Sleeper trucks ... Sleeper guns ?

[jamesdmock]

That would be James Mock.

A few months back, a poster here had pictures of a Mod 52 Winchester mounted to a 2x4 and shooting it in a match. I think he won.

Actually, I got it from a friend who got it at a yard sale.

 

[Fast14riot]

Always tried to keep my USPSA guns (including the three-gun stuff) looking spiffy. At one very highly contested match a World Champion showed up at my stage with a pistol that was, to say the least, maybe no too kind to the term "sleeper". It was part blue, part chrome and part raw. There were file marks and obvious Dremel grinds all over it. Astonished, I asked why a National/World Champion would shoot something that was that da## ugly. His response was "it ain't about the look. It's about the driver."

You just reminded me of my back up AR match rifle, lol! Was a spare parts build; raw 80% lower I half-assed polished the easy spots, blem upper with bad casting marks in black, fde stock, carbon hand guard, cheap scope. Its shoots the exact same load as my #1 AR and headspaces within half a thou too, so I can load same brass and everything between them and use them interchangeably. I'll have to get some pics of it.

 

[RCE1]

This reminds me a little of the wealthy couple who showed up in their designer jeans and western shirts at the range in their Mercedes SUV. They pulled out a set of Accuracy International precision rifles in .338LM and a couple boxes of factory ammunition, set up at 100 and never hit the target. They were dumbfounded. When I offered to use a collimator to boresight the rifles for them, they scoffed at me. Said the gunshop sighted in the rifles and the guns and/or Nightforce scopes were defective. I just walked back to my bench and let them simmer in their own juices. He was mid 60s and she late 20s. When I suggested they start off at 25 yards to get on paper at least, I was informed that these were LONG RANGE rifles.

 

[bluealtered]

My sleeper car was a old rusted out 55 ford panel delivery truck, this was in the mid 60's in Alameda California a NAS base. We used to race street light to street light on Webster st.

I had put a 61 ford sunliner 406, (three twos on it) with 391 rear end gears and from light to light it would beat most of the showroom new factory hot rods the new young sailors had from the base.

I very seldom had to buy beer, but I did have to pay a few tickets along the way. But just the price of seeing their faces when they were beat by a rusted out old hunk of junk made it well worth the price of a few tickets.

 

[OMW57]

Something intresting my buddy asked me. He's a car and truck guy and likes guns as well. Well was showing him some pictures of FClass and other competition guns and he was finding it pretty interesting. Liked all the designs and what not but asked
" Hay you know what a sleeper truck is right ? When someone takes a crappy looking farm truck or old hoopty don't touch the outside but they get under the hood and completely redo it so it will out run anyone who's not ready. Do they do that with competition guns sometimes?"

Honestly I never considered this or how one would do it really, especially since I'm not a comp shooter. I mean it's not like you can put a NOS tank and dual turbo in a $900 rem 700 and have it out shoot some $8000 full custom deal but I'm curious now. Are " sleeper guns " a thing ? Could they possibly be in some shooting sports ? I mean could it even be feasible? I know stock shape and barrel contour means a lot so don't think you could just have something that looks like granddads model 70 and have it shoot like a FClass rig.
Anyone sever seen or built something that could be considered a "sleeper" ?

It's called SAVAGE!

 

[jelenko]

This reminds me a little of the wealthy couple who showed up in their designer jeans and western shirts at the range in their Mercedes SUV. They pulled out a set of Accuracy International precision rifles in .338LM and a couple boxes of factory ammunition, set up at 100 and never hit the target. They were dumbfounded. When I offered to use a collimator to boresight the rifles for them, they scoffed at me. Said the gunshop sighted in the rifles and the guns and/or Nightforce scopes were defective. I just walked back to my bench and let them simmer in their own juices. He was mid 60s and she late 20s. When I suggested they start off at 25 yards to get on paper at least, I was informed that these were LONG RANGE rifles.

He had to be the MAN for his 20 year old trophy.

In hindsight, it makes you wonder what they would have taken to get rid of those defective rifles and scope?

