The 6.5-06 Interdiction Rifle, Serial #002

Why a 6.5-06?  It all goes back to a few late-night brainstorms with a buddy (now owner of the prototype Interdiction RIfle Serial #001), a computer ballistics program, the 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser, a vintage .256 Newton, and too much time wondering "what-if?" How does one accomplish this "what-if"? Take a derelict Mauser action and go crazy with aftermarket parts!  Here's the list of parts and work that created this abomination:

1. 1916 C.G. Haenel Mauser Gewehr 98 action, magnafluxed & trued
2. Krieger #5 contour 6.5mm barrel, 1-9" twist, 25" long
3. Vais .270 muzzle brake,  attached and turned to barrel contour
4. Clymer finish reamer, 6.5-06 standard shoulder
5. Brownell's classic bolt handle
6. Speedlock titanium striker and extra-strength spring
7. Buehler low-mount shroud safety
8. Canjar single-set trigger
9. Fajen Ace Varminter laminated birch stock
10. Millett steel one-piece base & steel windage-adjustable rings
11. Weaver V-16 4-16x40 target scope
12. Scoplevel cant indicator
13. Brownell's SteelBed action bedding compound
14. B-Square anti-cant bipod

I would be remiss if I didn't mention George Klauss, of Von Klauss Gunsmithing, for all the work and sweat he put into chambering, headspacing, lapping of receiver and lugs, and lathe and mill work to make it a fluid, graceful chunk of steel.  While he was one of the first to remind me that the money could have easily been spent on a Remington 700PSS, or 40XC, or Sako TRG, or any other number of commercially available accurate rifles, he held his breath and helped me create what is, at least in my mind, a true thing of beauty.  Sometimes it just isn't a money thing...  (How's that Van Halen song go, "It's mine, all mine!")

Load development was relatively easy, excellent 6.5mm bullet choices abound.  Brass started out as domestic .270 from Remington, then Winchester, then Federal, but is now made exclusively from RWS 7x64 Brenneke.  Current loads, which produce consistent groups like the .286" group pictured on my reloading page, produce .264 Winchester Magnum velocities with good pressure signs and case life.  The rifle currently has over 300 rounds through it, and I feel with my moly-coated bullets I should enjoy the rifle and it's accuracy for quite some time.  Look for some 1/4 MOA or tighter groups as I continue to rein in the remaining loose variables of this system.  Then it's off to the tactical matches...

Darin R. Pfaff

FLASH! On 15 May 1999, this rifle scored a direct hit on an unassuming golf ball during a 500-meter tactical match.  Click here for the story.

Updated 10 December 1999