Conversation with Richard Franklin about the 300 Varminter..

[jacack]

I dont post often but have been reading for yrs but read this post and thought I would state that I do not know much about the 300 Varminter and nor do I care to debate on it,but I have spent quite a few hrs in richards shop over the last 6 or 7 yrs and have had him build at least 5 complete rifles and a few other rebarrels and have always had a top quality rifle when completed and can say without a doubt he is a first class gunsmith and has alway taken time to talk with me about any projects he has worked on for me.

I would highly recomend him.

Jared Costa

[msalm]

I have read with interest those threads about the 300 Varminter for several reasons and I think in Richard's case that round works very well for a specific task. When most think 'varminting', they think of prairie poodles and hundreds of rounds a day. In Richard's case, he is a groundhog enthusiast. I've gone to Ohio several times to shoot groundhogs and typically I got 15-30 shots in a day. Frankly I enjoy it much more than prairie dog hunting as it is a whole different game. Lots of glassing, scouting, walking, etc... It's a very enjoyable 'hunt'. Prairie dogs are fun too, but driving up to a town and setting up benches or bipods and slinging hundreds of rounds from a couple positions to me is not as enjoyable as spending some time with a good friend in the scattered woodlots and fields of hill country in Ohio. In that situation, I can imagine the impact of a 110gr bullet at such velocities (actually I think I saw it on some of Richard's videos) and the trajectory should be spectacular and well suited to the task.

I have Richards pillar bedding and rebarelling videos and respect him as a quality smith that knows what he is doing and am happy he personally didn't get bashed over this.