A sad story: Twenty-five years ago I read an ad in a provincial newspaper of a 7 X 57 Mauser for sale. I phoned to see if it was still available and went to a modest home where I was introduced to an older man in frail health. The man had been a padre who bought it from the regimental sergeant major who had liberated it from a chateau owned by a German baron in the Hochwald on the Dutch-German border. It was mint, used "only for a few boxes" on the provincial range 200 metres away. Pre-war 98 Oberndorff, two triggers, a 7 X 57 dreamer's dream. However accurate and attractive, my whippy 1950 Brno looked like a calf to a real bull. My always reliable gunsmith in declining years mis-measured drill holes for the scope. I sold it for what I paid for it---$150---to a recluse rifleman in the hills where it has an appreciative owner to this day. I have a hankering to go up and look at it but I can't.
Last edited by King Brown; 01/18/13 05:07 PM.
