Have you ever noticed how sometimes great ideas grow from the tiniest little seeds? That happened to me recently. I was talking to Todd Ramirez, the Alba, Texas-based master gunmaker, about a rifle that I wished I had. The more we talked, the more the idea grew, until finally it took on a life of its own.
You see, I ramble a lot. I mean that I ramble everywhere. In the mountains. On the plains. In the wildness of the cypress swamps. On farms and ranches. When there’s no hunting season, I ramble. It’s just a fact of life. My feet just have to move.
When you go into wild places, you sometimes find yourself in need of a firearm, and most often, it’s a rifle that you need. It might be to handle some kind of noxious beast like a coyote or feral pig. It might be for protection. It might be for supper. At any rate, I’m a devotee of what I call “the farm and ranch rifle.” Sort of a general-purpose firearm. Not a hunting rifle for such big game as moose and elk, but able to take critters as large as coyotes, pigs and even a whitetail deer.
Anyway, Todd and I talked for hours that day about such a rifle. First off, it had to be easy to carry, in the way of the redoubtable Winchester 94. At least for me, it needed to have an optical sight to compensate for my aging eyes, since I’ve reached the point where irons just don’t cut it beyond point-blank range. At the same time, it needed to have the natural pointing characteristics of an iron-sighted rifle. Ideally, it should shoot flatter and with better accuracy than a traditional lever action.
After a while, Todd really got into the idea, and together, we built a list of parameters that the rifle should meet. In the end, Todd agreed that it would be an interesting exercise and that he’d have a go at it.
The first requirement that I put on the project was that I wanted it to be a bolt action based on the tiny old Sako L461 “Vixen” action. The reason was that I had one and liked it very much. Part of my affection was based on the fact that the old action came with scope rings that were hardly higher than iron sights. In addition, I requested a matte-blue finish on the barrel and action, and a nice, but straight-grained piece of walnut for the stock.
Over the next year or so, Todd and I talked, built, refined and evolved the idea into the rifle that’s shown here. It’s chambered for the .223/5.56 cartridge, because I just happened to have a good stockpile of ammo for it. To give the cartridge more versatility, we acquired a marvelous 20-inch Shilen barrel with an 8-inch twist that could handle heavier bullets than the standard .223. The Shilen barrel gives the gun the capability to accurately handle bullets weighing 70 grains or more at respectable velocities. As it turned out, the rifle is deadly when firing the Barnes 70-grain TSX. With that bullet, in my handloads, the completed gun consistently groups under ½ inch at 100 yards and easily handles game up to whitetails. It also has the power and accuracy to reach to 200 yards or more. The flat trajectory makes hitting at that distance “a piece of cake.”
That was just the beginning of the project for Todd. In addition to carrying like a 94 and having the accuracy of a target rifle, it had to fit me as an individual. Not as an average-sized male, mind you, but me specifically. To make things worse, I specified that I wanted it to have the “lines” of the 7×57 that Todd built for renowned gunwriter Craig Boddington. Craig’s rifle has perhaps the most fetching lines of any rifle that I’ve ever seen, and I basically wanted Todd to miniaturize the look. As hard as that is, Todd pulled it off perfectly, while adding a few extra touches of his own.
First, he slimmed the entire design down to wisp. Then, he lowered the comb slightly, so it would bring the extra-low, Leupold compact scope into alignment, like iron sights, when the gun was cheeked. Then, he dialed in a little “cast-off” for the same reason and gave the rifle a touch of “toe out,” similar to what you’d find on a best-quality, fitted shotgun. Next, he modified the bolt handle, so it would clear the super-low-mounted scope. Aesthetic touches included an ebony forend, and a gorgeous skeleton buttplate and pistol-grip cap that are beautifully case-colored to match the colored bolt shroud.
The result of all that creative talent and labor is a rifle that is as elegant as a silk slipper and as practical as a carpenter’s hammer. It carries in the hand like a Model 94 and handles like a best-quality shotgun. It tips the scales at less than six pounds, scope and all. And when the time comes to shoot, I just look at the target and shoulder the gun. Somehow, the crosshairs magically appear on the target. You can’t get that in a factory-made gun!
I carry it almost every day, and after more than a year of constant use, the rifle has accounted for a small bunch of coyotes, a couple of pigs and an even a half-dozen whitetails taken at ranges from 50 to 150 yards. Although I don’t think of it as a “deer rifle,” it has certainly proven itself to be capable of handling them. It also took the cutest little South African steenbok you ever saw. We had him for dinner that day, but that’s another story.
It’s impossible to fully appreciate the rifle until you hold it in your hands, and everyone who has done so, immediately comes down with a serious case of “rifle envy.” As near as I can tell, the gun is a true one-of-a-kind. It’s built and finished to a standard that can only be matched by a true master, and if there’s ever been a better “farm and ranch rifle,” I’ve never seen it!
If you like what you see, I’m sure that Todd would be happy to discuss it with you. Give him a call at (903) 768-2948.