It fit the action better than the original and spiffed the old gun up a bit. They had $110 on it but I swapped the original stock and an old Lyman 66A I had laying around, so I’ve got about half that in it. It was even the right action length and it had the satin finish I prefer. It was pert near new and it already had the factory pad and sling studs mounted. But I recalled seeing a nice ADL stock in a local gun shop and I stopped in for a second look at it. A decent recoil pad is 30 bucks these days and a proper set of studs run about 13 more. So I set about gathering the needed components and cobbling them into place. Those two items were missing from my new/old 78. Give me a few necessities on a rifle, like sights, a recoil pad and sling swivels and I’m happy. I’m generally pretty utilitarian when it comes to guns. No mechanical problems surfaced, though the trigger could use a little TLC. I hurried home and ran five rounds through it. So that’s the one I bought, for a little less than a sightless WalMart plastic rifle and a bubble packed scope. One had the dark stock, which I like, and it also had the better scope- a very clear old Bushnell Sportsman 4x12 with the parallax-adjustable objective. Then in the last month, our local outdoor market produces TWO of them. I cruised auction houses, pawn shops and gun shops looking for another 78/06, to no avail. It's Mama’s gun now and I'm good with that. She still loves it but when I shoot it I get a thumb knuckle in the schnozz… it’s just too short for me. Lacking a recoil pad, it walloped her pretty hard, so I cut the stock to fit her with the best Decelerator pad then available. She clobbered gallon jugs at 200 yards with it and fell immediately in love. I was blissfully happy with my 78 until the fateful day when my wife wanted to shoot it. I need a rifle that can stand hard service but I detest the current crop of sightless, synthetic-stocked centerfires. The way I use a rifle, the Model 78 is perfect for me. To the uninitiated, the 78 was simply a plain-Jane Model 700 produced between 19, with matte bluing and put up in a walnut stained birch stock with a blind magazine. Nearly 20 years ago, I traded into a Remington Model 78 ‘Sportsman’ 30-06. The only thing I really needed was a full-snort centerfire hunting rifle. I realize some will disagree with that decision but when it comes to guns, I’ve always been happy with simply having the bases covered. So when a fella offered me $200 more than what I paid for the Winchester, I took it. The WASR is a recent acquisition and it’s turned out to be fully equal to the ’94, inside 300 yards. With both a 94 Winchester and a WASR AK variant, I was fat in the ‘iron sighted midrange’ department, which is where I’ve spent most of the past 40 years.
Recent developments in ammo availability, reloading considerations and MDOC’s adoption of Antler Point Restrictions all came together and I decided it was time to take a look at my rifle battery.
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