 

[divingin]

My sleeper car was a old rusted out 55 ford panel delivery truck, this was in the mid 60's in Alameda California a NAS base. We used to race street light to street light on Webster st.

Up in the hills, east of there: In Montclair (a section of Oakland; not the SoCal city), a cop used to sit near Mountain and La Salle in the late evenings. One night a VW Bug blew past him through the business area at over 50mph. He took off after the Bug, but never saw it again. This recurred every few days, and the cop started sitting further and further up the hill as he got the route. Every time the Bug would disappear ahead of him. After several weeks, he finally saw where the Bug pulled in; screeched to a stop, jumped out and yelled "What the hell you got in that thing?" The guy laughed, and said it was a VW body grafted onto a Porsche 930 turbo. He had bought it in Germany and shipped it over. I don't recall what happened legally (tickets, etc.)

 

[JMayo]

I guess i call them "farm guns" aka "utility guns"
I have several hunting guns that I'd toss over the fence before i climbed through. Back before the AR or simi rifles were a thing.

I've seen a few on the firing line that looked like boards cut into stocks ... Actions and barrels can't be made to look old and used i wouldn't think.

 

[jmm03]

the satisfaction of doing well in a match after being looked down on because you don't have a rifle that cost 3000 bucks, a scope that costs the same, shooting the latest hoo-ha caliber that you just had to have because you wouldn't even get on paper if you didn't, brings a smile to my face. (I know it's sortof childish, I can't help it...)

 

[Will Henry]

A good friend had a sleeper truck which was a real over-achiever. This was in the late '60's. The truck was a 1936 Ford with a flatbed. The engine was a 312 which was unusually strong. The headers were fabricated and consisted of pipes flowing into a Caterpillar oil filter cannister on each side. An original rat rod, it would flat eat the ss Chevelles and Plymouth Road Runners which were so popular in the day.
In the earlier days of "F" class (It occurs to me, I spend an awful lot of time reminiscing. This would indicate, perhaps, I should get to trying to accomplish something NOW), I built a rifle for the purpose, but on a budget. I used a 1965 Model 70 action I had, and put a Shilen 6.5 barrel on it. I chambered it for the 6.5x55. With this rifle I won a bunch of matches. One time I was shooting alongside a fellow who was saying there should be a separate class for the guys with the custom actions and such. I was leading by a good margin at the time, so I disagreed. Of course, today, we have split up "F" class, and I have no doubt there will be further splits going forward. By the way, I still shoot the Model 70. It is a 308 now and I shoot it prone, with a sling. It is still a good shooter; much better than I.
Over the years, I have built rifles with the intent of producing a "sleeper". One such was a 303 British, built on a P14 action. I built this just for fun. It was a solid 3/8 moa rifle, using Sierra 174's. I didn't win a match with it but I placed second, ahead of a whole bunch of more conventional rifles. Later. Sierra's 174's were made about .0006 larger and were too big for the throat. The rifle no longer shot quite as well, so I retired it.
The Forslund brothers, from Cherryville BC, built rifles which were often on the homely side, but were technically excellent. On top of that, they were both very good shooters. They and their rifles were textbook "sleepers". On a couple of occasions, I heard the question, "Who are the hillbillies?". The answer was soon apparent as they picked up their trophies. WH

 

[Kurz]

I'm sure there are more than a few of the car fanatics here who remember this sign.

I was driving back north from Peoria and had to pass through Pontiac, IL. This was Old 66 before I-55. There was one stop light in town and I caught the red so I stopped. The local cops enforced this vehemently.

This boxy (looked like a shoe box on wheels) all white car pulled up next to me and gunned his engine, wanting me to run against him. Thankfully, I glanced down and saw the flag behind the front fender. Nickey with the backwards 'K'. Two pin stripes, one red one blue. Rambler American by Nickey. Nope, no thank you!

He got about 2-1/2 miles down the road before the State troopers hauled him over. I waved as I drove by...

 

[Wolfdog91]

the satisfaction of doing well in a match after being looked down on because you don't have a rifle that cost 3000 bucks, a scope that costs the same, shooting the latest hoo-ha caliber that you just had to have because you wouldn't even get on paper if you didn't, brings a smile to my face. (I know it's sortof childish, I can't help it...)

