I guess every man has someone that they looked up to when they were a kid. I greatly admired my Uncle Jack. I wanted to be just like him when I grew up. He is still with us, and is 86 years old. Except for being almost deaf, he is in great physical shape, and I bet he could still wrestle me to the ground and rub my nose in the dirt. He was and is as fine of a Christian gentleman as I've ever known.

Around 1960, he commissioned a rifle from a local gun smith named Ken Witt, in Port Arthur, Texas. Ken Witt was a real craftsman and could do wonders with steel and wood. Uncle Jack wanted a really nice deer hunting rifle.

Here is what he got.

It was built from a Mauser action.

Before anyone bemoans using a Mauser action to build a "Bubba" rifle, you must understand that back in the day, it was very common for a gunsmith to buy a Mauser action and then use it to build a custom rifle.

This rifle has a Mauser action with the bolt turned down for use with a scope.

Another view.

The barrel is a Weatherby barrel in .270 Winchester, or, as it is marked ".270 WCF" (Winchester Center Fire)

The barrel is chrome lined and is an excellent barrel.

A Weatherby barrel was used because Weatherby used a chamber with a long leade, or a non-rifled section of barrel about ½ to ¾ inch in front of the chamber.

This was called "free boring" and it was believed to give the bullet a "free start" before pressure started to build when the bullet hit the rifling.

It allowed much more pressure in handloads and greater than normal velocity.

Such a system has fallen out of favor nowadays, but it was the "hot thing" back then.

The barrel is also marked with "Ken Witt" as the builder.