Dave DeLaurant
Member
This Saturday I was moving some long guns between safes and came across a partly-finished project that I had set aside in 2020 when my wife became ill.
This gun started with a custom cartridge, which I had come up with by the simple expedient of running .357 Magnum brass into a .30 Mauser resizing die. The inspiration came from reading about JD Jones' .300 Whisper -- this was back in the mid-1990a, quite a few years before the .300 AAC Blackout became a thing. There were and are plenty of other necked-down .357 wildcats floating around, but I thought mine had the advantage of being easier to form and reload using off-the-shelf dies. I call it the cartridge .3057 (pronounced "thirty-fifty-seven") Shadow, and got as far as having a chamber reamer made and then had to put the project aside when my dad passed and I had to help out my mom for a couple of years.
My first attempt to have a gun chambered for this cartridge happened in the early 2000s. I took a slightly-rough Martini Cadet action and an FN Mauser 98 barrel in .308 Winchester to my gunsmith and told him what I wanted. It didn't turn out so hot. The barrel was profiled and fitted the way I'd specified, but chambering and extraction were both very hard. I got distracted by something else and put the barreled action aside, not coming back to it again for almost 15 years.
I obtained a couple of new Cadet extractors from a friend in Australia, and then removed the barrel and reamed the chamber slightly deeper. Function was almost perfect now -- cases still occasionally hung up short of full ejection, but I could figure that out later. I made a new stock and forend, had sights installed and the metal matte blasted (to hide some shallow pits) and Parkerized dead black. It shoots pretty good, but in deference to this late-1800s action I've kept my handloads very modest.
Shortly after restarting work on the Cadet project I acquired a T/C Encore action. I shot it first as a handgun in .44 Magnum, but I had a notion to see how the .3057 would perform in a more modern platform, preferably with an optical sight. I contacted Match Grade Machine and worked out the details before sending them my reamer. Along with the usual specs I wanted to fit the barrel with an E A Brown scope base with an integral peep sight plus a front sight, for which they obligingly drilled and tapped.
I decided to go with a thumbhole stock, and ended up buying two different options: a pepper-laminate from Boyds, and T/C's own synthetic buttstock. I didn't care for the shape of the T/C forend, so I bought Choate synthetic forend, belt-sanded off the impressed checkering, cut the tip off squarely and painted it with bedliner paint. The two synthetic stock elements ended up matching pretty well.
I was still deciding on a suitable optic when (as mentioned) outside events caused yet another hiatus. I had mounted a Leupold 1-4x VX Hog scope at one time, but that later got hijacked and now lives happily on my Ruger No.3 Carbine in 45-70.
Looking over the carbine on Saturday, I considered just buying another Leupold but decided to hunt around online for a bit first.
One interesting option I came across was a very compact 4x fixed-power scope from the economy Monstrum line:
monstrumtactical.com
My previous experience with Monstrum was that they offered very heavy optics that were often otherwise excellent values. This particular scope was only $80 from Amazon, which seemed a pretty safe gamble -- I've paid more for scope rings. I ordered mine Saturday evening, and did the one-day shipping option. When it arrived about 16 hours later (I still can't get used to this!) I discovered it also featured an illuminated reticle -- I should really read item descriptions more closely.
Mounting this scope was slightly complicated when I discovered the slots on the E A Brown base were a bit too narrow for the crossbolt on the QD rings I had. That required a few minutes of careful file work and some black spray paint. I also had to cut a small relief notch into the sleeve of the rear lens cover to leave room for the rear peep.
Here's how this rig looks now:
I wouldn't exactly call this scope fetching, but the seemingly Soviet-era design school at Monstrum lends a certain SciFi/Steampunk quality to the rig. More importantly though, I found that I can properly focus on this scope's etched reticle, despite the increasing astigmatism in my right eye. This has gradually become a more significant problem, to the point where I have to shoot with some optics off my left shoulder.
I'll hit the indoor range soon to zero this scope and get some chronograph numbers for my last batch of handloads.
