Bought a potential science project today

[pricedo]

It is hard to argue with the success of the Guide Gun series and it seems that REP has done a pretty good job which is very good to hear! As soon as I finish out my testing of a new 45 caliber offering, the TLC460-300-RF, I'm going to be selling mine. I just sold my 444P which is the Guide Gun chambered in 444 Marlin. I also have Guide Guns in 35 Rem (336D), 44 Mag (1894P), and 1894S (45 Colt). I just haven't take the big bore GGs hunting in years, cleaning them way more than I was shooting them.

The original Savage "Brush Gun" was the 99 chambered in 375 Win. I have been thinking about this one but I've tried to slow down on what I've been buying.



I do have the Marlin 375 and it is one of my favorites. In fact, I owned three Marlin 375s at one time, one NIB with all the hang tags but decided I liked the one that I hunting with and would never shoot the others. The only thing that has held me back is that I've owned two 99s in the past, a 300 Savage and 308 Win, and both of those rifles had little accuracy potential despite a huge amount of work.

My newest Savage (I own several - great guns!) model 116 stainless Alaskan Brush Gun bolt action with the 18" barrel is definitely NOT a .375 Winchester......it is a .375 Ruger (pushing a 300 grain bullet @ 2660 fps for a ME of around 4700 ft-lbs).
I'll post pics as soon as I locate my digital camera which I believe is in the back of my pick-up under layers of junk from my last hunting trip.
Tried my iPhone and picture quality was less than adequate in my opinion for internet posting purposes.

[Arktikos]

Update:
The Remlin 1895G Guide Gun arrived.
At the onset of this adventure I asked the chap at the place I got it from (I've been dealing there for many years) to "pick me out a good gun" and that functionality and safety were top priority with cosmetics being second and they did pick me a good one.
Talked to the guy later and he said he went through a dozen or so guns and mine was the best functionally......a couple looked better but they weren't as smooth.........and he immediately sent 1 back as defective.
Remlin's senior gun maker (6 months service) must have made this gun cause the action is smooth as whipping cream out of the box and there isn't a buggered screw head on the gun........the iron sights are centered and the barrel and receiver appear to be true and straight.
The only trouble is that Remlins senior gun maker let his 5 year old brother do the checkering cause it was horrible.........aesthetically it would have been better to leave the stock bare but the checkering as terrible as it was does hold your grip.
The wood was respectable & I think Remlin borrowed the wood stain recipe from Rossi.
The gun loads & cycles Hornady LeverRevolution ammo as well as the 430 grain lead FP HSM ammo effortlessly.......and that's straight out of the box without adding a drop of oil or working the action beforehand.
I'll redo the stock (got the Birchwood stock kit on the way from Brownells) this winter but so far the gun is a keeper.
There is an ugly red plastic thing that passes for a magazine follower in the gun but I have a metal one arriving from SG as we speak.
The next phase will be the range test.
Report card:
1) Overall appearance - B+ (I like the look of the gun)
2) w/m fit - B (using the Pedersoli 86/71 as the desired A+ standard)
3) finish (wood) - C (would have been B+ if it hadn't been for the horrible chequering)
4) finish (metal) - A (nice rich bluing with no blemishes)
5) cycling - A+ (smooth as silk)
6) ease of loading - A (gate a bit stiff but no problems whatsoever)
7) balance & handling - A
8) sights - A (nothing fancy but nice clear, fast acquiring iron sights - I wasn't expecting Marbles or Skinner sights)

For a $500 mass production gun my Remlin is holding a solid B average right for now.

So I have a question for you. Does the barrel roll mark say Ilion or North Haven on it? Supposedly the newest Marlins are improved from their earlier attempts and I believe starting around the new year 2012 they started putting Ilion NY on the barrels. Trying to figure out the DOM on the new ones from Remington is more complicated, with certain letters not in the s/n having meaning as to which month and year. I still would love to pick up some more Marlins, but I want them to be good ones, and having something to check to see when it was made such as the Ilion roll mark would be of great help in knowing I was looking at a new one and not a 2 headed beast made shortly after the factory moved!

[pricedo]

My newest gunz.

The Remlin 1895G (.45-70 Gvt. - 18.5" barrel), the Pedersoli 86/71 (.45-70 Gvt. - 24" barrel), the Savage Alaskan Brush Hunter (.375 Ruger - 18" barrel).
The photos do NOT do these gunz justice.......especially the Pedersoli.
I'm certainly no photography prodigy.
File size is 126 KB (a little big).
I think about 100 KB would be the optimum size for posting on here.

[Ranch Dog]

Very nice Big Bores!

[pricedo]

Very nice Big Bores!

It'll be interesting to see what happens when the 300 grain bullet traveling at 2660 fps from the Savage Brush gun hits a hog delivering almost 4800 ft-lbs of kinetic energy.
When the red mist clears there might be a big pile of sausages where the hog once stood
The write up on the box of Hornady Dangerous Game DGX cartridges says they are used for lion, cape buffalo, elephant and rhino!

