BradD

DT, Dale is a way decent fellow (known him nearly 40 years). Your words were well spent. Dale, a lot of times people just need to help however they might in a bad situaion with someone they've known a long time. It's more a matter of duty than affection. Done it myself. I'd not worry about it. I think Dr Hess pretty well called the shot on this one. Be there for her as she needs you, stay out of the middle as DT said. Don't worry about her sense of obligation, it will pass on. Brad

Karl, Deepest condolences. You spoke a lot of Tawny over the years. She was almost a member here. Funny you should mention about our pets going on to heaven. When we lost Sam at 14 and then Buster at four I pondered the same thoughts. How could such a critter be such a good friend for so many years and then just be gone? I hope he's right and I think he must be right. I hope Freddy and "Dinky" (Dinqi Dao for you Vietnamers - Asian Leopard Cat) last as long as Tawny. That should get me off the planet and we can go together. Enjoy your memories and perhaps a new little critter will worm her way into your hearts one of these days. Brad

Good to hear from you, Jerry. If you don't have any gun stuff to report, surely you have a few good yarns for us. Brad

Shroud not screwed in all the way was going to be my guess, too. An 1/8" that's almost as thick as the safety where it locks. Brad

I'm working on a 9.3x62 right now and starting to get gushy over it. Everything for it is readily available, brass costs more than 35W, but check Graf's. More 9.3 bullets than you would ever guess. Tons of loading data. I'm with Mike on this one. Brad

The Smith will always have more value if it was redone at the factory. However, if it's more than 50% don't do anything but clean it. 50% is worth more than a reblued Smith. If it's pitted, no one can help. If you're going to remove the side plate, write me and I'll tell you how to do it. Smith & Wesson 2100 Roosevelt Springfield, MA Brad

A couple of months ago an elk pooped in my back yard. No one was injured. Brad

www.lockstock.com used to have a large quantity on hand. Brad

Go to Sporterizing and go down about five to"Here's Pics of My 45-70" or something like that. Open and go to the bottom where Roscodoh posted some of my pics. Last or next to last is two of my completed 45-70 Siamese Mausers. The lower one has laser engraving and checkering on it. It was on the stock when I got it so I left it and added pg tip and fe tip. It looks pretty good to me, but you can tell that it is laser engraved, not hand cut. Brad

It was an interesting article and I'm looking forward to the second half next month. I think when he said standard action he was probably saying 7 7/8" screwhole to screwhole. The Mausers were and are long magnumed by extending the front of the magazine well on the tg and then filing away the area below the feedramp on the receiver to match, long enough to hold the whopper cartridges. Last couple years I've done it on a 375 Weatherby and an 8x68s on commercial 98s. Brad

Dave, So sorry to hear how it went. Absolutely on the prayer list. Brad

Jason, Thanks for rescuing me again. I didn't remember that you had all those other pics, too. Good job, no wonder you get to work here for free Uh, come to think of it, it cost me money to do all the work in the pics... Brad

Hey Jason, Ken got a hold of me (finally) and I'm going to email him some pics. However if anyone else wants to see them, then I think I'll have you rescue me once again. Brad

Have a good one LC. Brad

Rojelio, I like the looks of your shop as it goes. Mine is more or less about the size of yours and you can really load it up with crap. I was intending to just work in it, but...oh well. One burning question, did you put a potty in it? I did in mine and lawdy am I glad. But I guess you are close to the trees... We just have oak trees and they are a bit hard to hide behind. Enjoy, Brad

Ken, et al. I've done three and let my barrel guy do the rails on all. None look like the Shaw job, but rather look like standard magnum conversions. I have had to undercut the rails on one because the ctg is just so much bigger, but all works well. I STILL can't post pics, but am working on it. If you need I can photo a couple and email to you. Just let me know. Brad

Lem, great job. $215 plus sites!!! That's amazing in this day and age. I suspect with different bullets you are going to do very, very well. Congrats, Brad

You sure on the bolt? The Mk X were shaped just like the FN bolt. Only difference is the markings on the handle. Mk X has numbers which equate to a mfg date stamped on the bottom side of the handle and are crude. FNs had a small proof mark stamped the the top of the root and sometimes the rcver ser number etched on the bottom (and most times not). The Mk X tg would be a plus, not a minus. Al that said, if you didn't like it, you didn't like it, and best to walk and save your money for another day. Brad

Rojelio, Yep, H&R imported FN actions back in the 60s and 70s and had them barrelled and stocked here. I picked one up in 7mm Rem Mag a couple years ago. Would NOT shoot. I rebarrelled it to 375 Ruger and love it. Nice stock on it. If I had a shot at one for $350, I'd grab it. Brad

Guys. 40 years ago no one cared a thing about sporterizing ANY 98. There were barrels full of them everywhere and sold for $25-40 a piece. What good were they? Collectors items were Colts and S&Ws and Winchesters. Collect a Mauser??? Please! I still have an all matching bring back I made into a 7mm R Mag. Just think, if we hadn't whacked them all up they'd still be everywhere and not worth anything. We made your savers into big time collectibles. Where's our thanks? Brad

Several years ago I built a 350 RM on a Mexican with 22" bbl and Richards stock. It is one of my favorites, also. Just haven't got around to making Condor loads for it yet, so that all humanity and species of the world will be saved from evil lead. I live in Condor country, aka: Dumb Politicians Work Area. Brad

Bob, you play the french horn when not doing gun work or your day job? This is indeed a diverse group. BO would be proud, if we just paid more taxes.

As a native son of California and a resident for the a larger part of a century, and, frankly, love the place, I have to ask all of you to tell your congressmen and senators to oppose any federal bailout money for Cailfornia. Any bailout money to Cailfornia is like giving drugs to an addict to help their addction. We have all kinds of voter propositions to stop the financial crisis, the gov wants to sell stuff and he is begging for money from all to fix the problem. Any money given to the government of Cailfornia will not be used to ameliorate the debt. It will just be spent on more stuff. Unfortunately anytime California gets money to spend on some "program" it just ends up making the citizens of California more miserable and lines the pockets of crappy left wingers. California is rated as the 12th largest economy in the world but some people say it is actually 8th. The truth is it is probably the 5th or 6th...and we are broke and have huge debts, the people who produce are moving out in droves, real estate in the most popular state in the union is in the tank and we have the most citizen unfriendly legislation and regulation in the western world. Nuts from all over the country and the world have moved here for the last 30 years and have finally wrecked the place as they hope to do with the rest of the USA in the future. This is as good a place to make a stand as anywhere. We tell them "NO" here and now. No more taxes. No more bailouts. No more rampant government. No more wild spending frenzies that wreck a state and wreck a country. It has to end! Draw the battle line in California and tell your reps we aren't rewarding any of the foolishness of California politicians with any of anybody else's money for their folly and socialist schemes. NOT ONE DIME!!! Do it for your Californian brothers. We fight the good fight but are overwhelmed by the invading hordes. It's time to send them back and do our country a great service. Thanks for you help and support. NO NO NO NO!! A wounded but but still faithful Californian, Brad

Me too, Mike. Hope it was a good one. Brad

...and it only comes in bottles!