wildcatter
Silver $$ Contributor
I really don't know how these things keep happening? But here I go,,, again! Seems I fall into these projects for no known reason. I sold a 8-32x56 Sightron to a fellow member, rimfire competitor, and arranged a F to F before my out of state doctor appointment, in the town next to his.
We parted with him thinking over what he would have to have for a barrel a friend of mine hand cut in 17 caliber, over 25 years ago, and would talk more later. I gave him a couple day's to think it over before calling him, this is when it got very interesting and knew my moment of weakness was going to cost me. He let me know it came on a rifle and really wanted to sell it together??? That was when I asked what it was and what kind of money. Not really wanting a 17 caliber rifle, he let me know it was Kelbly Panda, and he thought on a flat bottom target stock, but didn't think it was a 3" BR Stock, in 17 Javelina, and it was kinda rough! Plus the trigger hanger was screwed up?
Well I made him an offer I really didn't think he would accept, but to my surprise, he said when would you like to do the paper work?????? I had no choice but to take him up. So I got it home and started to clean up the action, and found the trigger was in the hanger upside down and worked flawlessly, then was just going to sand and redo the stock since it as actually a 3" McMillan BR stock from the early days. Threw an old Viper on it in a set of Kelbly rings and went to see what my smith thought before sanding and prepping the stock.
Then I took it to a buddies and asked what he thought, mill the forearm down and glass it up as a varmint rifle? But then I had more good news, after closer examination of a few of the chips in the paint,,, we discovered this isn't just a McMillan fiberglass old school stock, it is an early era BLACK stock, this means it is a Graphite 3" McMillan BR stock!
Dam is this is when them gears get wounded up and start to to hit the redline! We know back 40 or so years ago, when Fred Sinclair was just a little shop in downtown New Haven In. and Fred was still shooting Bench Rest and cattering to extreme accuracy shooter while still building rifles. When one day we noticed a shelf of BR stocks in the shop, some snot gray and some black that looked to be the same, he let my buddy know, the black ones are about 5 to 6 oz lighter and stiffer than the grayish snot color fiberglass stocks. I knew there was a reason this all happened, and with those gear wound tight knew, now it's time to get the pocket book out!!
Yep since I already had a varmint rig on a savage Axis with a 6BR Norma barrel on it in 'a "Pence Barrel ", and in one minute the bolt face be converted to a 223 bolt face to accommodate this new to me Pence barrel, and this Javelina is to long to begin with, 24", we can cut 2" off of it, and make it one of Ron Pence's favorite 17's, a Mach IV, and Fred at Sharp Shooter Supply, my smith has that reamer. This will make this rifle a dedicated Pence barreled Varminter!
Now in remembrance of Fred Sinclair and the man that started me in Bench Rest, with a 6BR tall dog, just as the 6PPC was being introduced, of course on a Pence barrel, and soon rechambered to that new 6PPC. Knowing that before the PPC Fred shot a 222 to get in the Hall of Fame, and shot a triple deuce up to the time of the PPC, and introduced the difference in the graphite and the glass stock, as well as this Panda being a vintage action L/R and coming with an old school Shilen trigger, there is only one thing I can do with this,,,, Dam it has to be dedicated to remembrance of Fred, another of my mentors. So 2 weeks ago to keep everything old school Bench Rest, and what our mentors used before that magnificent 6mm PPC came to be, I ordered the barrel, yep to go with the old school Shilen Trigger, the 224 #7 HV contour in 1-14 twist Select Match Shilen Barrel, after all they didn't have Krieger's and Bartlien's back then. So in amazement it showed this morning, just 10 days after ordering!
So that is how I get myself into the predicaments, I don't think this chit up it just happens! This is what happens when you only own one Harley Davidson,,, hmm maybe I should work on that, cure this problem? I'll start a thread as this build starts going together from start to finish, all in honor of two of my main shooting mentors, a varmint rig Ron Pence would be proud of, and the old triple deuce, dedicated to the memory of Fred Sinclair and how he Got 'R' Done, rest in piece Fred, your still in my memory as well as so many others!
