Best Wife Ever! (hint: Cooper)

[Rick in Oregon]

I've got to have the best wife ever, at least for a true rifle loony. I awoke Christmas morning with a big-O grin to see some very cool stuff under the tree besides the usual boring stuff like socks or a scarf from Aunt Edna.

This is the cause of my Christmas grin:



A Cooper M38 Phoenix in 221 Fireball, 100 new Lapua cases, 100 new Nosler cases, 1,000 40gr Varmageddon Tipped boolits, Jard 10 oz trigger, 5 lbs of AA2200, and Leupold 30mm rings & bases. Now THIS is a wife who fully understands the passion!

This rifle will be the companion to my other Coopers of course, but also a safe and field-mate to my CZ American in 221FB. Can't resist posting the hard-to-find rat caliber barrel stamping:



Once I get her Leupold VX3 6.5-20X 40mm M1 LR w/VHR properly mounted and bore-sighted (and the mount bases come via UPS), I'll post a pic of the finished product for some fresh Cooper Porn. I'm smiling for sure, but if Skippy knew what was in store for him and his pals in a few months, smiling would NOT be on his agenda!

 

[SDWhirlwind]

Nice items to find under the tree for sure! Looks like she covered every base as far as components etc. Now that special lady must know her component list etc!!!

Now to the more important 'specs' not posted. Does she have a SISTER? Age? Weight? Any chrome or basic model? Not real fussy on who she is seen with? Low self esteem? etc? Please consider at my age, financial situation, health etc that she would be arm candy for me and I would really just be a face to feed and someone to clean up after! I will say I can take care of the reloading/gun room and machine shop so that wouldn't be a requirement. See, I am pretty easy to please!

Oh, and edit to add....anyone who has never shot or owned a Fireball doesn't know what you really got!!!! Probably shouldn't have posted that as brass etc is hard enough to find as it is!

 

[joshb]

You are one lucky!😃😃😃 man. Merry Christmas! Last year, at some point, my wifey "decided" that I don't need any more guns.....????😳😰😱

 

[varmintshooter]

You are a very lucky man and she is a keeper for sure. Nice find getting a m38.

 

[CM21VE]

Nice!!! And she even bought the AA2200, now if you can only get a hold of some 1680! Nice rifle and great choice in caliber! I love my lil fireball.

 

[thekriebles]

You did receive a Merry Christmas from the Mrs.! Hopefully, you got her something meaningful in her eyes as well to keep the good fortune moving forward in a repetitive cycle. ;D

 

[Bangs OH]

She even knew enough to find a smaller-action Model 38 and not the newer M21 Fireball. Getting hold of rare .221 Lapua brass also proved she is very astute. As stated above, hope you reciprocated with something equally nice, Rick!
My wife never actually bought me a rifle, but she did give me a nudge to buy the first rifle that got me back into varmint hunting after decades off: a .204 Remington LVSF that - probably due to its jewelled bolt, stainless action and fluted barrel - fit her main criteria of being a "pretty" gun. Bless her heart. I'll never sell that rifle, even though the discontinued LVs are now in demand. Little did my wife know she'd soon be a "groundhog widow", and I would have little problem shelling out over twice as much for rifles such as a spitting-image .221 FB Cooper M38 Phoenix. I'll bet RIO will enjoy that Cooper like no others in his safe, and never part with it.

 

[snert]

Envy :-\

snert

 

[Fotheringill]

You are one lucky!😃😃😃 man. Merry Christmas! Last year, at some point, my wifey "decided" that I don't need any more guns.....????😳😰😱

You sure narrow down the field, don't you?

 

[A_Gamehog]

They don't make them like her anymore! you are really lucky.

Santa works in mysterious ways.

 

[pacificman]

Good for you Rick! Sounds like she likes ya for sure! When ya get that cooper shooting show us some targets. I'm sure it will be a great shooter. I know the sage rats aren't going to like it! ;D

 

[Jeremy(WI)]

What, no pictures of the wife?

 

[Jeff]

She only made one small mistake. 221 FB like Lil-gun

 

[jbhotrod]

Wow sir, you better treat her damn good!

 

[Rick in Oregon]

This thread got quite the reception when wifey read through it. You guys are quite entertaining according to 'her'.

Now that the little rifle is scoped, I thought I'd post a pic of her wearing her Lupy 6.5-20x M1 LR and her new Jard 10 oz trigger. Got a chance to bore sight her today, and as soon as the outback warms up to at least 25*F, I'll scoot out there and sight her in with the 40gr NBT over A1680 to see how she does. It was 12*F when I snapped this in the "rat-ready" mode:



Now it's time to figure out what wifey told me when I asked her what she really wanted for Christmas......she said something like "you'll see......"

 

[snert]

Uh-oh...my wife once said "baby"...i heard "beagle"...we got both, eventually.

 

[tcob68]

It sure is nice to have a wife that understands her Husbands love for fine rifles! About two years ago my beautiful wife surprised me with a Cooper 22 MVT in 6.5x284 for my birthday/Valentines day. A few months before she had went into a local gunstore with me that also sells fine jewelry. She seen me looking at this particular Cooper and went back without me and purchased it! Too say I was surprised is understatement!
By the way, how do you like the Jard trigger compared the Cooper?

 

[Raythemanroe]

She most of really liked the vacuum cleaner you got her..




Ray

 

[Rick in Oregon]

It sure is nice to have a wife that understands her Husbands love for fine rifles! By the way, how do you like the Jard trigger compared the Cooper?

Yessir, it sure IS nice to have an understanding wife! Took me three tries to get it right though.

Jard: Sweet would be the best way to describe it. I have their 10 oz springs in all four of my Cooper/Jards, and really prefer them to the factory trigger. BUT....I have to qualify that statement as to how those rifles get shot in the field.....always either from my BR Pivot bench while colony rat shooting, or from my "varmint stake" rest when out roaming about shooting rock chucks. These rifles are never carried loaded, and the bolt is always open until ready to shoot, as the 10 oz unit is NOT suitable for field use, at least for me.

The factory Cooper trigger can be adjusted to about 1.5 lbs, which is plenty light for field use IMHO, but the Jard is about like a Jewell in comparison to the factory unit, breaks like the proverbial glass rod with zero creep or overtravel. Again, only my opinion.

 

[tcob68]

Thanks for the reply Rick. I think I'm going to give the Jard a try.

LOL, It's funny you said that Ray, the wife did get a Kirby with power drive that wasn't to far off in price from my Cooper! Carpet sure is clean though!