doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com What’s your holy grail?

Michael, "gun poor" or "just plain poor" are the only excuses I have for not taking proper advantage of the last two or three JO guns I had a chance at, some with assistance from participants on this forum. I'll try not to make the same mistake again. Bill Murphy

Michael: With your wealth of knowledge of pre-war gunmakers, I imagine this will be he only time I will ever get to nudge you a little in gentlemanly and good natured fun, but I believe O'Connor had around a dozen .270's during his life. His favorites being a pair built by a young guy named AL BIESEN, that he called RIFLE 1 AND RIFLE 2. They were virtually identical and both built on Pre-64 Model 70 Featherweight barrelled actions. As I always say when we talk on the phone...hurry with a NEW BOOK...my copy of YOUR FIRST ONE IS FALLING APART AND IT'S MY SECOND COPY! Warmest Regards Jerry

I second the notion of a new BOOK.Smile Whitey

Eightbore, if I had the $$ to even THINK about it, Damascus barrels on your Ideal would NOT be a barrier! But I don't....I'm back to collecting pop cans and wheel weights to keep me in shells (You have no idea how hard it is to keep a gun collection together in Sou Cal when a shopping cart is your "safe"!). But I envy you your Elsie and am glad it's in the right hands.

I think there's more than a little confusion about O'Connor and his .270's. Particularly in later life, Jack had a number of custom rifles made that he probably didn't hunt with.....and of which there isn't much public record.

Anderson's 2002 book on O'Connor at least attempts to present documentation of those guns Jack did hunt with. Here's his documentation of .270's Jack owned through the Model 70's "Number 1" & "Number 2".

1925 Winchester Model 54 .270 sold in 1932 to pay doctor bills.

1937 Mauser Sukalle-barreled, Linden stocked .270
Jack says he killed more game with this rifle than any other. Given to a friend in 1966.

1943 Winchester Model 70 .270 stocked by Linden. Killed 1st Bighorn Ram, Mountain Goat, Caribou, and moose with this rifle.

1946 Mauser Sukalle-barreled, Owen stocked .270. Carried on his 1946 pack trip to BC. Later re-stocked by Biesen and given to son Brad.....who killed his 1st ram with it in 1951. Later stolen.

1953 Winchester Model 70 .270 stocked by Biesen. Biesen turned down the standard barrel and cut it back to 22". This was Model 70 .270 "Number 1"......sold to a friend in the 70's.

1959 Winchester Model 70 Featherweight .270 stocked by Biesen. This is Model 70 "Number 2" still owned by the O'Connor family.

This last rifle was at the ACGG show in January 2009. Unfortunately, with a misleading and inaccurate accompanying sign. Brad O'Connor was at the show also.

If I was going to tab an O'Connor rifle as my Holy Grail......I would likely choose the Linden Mauser .270, or the Minar Springfield 30-06......Jack's first "commissioned custom".

Good detective work and I'm glad you took the time to sort this out. Do you remember that the O'Connor Minar Springfield was at Reno the first day only when we had the display. The only time I got to play with it, It has a good home at this time.

We knew that only after speaking with you Saturday afternoon, Michael.

We were disappointed it wasn't there on Saturday or Sunday. We surely would have enjoyed seeing it. It's unlikely we'll get the chance again.

Jack O'Connor had a long and interesting career writing about hunting and custom rifles. Certainly he was adept at both. I enjoyed his sensible approach to what he considered a good custom rifle. And he went through the exercise of multiple iterations of custom rifles until he got what he considered his favorite.......his Winchester Model 70's stocked by Biesen.

However, Jack was 51 and 57 respectively when those rifles were delivered. He had accomplished a whole bunch of hunting, and written thousands of words about his hunting trips before he ever had them.

Regarding Cactus Jack, I've got two quick questions I hope someone can answer.

First, is there really a forend screw in the M70 Fwt. shown above, and if so, why?

Second, does anyone know what happened between he and Biesen in the later years, as referenced in "Jack O'Connor Catalogue of Letters"? Any other comments on that "book" would be interesting to hear.

Good shooting.

There is. Presumably received by a threaded lug soldered to the barrel. A feature not unusual in 50's custom rifles.

I guess I wasn't aware of anything that "happened" between O'Connor and Biesen. The Biesens recently built an O'Connor commemorative Model 70......"Number 3".

Pictures here.....

http://www.biesen.com/news.html

Brno ZG 47 in 10.75x68