MYSTERY RIFLES

Shoot your way into the Unknown

- John Barsness

Years ago, Gary Larson, author of the comic strip The Far Side, published a panel showing two bears in the woods, standing over a rifle lying on the ground. One bear says to the other, “Thunderstick? You actually said, Thunderstick? That, my friend, is a Winchester .30-06.” Rifle loonies normally define any rifle by the same characteristics, the maker and the chambering, though not necessarily in that order. Usually the answers are obvious, such as a Winchester .30-06. Occasionally, however, they are not. The more “advanced” among us can often identify the parts used in what we term a “custom rifle,” but still have no idea who made it.

Among the first of my several “mystery rifles” appeared a decade ago on the used rack of a local store, and was glaringly identifiable in many ways, including its historic era, the 1950s and ’60s. The stock was made out of finely-figured walnut in what many called the “California style,” with a high “rollover” cheekpiece, the top cresting like a wave on Malibu Beach, and a “hooked” pistol grip separated by a white-line spacer from its zebra-wood cap with an ebony diamond inletted into the center.

In many California stocks, the forend tip was made of the same wood as the grip cap, angled at 45 degrees both at front and rear. Instead, this heavy-barreled rifle was apparently made to shoot off sandbags, with an uncheckered beavertail forend with flared sides vaguely resembling a canoe. There were no sling swivels or studs to hang up on bags during recoil, perhaps causing fliers.