[dpe.ahoy]

Well, I hope that 375 Ruger can take down your hogs. No such thing as over-kill, dead is dead. Out of my 19 Marlins, one is a Remlin, 1894C, and other than the trigger pull being more than the weight of the rifle, it looks and functions fine. Got it by accident, had been looking at a JM marked marlin in Cabelas for a couple of weeks and when I made up my mind to get it I walked in and pulled it off the shelf and made the deal. After I got home, looked and it was a Remlin, called and found out they had sold the other one the day before and put this one out. I had grabbed it with out looking closely , so that's what I get. Still need to work on the trigger to lighten it up, the rifle is accurate enugh if I'm on the bench and pay close attention to squeezing the trigger. It's good to be back and read the posts on here, we were in the philippines for almost 6 weeks and been getting caught up since the return. I missed my internet buddies!!!! DP

[pricedo]

Well, I hope that 375 Ruger can take down your hogs. No such thing as over-kill, dead is dead. Out of my 19 Marlins, one is a Remlin, 1894C, and other than the trigger pull being more than the weight of the rifle, it looks and functions fine. Got it by accident, had been looking at a JM marked marlin in Cabelas for a couple of weeks and when I made up my mind to get it I walked in and pulled it off the shelf and made the deal. After I got home, looked and it was a Remlin, called and found out they had sold the other one the day before and put this one out. I had grabbed it with out looking closely , so that's what I get. Still need to work on the trigger to lighten it up, the rifle is accurate enugh if I'm on the bench and pay close attention to squeezing the trigger. It's good to be back and read the posts on here, we were in the philippines for almost 6 weeks and been getting caught up since the return. I missed my internet buddies!!!! DP

Another 1 that learned the hard way about in-shop QC inspections.

The Happy Trigger kit from Wild West Guns is worth every dime and easy to install.
No more floppy trigger and a crisp 2-3 pound pull.
Brownell's got em for the 1895s and I'll bet there's 1 for the 1894C.

[pricedo]

After the dust has settled I have 2 Remlins that that are smooth cycling and very accurate.
I was impressed with the carriability and quick swinging/target acquisition characteristics of the Guide Gun and have a couple of bruises on my backside from self administered kicks for not buying these guns when the company was run by people who gave a damn about the quality of product that was coming off their assembly lines.
A blue Remlin (the original science project) with a full rail XS sighting system and a standby detachable Leupold Rifleman 2-7x33mm scope on high mount Leupold QRW rings.
A SS Remlin with a detachable (Warne QD rings) Leupold Rifleman 2-7x33mm scope.
Both have had considerable polishing and stoning applied to the internal parts and the stock mag followers, triggers, ejectors have been replaced with custom parts from Wild West Guns and the heavy factory springs replaced by the Brownell Cowboy Action spring sets.
Now, I won't part with either of them.
Superb Remlins and Rossis are doable.
Like any "kit" gun it takes time and elbow grease to make it happen.
Q: How much time and elbow grease?
A: Depends how lucky you are. Every Remlin or Rossi box you open is a toss of the dice. Like it or not that's just the way it is.

[Ranch Dog]

Like any "kit" gun it takes time and elbow grease to make it happen.
Q: How much time and elbow grease?
A: Depends how lucky you are. Every Remlin or Rossi box you open is a toss of the dice. Like it or not that's just the way it is.

Alternate answer: Until it is finished!

Good to know they are up and running!

[pricedo]

Like any "kit" gun it takes time and elbow grease to make it happen.
Q: How much time and elbow grease?
A: Depends how lucky you are. Every Remlin or Rossi box you open is a toss of the dice. Like it or not that's just the way it is.

Alternate answer: Until it is finished!

Good to know they are up and running!

They aren't all up and running quite yet unfortunately.
I was sighting the Savage Alaskan Brush Hunter (.375 Ruger - 18" barrel) with the Bushnell Trophy 1.5-6x40mm 4A scope in using Hornady 270 grain Superformance factory ammo and all of a sudden after the 3rd. shot the sight picture disappeared and when I moved the rifle off my shoulder I could hear something rattling around loose inside the scope and the power dial would not turn.
The recoil of the light 7.5 pound Savage 116 rifle (at least a pound lighter than a "normal" .375 Ruger) is horrendous.
If the Guide Gun in .45-70 is a kicking mule that Savage Brush Hunter with full power ammo is a Clydesdale horse on steroids.
I'm not a small guy and am pretty near recoil proof.......good thing !
Sent the scope back to Bushnell repair center for warranty repair (lifetime warranty) and installed a Leupold Rifleman 3-9X40mm scope on the gun.
I prefer the higher top end magnification because with the PSP 270 grain soft point ammo the .375 Ruger is a long range gun.
Did some sighting with the excellent factory iron sights with the 300 grain Hornady DGS ammo and the gun was giving me hole touching hole groups off the bench at 50 yards.
We'll see how the Leupold stands up to that savage Savage recoil when I get back to the range.