We parted with him thinking over what he would have to have for a barrel a friend of mine hand cut in 17 caliber, over 25 years ago, and would talk more later. I gave him a couple day's to think it over before calling him, this is when it got very interesting and knew my moment of weakness was going to cost me. He let me know it came on a rifle and really wanted to sell it together??? That was when I asked what it was and what kind of money. Not really wanting a 17 caliber rifle, he let me know it was Kelbly Panda, and he thought on a flat bottom target stock, but didn't think it was a 3" BR Stock, in 17 Javelina, and it was kinda rough! Plus the trigger hanger was screwed up?
Well I made him an offer I really didn't think he would accept, but to my surprise, he said when would you like to do the paper work?????? I had no choice but to take him up. So I got it home and started to clean up the action, and found the trigger was in the hanger upside down and worked flawlessly, then was just going to sand and redo the stock since it as actually a 3" McMillan BR stock from the early days. Threw an old Viper on it in a set of Kelbly rings and went to see what my smith thought before sanding and prepping the stock.
Then I took it to a buddies and asked what he thought, mill the forearm down and glass it up as a varmint rifle? But then I had more good news, after closer examination of a few of the chips in the paint,,, we discovered this isn't just a McMillan fiberglass old school stock, it is an early era BLACK stock, this means it is a Graphite 3" McMillan BR stock!
Dam is this is when them gears get wounded up and start to to hit the redline! We know back 40 or so years ago, when Fred Sinclair was just a little shop in downtown New Haven In. and Fred was still shooting Bench Rest and cattering to extreme accuracy shooter while still building rifles. When one day we noticed a shelf of BR stocks in the shop, some snot gray and some black that looked to be the same, he let my buddy know, the black ones are about 5 to 6 oz lighter and stiffer than the grayish snot color fiberglass stocks. I knew there was a reason this all happened, and with those gear wound tight knew, now it's time to get the pocket book out!!
Yep since I already had a varmint rig on a savage Axis with a 6BR Norma barrel on it in 'a "Pence Barrel ", and in one minute the bolt face be converted to a 223 bolt face to accommodate this new to me Pence barrel, and this Javelina is to long to begin with, 24", we can cut 2" off of it, and make it one of Ron Pence's favorite 17's, a Mach IV, and Fred at Sharp Shooter Supply, my smith has that reamer. This will make this rifle a dedicated Pence barreled Varminter!
Now in remembrance of Fred Sinclair and the man that started me in Bench Rest, with a 6BR tall dog, just as the 6PPC was being introduced, of course on a Pence barrel, and soon rechambered to that new 6PPC. Knowing that before the PPC Fred shot a 222 to get in the Hall of Fame, and shot a triple deuce up to the time of the PPC, and introduced the difference in the graphite and the glass stock, as well as this Panda being a vintage action L/R and coming with an old school Shilen trigger, there is only one thing I can do with this,,,, Dam it has to be dedicated to remembrance of Fred, another of my mentors. So 2 weeks ago to keep everything old school Bench Rest, and what our mentors used before that magnificent 6mm PPC came to be, I ordered the barrel, yep to go with the old school Shilen Trigger, the 224 #7 HV contour in 1-14 twist Select Match Shilen Barrel, after all they didn't have Krieger's and Bartlien's back then. So in amazement it showed this morning, just 10 days after ordering!
So that is how I get myself into the predicaments, I don't think this chit up it just happens! This is what happens when you only own one Harley Davidson,,, hmm maybe I should work on that, cure this problem? I'll start a thread as this build starts going together from start to finish, all in honor of two of my main shooting mentors, a varmint rig Ron Pence would be proud of, and the old triple deuce, dedicated to the memory of Fred Sinclair and how he Got 'R' Done, rest in piece Fred, your still in my memory as well as so many others!
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