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Old 12-17-2017, 02:06 PM
GeorgeL GeorgeL is offline
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Default Colt .17 Remington

Back in 1977 when I was still pretty much a kid, I bought my first varmint rifle. I didn't want a .22-250 because everyone had one. I ended up with a Ruger .220 Swift that was incredibly accurate right out of the box. Several thousand hot loads later it still shoot around 3/4" or a bit more though the lands have moved towards the muzzle quite a bit.

While I was rifle shopping, a short-lived LGS run by the 'smith with is brother there part time had a pencil barrel Colt bolt action in .17 Rem on the shelf. I was a naysayer back then (those bullets are tiny!) and bout the Ruger Varmint. I have never seen one of those again and I wish now I had bought it, of course. My question is, what was that rifle? Anyone else ever see a Colt bolt action rifle in .17 Rem? Been bugging me lately for some reason.
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Old 12-17-2017, 02:32 PM
rider rider is offline
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Sir,
In all likely hood it was the Coltsman. Colt utilized the Sako L 461 action and possibly the sako barrel as well. My neighbor has one chambered in 223. It is a fine rifle and very accurate.
Rider
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Old 12-17-2017, 03:07 PM
steve123 steve123 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GeorgeL View Post
Back in 1977 when I was still pretty much a kid, I bought my first varmint rifle. I didn't want a .22-250 because everyone had one. I ended up with a Ruger .220 Swift that was incredibly accurate right out of the box. Several thousand hot loads later it still shoot around 3/4" or a bit more though the lands have moved towards the muzzle quite a bit.

While I was rifle shopping, a short-lived LGS run by the 'smith with is brother there part time had a pencil barrel Colt bolt action in .17 Rem on the shelf. I was a naysayer back then (those bullets are tiny!) and bout the Ruger Varmint. I have never seen one of those again and I wish now I had bought it, of course. My question is, what was that rifle? Anyone else ever see a Colt bolt action rifle in .17 Rem? Been bugging me lately for some reason.
I just wanted to say that in 74 I bought my first varmint rifle and first centerfire as well, it was that same M77 Varmint in 220 swift! It reached out just a tad farther than my 22 mag did, lol.

Good thing I didn't see that Colt had a 17 or I would have slaved all summer for it too.
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Old 12-17-2017, 04:32 PM
Bayou City Boy Bayou City Boy is offline
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George, your post harkened me back to another time in life. My first thought when reading your post was the Colt Coltsman rifles also, and then my mind told me that they predated the 17 Remington which was an early 1970's introduction. The Coltsman rifles were actually marketed by Colt between 1959 and 1965 with no new ones appearing after 1965, even though they were a fairly common used gun rack item clear into the mid to late 1970's. In that time frame, the 17 Remington cartridge was still a few years down the road. The short action ones were offered in 222 Rem and 222 Rem Mag according to an aged copy of "Modern Guns" that I have in my book collection. There is no reference to one being made in 223 Remington. Maybe the one you saw had been re-barreled to 17 Remington by some pre-Saubier small caliber rifle looney.

Some of the Coltsman rifle were indeed built on short, medium, and long action length Sako actions. Some had stocks and barrels which traced them directly back to a total Sako lineage. Others had different shaped stocks and barrels that were supposedly assembled by a company call Jefferson Manu, IIRC for a couple of years. Others were rumored to have been barreled by the old H&R Rifle Company (not to be confused with the rifles originally produced by the Las Vegas O'Brien Rifle Company that later sold out to H&R in Mass. who continued their production) which literally resided directly across the street from Colt in Hartford, Conn. Some of the long action Coltsman rifles were also built on FN Belgian commercial Mauser actions.

Bottom line, the rifles had Colt's name and the Rampant Colt logo on them but Colt did not do anything other than market the rifles that someone else built.

Now to yesteryear which your post brought to mind for me. In the late 1970's I took a Coltsman Sako action barreled with a gouged barrel in 222 Rem Mag and a new 17 caliber barrel that I bought from some un-recallable source to a gunsmith in Belle Fourche, SD to get it re-barreled to the then fairly new 17 Remington. He had the parts for almost 1 year along with my money to have the work done. Every time I called or stopped into the shop he had an excuse.

In 1979 I found out that I was being transferred to West Texas and went in to pick up the pieces if nothing else. He told me he wasn't going to give me anything back and that the work would be done in two weeks. I didn't have two weeks so I rolled it around in my mind that night while in the Bell Fourche area. Out of frustration I decided to stop by the Sherrif's office the next day (I actually saw his cruiser at a cafe) and I told him what was going on before heading back to SE Montana. I showed him my dated receipt for the work to be done, including the serial number on the action.

The sheriff smiled and he was obviously delighted to help and he told me, "Come on". So we loaded into his cruiser. When he gets out in front of the gun shop he gets into the trunk of the car and pulls out a padlock and a chain and into the store we go. The sheriff tells the gun shop owner that he either turn over the parts and the money or he was going to (and I paraphrase to avoid censorship), "Borrow a drill from you to install a latch and chain and padlock your door."

