective, especially in loading. Nothing less than 9.3mm, and nothing more than 9.5mm/.375, which narrows the field considerably.
2. It has to be a Mauser 98 'standard action'. I never saw a magnum action in any films of that day, at least none that I can recall.
3. It has to be pre-war. Bear in mind that this one is a 1940, but the actions were acquired from FN and sent to Husqvarna prior to 39', so this technicality can be overlooked as far as the action itself is concerned. Admittedly, this is a blurry area and can be looked at both ways, however, I chose to go by the date of the action itself, so as to ease the mind.
4. I love projects.
5. This was to be a 'work' gun, so it needed to fit "me", and not a thousand other people. I knew exactly what I wanted, in every detail, in my head, and I would make it so.
I knew of the Husqvarna's earlier, from having seen them on Simpson Ltd., so I felt this would be a good foundation. Little did I know that it would take many weeks and months until the perfect one showed up on their site. I sat for days, checking their new daily offerings. As most probably know, new additions that come in, get grabbed almost immediately, so one has to actually be glued to the site and check it throughout each day. This is NOT fun, and I will NEVER do it again. But I managed. And through the ordeal that lasted months, FINALLY, the light came through.
A near-perfect Husqvarna, an FN-98 action, un-butchered for a scope, great bore, and zero stock cracks.
~(Many thanks to Simpson Ltd. for being very courteous and a pleasure to deal with)~
Upon its arrival, I knew immediately that I had months of work ahead of me to bring this vision to life. Everything would have to be deep-cleaned and inspected. All of the metal was in good order, in fact, very little had to be done in that respect. The wood, however, was another story. The dings, scratches, dents, all taken out. Special touches added. And most important, it had to fit me.
Luckily, the stock came with the amount of cast-off I prefer, so I left that alone. A lot had to be removed underneath, because I didn't see needing to use my rifle as a canoe paddle. For some reason Husqvarna made these very wide, presumably for mass consumers of every size and stature.
It came with an extremely ill-fitted off-brand pad that I immediately removed and trashed.
Upon deep cleaning the action, there were no less than two moose hairs that were washed out to once again see the light of day. No kidding, I'm not making this up.
I will not go into all that was required to finish this project, or how many hours looking through an eye-loupe was involved, because it would require pages, and more time and energy than I currently have, but suffice to say, it was a lot more than I had expected. I usually go into these things full-tilt, and by the time I am almost finished, the small unseen bits multiply and the nights seem to drag on and on the closer I come to completion. It happens every single time, and this was no exception. The final day, however, always comes.
It was going to need a Silver's pad, and some ebony. Gabon "ghost" ebony, in this case. Also, a front cross-bolt.
I don't care to go overboard with bedding, only in critical areas, and that was done in a tasteful manner. These older stocks, whether one likes it or not, DO require it, if they are to make it another 100 years.
So, sitting there with a 9.3x57, bright and great bore, un-butchered by scope users, it occurred to me that there was no way on earth I was going to alter the chambering. Too many are being punched out to 62' now, and while I would have no qualms about doing it to a rifle that was already butchered by the scope people, I would NEVER do it to this one.
I'm also one who likes to keep velocity at 2050 fps for most everything. It's just something I like. If I need more, I go up in caliber, not velocity. This has worked for me all the way up to .577, which is naturally settled there, from its creation, and the angels rejoiced, as it were. I won't go into my reasons, because again, that would take pages, and I humbly ask that this thread not be de-railed to discussions of velocity.
With that out of the way, and knowing it would remain a 57', I acquired the brass from ravenrocksprecision.com, and great brass it is, Norma with correct headstamp.
I decided to leave checkering off the forend, and asked myself if it was due to laziness or some other factor, and I'm still not sure, but as I worked, I grew to like it without. All other checkering was re-cut and cleaned.
Then there were the 'drying' times, as something is always needing to dry, and usually for long periods, especially color, so I spent that time doing actual life.
She was finished a while back, but I have only now felt the urge to take photographs. I've not really had the time until now, and the months and weeks seem to be growing faster for some reason. Please forgive the quality, quantity, or size, and furthermore the white towel's decision to become a mirror, and so on, as I am not proficient in ANY form of technological gadgetry, and my skill level with such things is akin to that of a 3-year-old.
I had to do very little sighting, as the factory witness mark from 1940 on the rear sight repeatedly put 286 grain PPU's into one inch at 50 yards with my load of RL-15, rested in left hand over the hood of the "self-propelled shooting bench". So, that was easy enough. Not hard with the fine silver bead. The exact type of bead I prefer. I always expect some kind of challenge to work through, but there was none. Bear in mind, these sights are made to be dead-on at what I'm estimating to be 150 or so, so the one inch at 50 is going to be 2 inches high. This needs to be written in stone and engraved in your head.
I prefer a two-stage trigger on Mausers, so I left that alone, and it is very nice from the factory, so no complaints.
No bells or whistles, just a working-man's Mauser, oil rubbed, and a 9.3....I blended most 'new' elements to match and show equal age, so if those are noticed, they were on purpose, as my goal was a specific overall look with a bit of distress here and there to match....
Taylor always got on my nerves by calling these "junk rifles". The correct well-fitted Mauser is anything but that....
I will say, and if I only have one complaint, it would be that it would be much handier with a 22" barrel. But it's not that terrible of a concern with me.
So there you have it, a Husqvarna that has been acclimated to our warmer tropical climates....the "Tropicalization of a Husqvarna" I suppose....and it CAN be done....
As for me, it's Elk sausage tonight, and maybe the 1933 Kong....because sometimes it's healthy to escape current reality, if only for a couple of hours....
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