Persian Czech VZ-24

8x57mm

I went shooting on the last weekend of September up at the state range up in Delaware State Park . The little gun/ammo/bait shop there on the edge of the parklands sells the daily $3 range passes, and I made the obligatory stop, filled up on bottled water, Reese's Cups, ammo and targets, then a forlorn mauser sat there on the used gun rack and called my name. I had never seen anything other than used Shotguns there before. Further examination revealed a Persian Mauser (later identified as the islamic year 1317), in 8mm Mauser, already drilled/tapped, with a nicely sculpted bolt handle, a sporterized military stock, and a minty bore. I bought it for $150 plus a box of ammo. It was an impulse buy, and more than I usually am willing to pay for a sporterized mauser, but I had heard good things about the Persians that Samco was selling and thought I would gamble. I wasn't disappointed. Using the stores no-name 8mm reloads and just the iron sights I shot 2.75 MOA consistantly from the bench. I figured I could get much better from it with a scope. The week after that I did. I put on some Redfield bases and used weaver rings with a defective Tasco 3x9 scope (it wouldn't magnify past 4x). Now I had it down to 1.8 MOA with S&B factory ammo. Soon I will try it with my 8mm hunting loads.

Rifle $150, bases $6, Rings $free, scope $free. Total cost $156 for a 1.8MOA rifle!