SmallCaliberCentral

I've got to have the best wife ever, at least for a true rifle loony. I awoke Christmas morning with a big-O grin to see some very cool stuff under the tree besides the usual boring stuff like socks or a scarf from Aunt Edna.

This is the cause of my Christmas grin:



A Cooper M38 Phoenix in 221 Fireball, 100 new Lapua cases, 100 new Nosler cases, 1,000 40gr Varmageddon Tipped boolits, Jard 10 oz trigger, 5 lbs of AA2200, and Leupold 30mm rings & bases. Now THIS is a wife who fully understands the passion!

This rifle will be the companion to my other Coopers of course, but also a safe and field-mate to my CZ American in 221FB. Can't resist posting the hard-to-find rat caliber barrel stamping:



Once I get her Leupold VX3 6.5-20X 40mm M1 LR w/VHR properly mounted and bore-sighted (and the mount bases come via UPS), I'll post a pic of the finished product for some fresh Cooper Porn. I'm smiling for sure, but if Skippy knew what was in store for him and his pals in a few months, smiling would NOT be on his agenda!

Very nice looking rifle Rick! Wish my wife would have bought me a cooper for Christmas. I'm pretty jealous of your cooper collection!

Wow! what a great Christmas present. You only have about two months to get ready to go and I have the perfect place for you to break it in. Only one catch, you have to let me shoot your cooper 20 VT while you’re breaking it in. Dan

Looks like Santa relocated from the North Pole to Stevensville!
Lets hope the sage rats had a restful Christmas because I don't think their Easter is going to be so quiet.

Holy Cow Rick....Not another Cooper!!!!! I've only got three!!!! How am I ever going to keep up?????? Gary

Bodei wrote:Looks like Santa relocated from the North Pole to Stevensville!
Lets hope the sage rats had a restful Christmas because I don't think their Easter is going to be so quiet.

I think I'm going to look into seeing if they're doing a IPO soon, been a lot of Coopers in new homes this holiday season.

Nice looking rig there Rick, I'm sure it will fit in nicely with all of the other ones you have.

Jim

Nice!! AND it's in the lovely little 221FireBall!!!!!!!!

Thanks you guys. Yep, it was indeed a bountiful event; "Santa" was quite good to me. Now I'm just wondering what she has in mind for "her".....

TrapperDan wrote:Wow! what a great Christmas present. You only have about two months to get ready to go and I have the perfect place for you to break it in. Only one catch, you have to let me shoot your cooper 20 VT while you’re breaking it in. Dan

Okay Dan, you're ON! Only caveat is that once you shoot a Cooper 20VT, nothing will be right until you have one of your own. The stars won't align, you won't be able to sleep, you'll start to lose weight, friends and family will all wonder "what's up with Dan lately?". Just know that going in, okay?

Captqc wrote:Holy Cow Rick....Not another Cooper!!!!! I've only got three!!!! How am I ever going to keep up?????? Gary

Well Gary, knowing you, and "how you are".......somehow I just know another one will find its way to your house. The Cooper Curse lives on!

Bodei wrote:Lets hope the sage rats had a restful Christmas because I don't think their Easter is going to be so quiet.

Boy oh boy, are you ever right on that one, Bodei! My gun room is the hub of activity now, and will be for the next three months! Soon it will be fun in the rat patch (for us that is, for Skippy......not so much).

WOW Rick! That's about all I can say. Very nice indeed. If I ever find a woman like yours, I might consider marriage! I don't think there is a snowballs chance in he[[, that will ever happen!

I'm just counting the days, and catching up from last spring!

Rick

Ya know,, if Santa Clause believes in the 2nd Amendment then it's gotta be OK!!


I'm betting he has a CCW & a 1911 stashed away on that sleigh!!!!!!!!!

Well there Glen, you may be right in regard to that CCW and the 1911. What an intuitive guy!

Now that the little rifle is scoped, I thought I'd post a pic of her wearing her Lupy 6.5-20x M1 LR and her new Jard 10 oz trigger. Got a chance to bore sight her today, and as soon as the outback warms up to at least 25*F, I'll scoot out there and sight her in with the 40gr NBT over A1680 to see how she does. It was 12*F when I snapped this:



Now it's time to figure out what wifey told me when I asked her what she really wanted for Christmas......she said something like "you'll see......"

Very nice indeed. The 221 is such a fun gun to shoot. You won't know which Cooper to take out and the others will go into depression when they don't get out of the safe!!

Sidewinderwa wrote:Very nice indeed. The 221 is such a fun gun to shoot. You won't know which Cooper to take out and the others will go into depression when they don't get out of the safe!!

Spot-on there, Sidewinder....the little 221FB is another of those 'fun guns' to shoot in the rat patch, being able to see all your hits/misses through the scope, and good for 400 yards too. I love these small-case wonders, and marvel what you can do with only 18 grains or so of powder. (I don't miss my .243 Ackley much at all.)

I'm not worried about any of my Coopers going into depression from being left behind in the safe.....what I worry about is them procreating in there while I'm gone! These things have a habit of multiplying, and before you know it, there's no room in the safe.....again! What to do, what to do?

When it warms up here past freezing, I'll get the little Phoenix out and see what she likes in the way of zippy rat launching loads, as the spring green-up is only a few months away. And oh-boy, do we ever love that time of year!

Does cooper offer a neutering service ?