I know the feeling well !

 

[Wolfdog91]

I guess i call them "farm guns" aka "utility guns"
I have several hunting guns that I'd toss over the fence before i climbed through. Back before the AR or simi rifles were a thing.

I've seen a few on the firing line that looked like boards cut into stocks ... Actions and barrels can't be made to look old and used i wouldn't think.

Give a 10yr a Dremel and I bet you could make them look a little "used "

 

[JimPag]

I bought a sleeper gun from one of the best retired short range score shooters there ever was in the IBS Herbie Llewellyn. It's down right fugly. Bob Green smithed it and when I told him that I bought it he replied boy that rifle is ugly. It's a Bat MB action. It has a Edge stock in flat blackish gray primer because Herbie didn't want it painted. The recoil pad was a piece of hard foam that was put on with masking tape and it took me literally 2 hours to get that masking tape off. It seems like it fused to the stock it was on there so long. Out of all the rifles that I own, all are really nice except this one, but this SOB really shoots. I've taken it to 3 matches, 2 single yard matches and a dual yard match with a Grand Agg and the worst I've done with it was 2nd place. It's also the only rifle that doesn't have a tuner on the newest barrel that it came with.

 

[ebb]

My friend Bill that owned the LGS had a Mauser that was stock looking. It had a match barrel that was the same length and Mauser steps just like the original. It was chambered with a 30-06 reamer, but looked for all the world like a stock Mauser. He had a cast bullet load the was very very accurate. And always had people asking about it at the range. He had been using the same LC cases for years. I have forgotten how may times he had loaded them but it was over 50.

 

[Fast14riot]

Finally remembered to grab a pic of my spare parts gun!



Its ugly for sure! Stupid Baraka scope that was used for initial build testing landed on it and has actually proven to track reasonably consistent.

It'll shoot well if fed the good stuff!

 

[ebb]

Since this has evolved into tales about sleeper cars and trucks. Let me tell you about my last "race". They were making state road 80 in SO Florida into a 6 lane Hwy, and it had been messed up for over a year. They had not yet turned on the new light at D road. And a trick out dually with 20 inch semi wheels and the giant spikie lug nuts was trying to make a U turn. He had to wait till both construction lanes were open to make his turn and we sat for ever. After he gets going east bound, I pull in behind him and he hits the throttle and tried to dump smoke all over me. So i ease over into the right lane and gas it, now my old beat up truck is not a race truck I got it to pull my tractor around. But it has a 6 litter engine and 411 rear gears, and I keep it up pretty well. The next light is about a mile up the road and when i get there he is at least 1/4 mile behind black smoke pouring out of his 6 inch exhaust stacks. The guy I am working with looks over at the driver of this beautiful Ford F350 thats a 100,000. dollar truck with all the stuff he has added to it, and Dave says "I think he going to cry!"

 

[vonb]

Was shooting an F class 1K yd match years ago. Everyone had their custom rigs ready to go as the match coordinator was squading guys together. The new guy showed up and wanted to shoot with a Mosin Nagant. Everyone turned their nose up. He cleaned house that day.

 

[muleystalker]

Up in the hills, east of there: In Montclair (a section of Oakland; not the SoCal city), a cop used to sit near Mountain and La Salle in the late evenings. One night a VW Bug blew past him through the business area at over 50mph. He took off after the Bug, but never saw it again. This recurred every few days, and the cop started sitting further and further up the hill as he got the route. Every time the Bug would disappear ahead of him. After several weeks, he finally saw where the Bug pulled in; screeched to a stop, jumped out and yelled "What the hell you got in that thing?" The guy laughed, and said it was a VW body grafted onto a Porsche 930 turbo. He had bought it in Germany and shipped it over. I don't recall what happened legally (tickets, etc.)

I know exactly where that is, just one block over from Antioch St. and one block from Lucas Ave,right in my old stomping grounds. Just a few blocks out of my city, I retired from Piedmont PD. All those roads up there in the hills were real crappy to have to have a chase on,lol.

 

[ebb]

vonb That may well have been a sleeper shooter as well as a sleeper rifle.