My new (sic) BRNO Mod 1

[joydeepm]

Last 6 odd months were spent in hectic work , hectic travel and more hectic lobbying for my licenses . Finally I managed to get my pistol and shotty licenses endorsed with 4 state jurisdiction ( Delhi/UP/UT/Haryana) and managed to also get the 3rd license for the rifle ( the 4th is under process) .

The search for a 0.22 LR took me to various gun shops in UP, MP and Delhi . My emissaries and I scouted shops in Lucknow, Kanpur , Saharanpur , Indore , Gwalior , Chatarpur and rewa.After seeing numerous , remingtons, winchesters , savage hi powers and Crickos - I finally settled on this BRNO MOD 1 from an honest injun ( a rare breed nowadays ) . quick advice from Dev and Abhi ( Hail to thee blithe spirits ...) helped me negotiate and get the price to 90 thousand bucks ( still an obscene price to pay for a 35 year old weapon ....)

For the first time I relaized how brazen traders and even gun owners willing to sell their 40 year plus weapons are . I never new that the going price for a BRNO is 2.5 to 3 lacs !!! people ask for that amount without batting an eyelid .
10/22 polymer stock semi auto Rugers are on offer for 10,00,000 Rupees ( 45 thousand dollars !!!!!) For that money one can buy a howitzer in US I guess .

Have put 20 odd bullets thru it till now ... Used HPs and stingers till now .The rifle is accurate and shoots well . the action is silken smooth . The trigger is awesome .

The rifle is a little damaged though . Behind the bolt and the safety catch , a part of the furniture seems worn away or broken . A part of the metal between the rails where the bolt meets the chamber also seems to be broken . Abhi feels that it could be because of a bad fall and Dev supects some skulduggery ( both could well be true ) .

here are the pics . I have rubbed some powder on the marks to make them stand out so some of the shine off the stock and the barrel is gone . Someday , I might lend this to someone with able hands to tidy her up a little bit.









-- Sat Mar 19, 2011 1:21 pm --

Forgot to rub in some powder on the 4th shot ...too lazy now .... have 'pushed' exposure to the extreme in the last picture to make the damage stand out .

Comments from all , especially Mack The Knife , R.P , Sanjay , Dev , Olly , Abhi , Vikram , Grumpy are welcome .

Forgot to mention that I have also zeroed in on a Westley Richards at last . As soon as the 4th license in in place , that shall be acquired . The villages of UP do hold some surprises . Could not take pics as I was not carrying my camera with me . Next time .....

[Vikram]

Congratulations,Joydeep, on this rifle and your licenses having been sorted.No mean feat! The rifle should do well with some TLC. Certainly look forward to see your other acquisitions.

OT- People are routinely asking INR.250k+ .22 rifles on IFG itself. I will take an IOF .22 rifle any day and customise/refinish it and one can hardly tell the difference.Has anyone seen the pics Rusty put up of his IOF .22 that he refinished? It looks awesome and shoots awesome.As good as the Brno/CZs.It is after all a copy of them. Rant ends.


Best-
Vikram

[joydeepm]

Thanks Vikram . what do you think about the damage to the rifle ? visible in the last pic . Forgot to mention that the grooves are allmost 90 percent intact .

-- Sat Mar 19, 2011 2:36 pm --

BTW .. I thought about "doing up" the Indian 0.22 . Checked up on quite a few ( they come for 42 grands now ) . Interesting fact is that the barrel is free floated . The two reputed gunsmiths I know of were charging 35 grands and 55 grands respectively to reshape the stock , taper the barrel and put new sights . Thats what prompted me to buy the old BRNO .

best
Joydeep

[Vikram]

Joydeep,

It's extremely difficult to wear out a .22 rimfire barrel.The steel grooves are not worn out by the soft lead bullets. I cannot comment on the money those gunsmiths are asking as I have very little idea.Still,a newish IOF rifle+gunsmith charges is less than half of the price of the imported ones. Actually, it can make an interesting project for you to take it as a DIY job.

Those pictures only reveal some damage to the stock.Difficult to see the damage to the action.Could you please post some clearer pics of the area?

I am not trying to rob you of the pleasure of your ownership of the rifle,Joydeep. Quite happy for you that you got one.Cottagecheese,Tworivers,Timmy,MoA et al should be able to offer more info than me on the damage to the rifle.

Best-
Vikram

[The Doc]

Congratulations Joydeep . I really admire your effort and travels through UP/MP to look for what you wanted and eventually bought . You got the Brno at a very good price and if you ever decide to sell it, it will give you a reasonable profit.

Your Brno looks good, and should give you a lot of pleasurable shooting . That little issue with the stock is a minor one and can be rectified by someone who knows his job around the gun stocks. You might want the stock cleaned up and polished later though. I know someone who replaced his Brno (Model 2) stock with an original Turkish walnut stock that he imported from CZ-USA , that literally gave a new birth to the firearm .

You have a pm .

best,
Rp.

[m24]

Congratulations on the new toy and getting all the licences.

Regards

[Katana]

Joydeep,

I grew up firing this, learnt all my rifle shooting skills on this and still use it somewhat frequently. Vikram is right about the barrels not getting worn out. The main reason for this is the fact that most .22 lr bullets are unjacketed lead. I would be careful about using Stingers hence.

Meanwhile, enjoy it!

[MoA]

Congratulations. The rifle can be cleaned up quite easily.
The stock can be cleaned up easily by you, in your spare time. Search the net for articles on refinishing stocks. And if I remember correctly Mack The Knife posted a very informative article on here many moons ago.

[winnie_the_pooh]

I know someone who replaced his Brno (Model 2) stock with an original Turkish walnut stock that he imported from CZ-USA , that literally gave a new birth to the firearm .

I think you mentioned something along those lines earlier as well.Where does he live and what was his experience in dealing with customs? Some one on IFG?

[Olly]

Congratulations on the new buy ! Hope to play with it sometimes....

I am glad you could get the 3 additional states endorsed on the Lic... how much time did it take ?

See you soon...

[The Doc]

I know someone who replaced his Brno (Model 2) stock with an original Turkish walnut stock that he imported from CZ-USA , that literally gave a new birth to the firearm .

I think you mentioned something along those lines earlier as well.Where does he live and what was his experience in dealing with customs? Some one on IFG?

You have a pm .

Rp.

[dr.jayakumar]

my new(sic...?)what did you mean sic?it looks used but,obsolutely sturdy.if you do some cosmetic work it'll will look great.you have one of the best available in india.good luck.

[xl_target]

Joydeep,

I grew up firing this, learnt all my rifle shooting skills on this and still use it somewhat frequently. Vikram is right about the barrels not getting worn out. The main reason for this is the fact that most .22 lr bullets are unjacketed lead. I would be careful about using Stingers hence.

No one makes a jacketed .22 LR bullet
All .22 LR bullets are lead. Some of them are copper washed or copper plated (including CCI's Stingers)
They might not be accurate in your rifle depending on the twist rate but using Stingers in a .22 bolt rifle will in no way contribute to wearing out the rifle.


Joydeep, congratulations on your new rifle.

[TwoRivers]

Joydeep,

I grew up firing this, learnt all my rifle shooting skills on this and still use it somewhat frequently. Vikram is right about the barrels not getting worn out. The main reason for this is the fact that most .22 lr bullets are unjacketed lead. I would be careful about using Stingers hence.

Meanwhile, enjoy it!

Why not Stingers? They are unjacketed lead. Copper plating isn't a jacket.

[Sakobav]

joydeep

Congrats great find.. perseverance paid off ...this is tougher then find a bride ... and expensive aah forgot the luck of the draw..


Cheers