I found a older article in Field & Stream entitled " A Pair of Aces" When it comes to big-game guns, these two beat all hands.
Article by David E. Petzal. Uploaded on January 16, 2007
A Pair of Aces | Field & Stream
Here's the thing. Years ago and I mean like in late 2000 I asked Ed Brown to build me the best rifle he knew how no matter what the cost! He opted to even upgrade to a better barrel, and I let him choose the caliber, a 300 Wby. using his own custom reamer. He had three different ones, standard free bore, a .241 and a .182. He chose the middle one saying it would shoot any Factory made ammo in case I lost my hand loads while out on a hunting trip. Long story short I had some Hornady stuff from my brother since he owned a 300 Wby. cleaned the gun, chambered a round while prone and pulled the trigger at a 300 yard target..... WTF and pulled the bolt open to a blown primer! On not one, but two loads. I never shot it again!
In the end he ruined the Krieger barrel, I could see he had tooling marks that were just above the belt on those two cases and almost all of the factory stuff was too long to shoot in that gun. I know that because the local sporting goods store was kind enough to let me try almost every factory round in that gun the day I sent it to Bruce Bear. You might ask why I sent it to him instead of back to Ed Brown.... well if what I see wrong with it might not mean much to Ed Brown, but if a trained gun smith like Bruce says there's tooling marks in the chamber you could see from the next State well then that must mean something.
Ed Brown may make great hand guns, but when he first started building rifles which was in 2000. With his own actions, the 702, he didn't deliver what he promised, not even close, and YES, I got my money back. His last comment was "those tooling marks will help keep the pressure down from beating up the bolt face"!
So in the days of custom hunting rifles back then and maybe even now, there are good and bad gun smiths or truly great ones like Kenny Jarrett, David Miller, Mark Bansner or a guy like Lon Paul for the dangerous stuff. I have either owned or shot most if not all the well known rifle builders guns, and only a few had great workmanship, worked flawlessly with out any hiccups and shot extremely well. All of Kenny Jarrett's guns are broken in, shot at least 100 times and tuned with the customers hand loads before the customer even lays a hand on their gun. I can honestly say he is the King of building the worlds most accurate hunting rifles in the world!
This gun I had built by Mark is such a gun as well. I've made some truly awesome hits on game animals well beyond what was considered long range under some extreme hunting conditions. This is a joy to carry even after weeks in the back country and when your hard earned trophy steps out and everything is riding on the most important tool you have it will come through for you that day or any other day when it matter most....
There are a few guys on this site that have owned Mark's guns and/or still do. Ask them, or read their older posts. Lets be honest here, this is a great hunting gun that you won't be using as a crutch because your too tired to lug a heavy tactical rifle for the entire week to ten days while out hunting for that trophy of a life time. Or something too fancy to even take out of the house let alone through the brush!
What I find odd is that after almost 400 views that know one has anything to say? Good or bad? What's up with that? I would have thought someone would have at least said something? I realized today that 16 lbs. rifles are illegal to hunt with in the State of Idaho, who could lug that around anyways, and have a back pack.... must be why they call them "Drag Bags" lol Just joking, I have one!
Later
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