doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com BREVEX No.15 joins my collection of Brevex Magnums

Hello All,

BREVEX No. 15 joins my collection of Brevex Magnum Mausers - a Roy Dunlap Custom.

The listing didn't give a lot of details about this rifle. But, I recognized it as a Brevex Action. Since I have a background in Long Range High Power Rifle Competition, I knew this rifle was for built for such. The 30-378 caliber should be a screamer. It will be arriving next week and I can't wait to get it in hand to test it. I will top it with a 20x Unertl, and a set of Palma iron sights. It will then be ready for "any-rifle-any-sights" and "any-rifle-iron-sights" competition.

As always, your comments are welcome. (pictures: first the rifle - and the 15 collected)

http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/30-378-000.jpg





http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/brevex15.jpg

Roy Dunlap was a fine gentleman and a great gunsmith

https://www.ebay.com/itm/285413070566?itmmeta=01HXFWYN292J0B0P8SHNW1VERR&hash=item4273f1d6e6:g:Q28AAOSwlG9kyrtz&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAAwG%2F6i9RgtfGN%2BLvq5KFMAqUk6osZkoRChlYmGc1epn6odW1xnd2gdVj6LZYYA4u%2F2M86SOvyyitu7yHRRpD21ERLCgn5ZARqpDiSGQ7RZTWlsTO07rgcHdXr4qXZfrMltt0%2F%2BIc4x40mhIsYKXiu0j1pkQz7paYrCzFtxKJCYuRyRD791JGKFn4RafDxCAqQe42iGuQQCFjYNnM8BAhIv7Tc2P827QpZKXoQB8%2BCHVN0Tq%2Fj3Pmsm0zmQu5DsucZ7A%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR57R-vzrYw

I fondly remember sitting with he and his wife at the NRA convention in Denver in the Middle 1970s

What’s the barrel life on a .30-378?

[s][/s]


Buckstix,

I had a nice Roy Dunlap pre war Model 70 30-06 that I shot High Power with for a short time.
Classy rifle!

Speaking of Palma sights, I purchased several items from a deceased Palma Team shooters estate. The pictured sight above was in a box that I purchased.
Are you familiar with this sight? I haven’t found any information on it.

Owenson Precisión Eng.

Barrel life is no different than a 300 Win Mag. Sight was from a small custom shop from the 70's. Similar to MO's.

Interesting that it weights over 14 lbs. It might not be unpleasant to shoot. I have shot a 30-378 sporting rifle and, holy cow, that is some sharp recoil. Is it common for competition rifles not to be checkered?

I believe Otto Weber sold the Owenson sights at one point. Otto stopped setting up at Camp Perry about 20 years ago.
Bob Jones of Arizona had a couple Owenson sights for sale at Camp Perry last time I saw him there.

Believe it is spelled Swenson isn't it Dave? My brother used one as it was one of the few left handed sights available in the late 80's.

John

Got the magnifier out and sure enough it is Swenson Precision Eng.
Nice sight.

Thanks John!

John:
You are correct. I was going by the previous post. I’m sure that there are new offerings since I last shot long range, but when I did I felt there were only two: Warner and wrong.

I’ve never used a Warner sight, but I have used these Sam Gates sights on several different rifles.
Both are from the original run of sights he built.


[url=https://postimg.cc/RNSVKt5F][/url

I got the rifle in hand today and I am super pleased. The Brevex action is case hardened, The barrel is a star-gauge P.O. Ackley. There is a wooden single-shot tray that is signed by Roy Dunlap. The action is glass bedded with the barrel free floating, and there is a Canjar M-2 trigger. I can,t wait to get some ammo ready.

http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/30-378-0000.jpg

Surprise - Surprise .. ! ! This rifle is NOT a 30-378 ... it's a 30-338 win mag ... see picture ... (The seller said it was a typo, and gave a partial refund for his error.)

The question then is; why wasn't this rifle just made as a 300 win mag? (which actually has 5 grains more case capacity) ... Well, ... It took some digging to find out why ... This rifle must have been built in 1958, when the 338 win mag was first introduced. The 300 win mag wasn't introduced until 5 years later in 1963. So, if you wanted a 30 caliber magnum in a long range match rifle in 1958, you simply necked down a 338 win mag. The only other 30 caliber mag available in 1958 was the 300 H&H mag, which wasn't considered a target cartridge.

Now the next question is; "Why did Dunlap use a Brevex Magnum action for a standard length cartridge?" In 1958 a surplus mauser could be had for about $10, and a Brevex sold for $118.50. That remains a mystery.

http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/30-338caliber.jpg

Just for general information, during this time the US Army Marksmanship unit used 300 Ackley Magnum (full length version) for long range matches; but when they changed, they went to 30-338.The world class marksmanship shooters are like other elite shooters and shoot whatever they think gives them the best chance of winning. They may not say why until later, if ever.
Mike

Well, I made it out to the range today. I added a 20x Unertl Programmer scope and dialed it in at 100 yds. I was a little taken back by the recoil. I'm not used to shooing from prone where you body doesn't "give" under recoil. Most of my big guns are shot standing, where you body is free to move during recoil. Never=the-less, I'm pretty pleased with the results. Next time I'll try to see if I can improve the group by shooting on the bench.

http://www.buckstix.com/buckpics/30-338-TARG.jpg