Opportunities

[C.O.B.]

It's been said that opportunity only knocks once and I'm a believer that if she knocks open the door and let it in no matter how messy the house is. This past year I've been blessed twice with opportunity relating to firearms.
Last year with the impending retirement of my gunsmith he completed my dream of a Mannlichner stocked rifle in 6.5X55 which I have posted pictures of. This summer he came up with a new Winchester High Wall action from a company in Montana. The action is true to the original Winchester action. I have an affinity for single shot rifles and was drawn to this action like a moth to the light. A classic action deserves a classic caliber and as a rimmed case was needed I decided on the 38-55 with a 26 inch half round half octagon barrel, quarter rib (I can't see well enough for the traditional iron sights) topped off with a Leopold Vari X III 2.5X8 .
While this project was under construction there was a knock on the door and I'll be damned if it wasn't opportunity again. This time in the form of an AHE 20. I have known about this gun for quite some time and let it be known that if it was to be for sale I was interested. This was by no means an inexpensive venture but was more than fair. A talk with the director of financial affairs as to the possibility of adoption revealed that there wasn't sufficient liquidity and of the pending rifle project. I interceded that the rifle had funds invested during the process of the project and that the final payment wouldn't be severe. I could see that I wasn't getting very far so I brought up the fact that not only is this an AHE 20 BUT it's also a two barrel set. Now I'm not a big fan of these and have sold several and still have a few. I find the second set of barrels hardly if ever get used but the second set here are 28 gauge barrels Both sets are 26 inch Acme steel. The frosting on the cake was the extremely generous terms offered by the seller. Another discussion with the director outlining all the positive aspects and the promise of re positioning assets in the safe resulted in the green light for adoption. I took the 20 to the U.P. this fall and she took grouse proudly. I picked up the rifle the day before deer season opened and it's going out with me this afternoon.