Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Bone Builders!

"Gin when taken with tonic water is an admirable drink for weaklings and women..."
— Robert Ruark

Well, there you are! I've had, like, one gin and tonic every month since Africa. My rationale is that it keeps me poised for Africa II in June of this year. I use a local gin, Rob's MTN Gin, that's like chewing juniper berries. Cut the designer hi-zoot tonic with lime-flavored fizzy water. Wait for the Brits to recover the Empire.

The good news is that MPI Stocks can do a lightweight stock for Project BLR. I'll send it off this week. I'm going gray with black webbing because I think that will be easier to accessorize. JOKING! Doc at MPI says 6-8 weeks for the new stocks. I have ordered the Browning Scout rail with an idea of using a forward-mounted red dot or a Scout scope. I've really like the Burris 2.75X on the Ruger Gunsite Scout and have shot rifles with the Leupold 1.5-4X Scout mounted. I think forward-mounted scopes are something you either love or hate...while I was in the Royal Armoury in Leeds last December I saw German Mausers from WW2 with forward-mounted scopes; Germans found that some soldiers had trouble focusing on the iron sights when under attack. Imagine that.

If the BLS was gong to be a dedicated "house gun," I'd use a red dot.

Other plans for Project BLR include a 16-ish inch barrel, a trigger job and some kind of BUIS. As I wrote earlier, I'm pairing the BLR with a revolver, either the bulletproof SP101 snub .357 (I have one tuned by Grant Cunningham) or the wonderful LCR .38 Special +P. You guys will remember that I've danced around the caliber issue between .44s and .38s. The .357/.38s seem to work better for this project for the same reasons .223 wins out over other calibers...availability and weight.

Interesting Update...got an email from Browning this afternoon...pretty interesting...I'll tell you all about it when I can...

6 comments:

moon said...

Very nice Michael. Sounds like it is coming together nicely. I must admit that the 44 magnum non permissive environment combo you had been thinking about had a much better cool factor. I must admit that this combo is probably more realistic regarding ease of finding and carrying ammo, as you mention.

How about one of those weird little Zip guns mounted on a rail under the BLR so you can shoot 22lr should you ever find it? I suppose that may get you closer to being in trouble with the constabulary...22 derringer in the pocket it is then.

Anonymous said...

Apparently I must admit.

sheepdog1968 said...

Hi Michael,

Would it be possible for them to include a place in the buttstock to hold a spare magazine like the Styer Scout?

If you are going to cut down the barrel, are you going to get it threaded for a surpressor?

Also, if they are buidling you a stock, are you going to have them mold into the side a small rail (or molded screw holes) for a light?

I've always thought the BLR takedown made a dandy pack with you rifle. THe only thing I dislike is the ammo capacity and like you I wish someone did an aftermarket conversion so you could have some 10 round magazines.

My 30-30 Marlin lever action (12" LOP, 16.75" barrel, 5+1 capacity, scout scope with XS backup sights) travels a lot with me. If I were going to do what you were doing, I'd be tempeted to send it off to Wild West Guns or send off my 45-70 SBL to have it made into a takedown model.

Of course, the most cost effective option would be a Stoeger SXS and that has tempted me as well. During the latest and greatest ammo shortage, I never had troubles finding some kind of shotgun shell. Yes, it only has 2 shots but if I was having to use it inside of 25 yards, I would transition to a pistol when empty.

clark myers said...

How does the Leupold variable Scout scope compare with one of the 2 fixed Scout scopes. IIRC the Leupold variable is a VX2 with eye relief adjusted by Leupold's custom shop. I've never been close to the variable though I have thick - on the Dragoon and thin on the 308- cross-hairs on the fixed Leupolds.

Defens said...

I'm curious about your opinion of the eye relief on the Burris and Leupold "Scout" scopes. I really wanted to like the Leupold and install it on my Ruger GSR, but the fact that you had to hang the scope back over the ejection port to get usable eye relief was a non-starter.

I went with the lower priced, but seemingly more practical option of the Hi-Lux scope - which actually gets some decent reviews. But I would have really liked the illuminated reticle for a twilight hog hunt I completed in Texas a few months ago.

Has the custom shop tweaked the Leupold again to extend the eye relief enough to actually forward mount this scope?

Anonymous said...

US BLR trigger master:

http://www.neiljones.com/html/gunsmithing.html

RSR