Jack O'Connor's last custom rifle was built for him by Al Biesen in 1978. What was the make and model of the barreled action, an

[99explorer]

Jack O'Connor's last custom rifle was built for him by Al Biesen in 1978. What was the make and model of the barreled action, and what was the caliber specified? No peeking, but guesses are allowed.

[Happy Myles]

This is a guess, and sort of not. Years ago I had the opportunity to be included in a conversation with Bill Ruger and others. He mentioned Ruger in conjunction with Al Bieson made a rifle for Mr O'Connor delivered after O'Connors death . It was a 280 as I recall

[Happy Myles]

I suspect in was a model 77.

[WA Mtnhunter]

By jove, Happy, you are right!

[Edward J. Palumbo]

It's unfortunate Mr. O'Connor didn't get a chance to use that rifle and report on it.

[99explorer]

Happy has it exactly right. There is an article in the 2013 edition of Gun Digest that describes the rifle in detail.
The author speculates that Jack had become disenchanted with the quality of the Winchester line in 1964, but I believe he had a number of rifles built on pre-'64 actions since then.
The choice of the .280 is not too surprising, as Jack once said it was marginally better than the .270, but not enough to warrant a trade-up.

[Edward J. Palumbo]

I'm a fan of the .280 Rem; however, if I was ordering or assembling a custom rifle, I think I'd go with the .280 Ackley Improved. It offers the versatility and virtues of the .280 Rem with much of the capability of the 7mm Rem Mag in a standard sized cartridge.

[Guest]

Was Mr. O'Conner the writer who favored the 7mm Mashburn Magnum that later led to the development of the 7mm Remington Magnum?

[99explorer]

I seem to associate the 7mm Mashburn with Warren Page, but that's just a guess. I don't recall reading anything about it by Jack O'Connor.

[Guest]

99- You are absolutely right. The 7mm Mashburn Mag. was Warren Page's "Old Betsy."