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.