Michael brought the Hart rifles to my attention a while back and asked if I would go over and look at them for him. I've got a few hart rifles and I also have a thing for old varmint rifles, so he figured (correctly) that I'd be interested in the Hornet. The auction was a strange deal. Much like SDH said, imagine your local Wednesday evening auction going hi-tech. The bidding was started at the hi online bid and went from there. For the most part I thought stuff went very reasonable. The little Sako .222 surprised me, as did the Weatherby .224 varminter. The Winchesters I thought went rather reasonable, but I don't really keep up on Winchester prices other than to know that if it says Winchester on it, it is going to be high. The model 12 trap was brand spanking new and had the tag and box, I thought it would go higher than it did.
I was able to get the Carved rifle for Michael, and I ended up with the Hornet. They both have a few little issues that need addressed, but nothing that can not be taken care of. The stocks are both in great shape. One interesting thing is that both have a bunch of cast-off. The Hornet has about a half inch or more near as I can tell. The Hornet is an earlier Rodgers stock before he developed some of his later refinements. His early stocks look just like a Hoffman stock probably due to his time working for Hoffman. Later he began to develop his own style, and add the small detail touches that I really like in his work. His comb nose treatment changed, his cheek piece developed its little down turn in the front that ran into the checkering, and he began adding more detailing around the top of the stock where it meets metal. Michael s carved stock has many of these features.
I'll try to get some pictures of the hornet in the next few weeks.
John