This gun started with a custom cartridge, which I had come up with by the simple expedient of running .357 Magnum brass into a .30 Mauser resizing die. The inspiration came from reading about JD Jones' .300 Whisper -- this was back in the mid-1990a, quite a few years before the .300 AAC Blackout became a thing. There were and are plenty of other necked-down .357 wildcats floating around, but I thought mine had the advantage of being easier to form and reload using off-the-shelf dies. I call it the cartridge .3057 (pronounced "thirty-fifty-seven") Shadow, and got as far as having a chamber reamer made and then had to put the project aside when my dad passed and I had to help out my mom for a couple of years.
My first attempt to have a gun chambered for this cartridge happened in the early 2000s. I took a slightly-rough Martini Cadet action and an FN Mauser 98 barrel in .308 Winchester to my gunsmith and told him what I wanted. It didn't turn out so hot. The barrel was profiled and fitted the way I'd specified, but chambering and extraction were both very hard. I got distracted by something else and put the barreled action aside, not coming back to it again for almost 15 years.
I obtained a couple of new Cadet extractors from a friend in Australia, and then removed the barrel and reamed the chamber slightly deeper. Function was almost perfect now -- cases still occasionally hung up short of full ejection, but I could figure that out later. I made a new stock and forend, had sights installed and the metal matte blasted (to hide some shallow pits) and Parkerized dead black. It shoots pretty good, but in deference to this late-1800s action I've kept my handloads very modest.
Shortly after restarting work on the Cadet project I acquired a T/C Encore action. I shot it first as a handgun in .44 Magnum, but I had a notion to see how the .3057 would perform in a more modern platform, preferably with an optical sight. I contacted Match Grade Machine and worked out the details before sending them my reamer. Along with the usual specs I wanted to fit the barrel with an E A Brown scope base with an integral peep sight plus a front sight, for which they obligingly drilled and tapped.
I decided to go with a thumbhole stock, and ended up buying two different options: a pepper-laminate from Boyds, and T/C's own synthetic buttstock. I didn't care for the shape of the T/C forend, so I bought Choate synthetic forend, belt-sanded off the impressed checkering, cut the tip off squarely and painted it with bedliner paint. The two synthetic stock elements ended up matching pretty well.
I was still deciding on a suitable optic when (as mentioned) outside events caused yet another hiatus. I had mounted a Leupold 1-4x VX Hog scope at one time, but that later got hijacked and now lives happily on my Ruger No.3 Carbine in 45-70.
Looking over the carbine on Saturday, I considered just buying another Leupold but decided to hunt around online for a bit first.
One interesting option I came across was a very compact 4x fixed-power scope from the economy Monstrum line:
4x30 Stealth Fixed Power Scope w/ Adjustable Objective
The Monstrum Stealth Series is the latest iteration from our best selling line of SFP rifle scopes! The Stealth 4x30 is a full-featured scope suitable for hunting, target shooting, or tactical use, the scope comes equipped with: Fixed 3 times magnification, for targeting out to 300 yards and...
monstrumtactical.com
My previous experience with Monstrum was that they offered very heavy optics that were often otherwise excellent values. This particular scope was only $80 from Amazon, which seemed a pretty safe gamble -- I've paid more for scope rings. I ordered mine Saturday evening, and did the one-day shipping option. When it arrived about 16 hours later (I still can't get used to this!) I discovered it also featured an illuminated reticle -- I should really read item descriptions more closely.
Mounting this scope was slightly complicated when I discovered the slots on the E A Brown base were a bit too narrow for the crossbolt on the QD rings I had. That required a few minutes of careful file work and some black spray paint. I also had to cut a small relief notch into the sleeve of the rear lens cover to leave room for the rear peep.
Here's how this rig looks now:
I wouldn't exactly call this scope fetching, but the seemingly Soviet-era design school at Monstrum lends a certain SciFi/Steampunk quality to the rig. More importantly though, I found that I can properly focus on this scope's etched reticle, despite the increasing astigmatism in my right eye. This has gradually become a more significant problem, to the point where I have to shoot with some optics off my left shoulder.
I'll hit the indoor range soon to zero this scope and get some chronograph numbers for my last batch of handloads.
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