After a brief bit of discussion the owner brings out the barreled action which was finished with the exception that he had not crowned the barrel for some reason. He had a list of gunsmithing charges displayed on the counter near the cash register so the Sheriff told him to give me the barreled action and give me back the $15 dollars that I was charged to crown the barrel.

Soon after that we left with the barreled action and the Sheriff told me on the way back toward his office that he hated the gunsmith due to his and other people's problems with the guy and that he was more than glad to help. I offered him a cup of coffee for his efforts and he accepted.

It still all makes me smile when I recall it. I never saw the sheriff or the gunsmith again. But I did shoot the rifle for quite a few years after. I had the barrel set back a bit after getting to West Texas to clean up the chamber as the original work in Belle Fourche left a gouge in the chamber. It didn't bother rifle functioning but it left a mark on fired brass. After getting it cleaned up I shot it for quite a few years.

Anyway..... Another time and place.........

-BCB
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Last edited by Bayou City Boy; 12-18-2017 at 08:00 PM. Reason: clarity and punctuation.............
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Old 12-18-2017, 02:55 AM
GeorgeL GeorgeL is offline
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Default Interesting thoughts

I'm pretty sure it was brand new, though I really didn't give it more than a passing glance as I was pretty much set on a Swift and he didn't have one. i do remember it was quite petite and I'm pretty sure it had an angled forend tip of slightly darker color. I kind of made fun of it's caliber (remember, I was a kid!) to which the 'smith replied, "It'll easily kill a deer from shock of the high speed bullet." I should have bought it and my Swift, but it wasn't until many, many years later I figured out a guy ought to have more than one varmint gun.
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Old 12-18-2017, 03:15 AM
georgeld georgeld is offline
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BCB:
Quite a story. I had a deal similar as a 17y/o kid.
Just about put the "GS" out of business over it and very likely contributed to his early death.

Took my '17 Enfield to have it drilled and scope mounted.
He broke a tap off and LEFT it that way. Dad was watching
while i was trying to zero it and saw the scope jump up in the air.

His place was full of guys (10-15) waiting their turn, just before hunting season too.

I walked up to him where he was working on a guys gun. He said:
"you'll have to get at the back of the line and wait your turn" "My A--!, you broke a tap off and left it that way, you're going to get it out and fix it right now!" In less than two minutes there was only the guy he was working for at the time and me left. Everyone else left. Either that elk season or the next he had a fatal H/A in camp. Too long ago to recall for sure which year that happened.
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Old 12-18-2017, 04:27 AM
Bayou City Boy Bayou City Boy is offline
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Are you sure it was a Colt?

In 1977 it could have been an H&R Ultra Wildcat chambered in 17 Remington, but they were not Colt rifles. And as stated earlier today, the Coltsman rifles ceased to be produced in 1965 under Colt's name which was 6 years before the 17 Remington was first released to the public in the Remington 700 BDL rifle (1971).

Beyond that I don't have a clue.

Here's a link with a bit more O'Brien/H&R information.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...223-caliber-fs

-BCB
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Yo no creo en santos que orinan.

Women and cats will do as they please. Men and dogs should relax and just get used to the idea.

Going keyboard postal over something that you read on the internet is like seeing a pile of dog crap on the sidewalk and choosing to step in it rather than stepping around it.

If You're Afraid To Offend, You Can't Be Honest - Thomas Paine

Last edited by Bayou City Boy; 12-18-2017 at 01:27 PM.
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Old 12-18-2017, 07:56 PM
Herb in Pa Herb in Pa is offline
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Colt also sold the Colt 57 for one year with a total product run of about 5,000. They were manufactured by the Jefferson Manufacturing Company of New Haven using FN Mauser actions. Available calibers were 243 and 30-06. This example is the deluxe version with hand cut checkering, the original plastic forend tip and grip cap have been replaced with Goncalo Alves and it now wears a 7mm-08 barrel.

Last edited by Herb in Pa; 12-18-2017 at 08:01 PM.
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Old 12-18-2017, 09:08 PM
Bayou City Boy Bayou City Boy is offline
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Originally Posted by Herb in Pa View Post


Colt also sold the Colt 57 for one year with a total product run of about 5,000. They were manufactured by the Jefferson Manufacturing Company of New Haven using FN Mauser actions. Available calibers were 243 and 30-06. This example is the deluxe version with hand cut checkering, the original plastic forend tip and grip cap have been replaced with Goncalo Alves and it now wears a 7mm-08 barrel.
That is an example of one of the rifle variations produced by Jefferson Manu that I mentioned in my first post.

-BCB
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I miss mean Tweets, competence, and $1.79 per gallon gasoline.

Yo no creo en santos que orinan.

Women and cats will do as they please. Men and dogs should relax and just get used to the idea.

Going keyboard postal over something that you read on the internet is like seeing a pile of dog crap on the sidewalk and choosing to step in it rather than stepping around it.

If You're Afraid To Offend, You Can't Be Honest - Thomas Paine
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Old 12-19-2017, 01:58 AM
GeorgeL GeorgeL is offline
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Default I could be wrong

I guess I could be wrong--maybe it wasn't a Colt but I remember it sticking in my head that I didn't know Colt made wood and blue rifles; Colt always brought pistols to mind. There was that Mattel rifle thing Colt did back then, though and I knew about that.
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