Thread: Single Shot Rifles - Blaser & Merkel

Originally Posted by ebf

Mohawk, yup the Rugers are fantastic. I've lusted after a Farquharson style action for most of my adult life...

In the context of this thread though, they are very heavy rifles, and known to be finicky to work on, couple of gunsmiths I know are not keen to work on their internals.

Originally Posted by Mohawk .308

Yeah, probably not a very practical hunting rifle, but would still love to have one in the safe. I had a fully wooded ruger bolt action carbine .308 once.
Sold it and still kicking myself, was a lovely little rifle.

I would politely disagree with you there. The 303brit one I used was very good as a hunting rifle. It was far more accurate than I will ever be, and was given the name "the hammer" by my hunting companions. Everything I pointed it at went down. Right there, right then. Good old BOOM Flop. ( This probably had more to do with my/its preferred hunting load of a 215gr Woodleigh RN doing 2100fps......)

I had a mate look at some of my rifles at the time and he said it 'felt heavy' so I weighed a few of them. The BLR 30/06 was 4.1kg, the Ruger was 4.0 and his 308 M77 that he had lightened ' was 3.9.....I told him he had very sensitive hands to tell the difference of 5% (Bear in mind the full magazines weighed more than the difference....)

I also enjoyed shooting the 375 H&H Magnum in another Ruger #1 that I owned, but at $180 for 20 rounds it was not really what I wanted to spend on Ammo.

If you are really chasing lightweight Try finding an SSR (Scott Trail made) single shot. Rarer than hens teeth but worth it. I know of just one and it is 2.3kg / 4 pounds and take down...Or perhaps get one made....The real advantage is takedowns can be put in the pack for the carry out. And while it is nice if they are lighter, 4kg in the pack is easier than 4kg in the hands...Remember though, you cant hit anything with it in the pack.

$200 Baikal Anshutz barrel just need a wee scope, Happy as Larry.

There's a Thompson Contender G1 in 30-30 on trademe currently. Link provided in the trademe good deals thread.
Joel

Originally Posted by Dusty Fog

hagn falling block

Attachment 174117

That is a very nice rifle @Dusty Fog , there wouldn’t be many of those in NZ , very classy

Lucky,the photos dont do it justice.....that is one beautiful rifle and oh so light.

I've got a Merkel K3 in 7x57R, with a 3-9x42 Kahles in Rectnagel qr mounts. The k3 has the "alloy" reciever, the k4 the steel reciever and hexagonal barrel. The k3 reciever is not cheap, light flimsy etc. Its a good solid alloy. ON my first reloading session it put 4 out of 5 in the same hole. I pulled the 5 shot as i filled my pants. 7x57r brass is pretty easy to find. I use geco , rws and privi. Weight is 2.8 kg scoped so even a 7x57 is pretty lively in the hands off a bench.

Originally Posted by Lucky

That is a very nice rifle @Dusty Fog , there wouldn’t be many of those in NZ , very classy

I think there's a chap on the other forum that has one but went to a 300 WSM from memory.

Originally Posted by nor-west

I think there's a chap on the other forum that has one but went to a 300 WSM from memory.

@nor-west , that would be a handful and some , I have been looking at Martini Gunmakers in Canada website for years , he builds some beautiful rifles on the Hagn action , bucket list rifle for me , medium action in 6.5 x 55 would be sweet .
Soroka rifles are another nice one but I don’t know if they are still going , based on a Farquason styled action .

A different angle on the single shot: Ranking of Single Shot Actions.
Forums.NitroExpress.com

Originally Posted by rupert

A different angle on the single shot: Ranking of Single Shot Actions.
Forums.NitroExpress.com

Certainly a different angle and depends what you want to use it for

Most of those mentioned are magnificent actions but I wouldn't be keen to carry them in the South island alps

So any list of preferred action really comes down to the context
And even if it's to be shot at all

Great thread. It's not helping my rifle acquisition syndrome, as it was recently termed somewhere on the forum. Something like this has been on my own wish list for a while too. I looked into these Dakota Arms rifles myself. Possibly not in the same league as the Europeans but by all accounts finely engineered.
Dakota Model 10 deluxe

I will fire up the posts with this quote from the nitro express link

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

Those who know me well can vouch for the fact that I'm actually mainly in to exposed manual hammers
And before someone points out the obvious that a K95 doesn't have an exposed manual hammer
I consider the Blaser firing system to be essentially an exposed manual hammer
It is certainly not a safety catch