Thanks to Rock Island Auctions, it’s been Christmas in July here. An extended Christmas, because with the amount of care they put into packaging things it took me a while to get all my loot unwrapped:
For the rest of your gun fix today, I recommend checking out Isaiah F.’s site, Partisan Rifles. He’s got a neat collecting niche that he documents: rifles from the Balkans region that feature interesting or revealing “trench art”. As he puts it,
Old Balkans-region rifles from the 1800’s have shown me that decorating rifles was a common practice. This tradition has been carried on well into the 1990’s. A number of the region’s rifles bear initials, names, cities, dates, kill counts, and political symbols on them. Most of these markings were made by irregular forces, or partisans, not connected to a government. These markings give clues as to who used the rifle and when, and create a fascinating historical journey.
Neat stuff!
Hi, Ian :
Thanks for posting the video — very nice Ross, and congratulations!
Do you save and re-use your packaging? I find that doing so saves a fair bit of money and, more importantly, reduces wastage and helps ameliorate environmental impacts. Besides, those boxes and packing materials in which the Ross came would be the perfect size for shipping other long firearms.
Yep, I’m definitely saving and reusing the packaging.
Good point. I make a habit of saving the packaging (both the box and the bubble wrap) when a rifle is shipped to me, which has come in handy when I’ve sold one of my rifles.
Thanks, Magus — glad to hear it. I just hate to see unnecessary wastage. It’s incredible how much modern society wastes in all manner of time, materials and labor, with consequent impacts on itself and on the environment in general.
I just caught your 59/66 vid . T knob on the end of the barrel is the mount the grenade attaches to launch. Not really a flash holder.It also illegal to mount a magazine of higher cap than was originally supplied.I have been shooting SKS for about 20 years and at one time had one from every country that made them.I have plenty of odd ammo send me your snail mail and I will send u some examples.IMHO
Thanks for the shout out, sir! Always good to know that someone’s collectable firearms have arrived at their new home safe and sound. Have fun!
Dear Sir / Madam :
I was extremely impressed, to say the least, with the thoughtful and practical way in which Ian’s rifles were packed by your staff. The forethought and quality involved in the workmanship of the packaging is some of the very best I have ever seen, bar none.
The staff responsible for shipping and handling at your company are definitely to be commended for their diligence and conscientious attention to detail.
Yours Sincerely,
Earl Liew
Thank you for your kind words, Earl. I have forwarded your message on to the Executive Director of Operations, who will be quite pleased to hear it.
I definitely saved the packaging materials for my guns that RIA sent. In my case, they shipped six firearms in two boxes, which contained three separate long boxes, and each long box contained two firearms. Because they bubblewrapped them so well, there was no risk of damage of the guns bumping each other during shipment.
What was in box # two?
Dean
IIRC, the other one in that box was a .410 Ishapore SMLE conversion.
your first unboxing video, thats great! I just wanted to see all your other “goodies” but the Ross is definetly my choice for “Pick of the litter” so I was quite facinated. thanks for turning me onto Partisan Rifles I love improvised and user emblellished guns becuase they have so much art to them.
Very cool. Nice to see they’re doing it right. Look forward to seeing more of that Ross. Should be accurate with the peep-sight and I always liked the bolt handle design.
Yeah, the Balkan Bling.
Ferlach is still doing good bizniz.
Will you be writing about the .410 Ishapore? I’ve thought about buying one just because they are interesting but never knew if they were shootable. Are they chambered for the same .410 shell that we Americans use?
Yep, I will definitely being writing about it (and making a video). They were originally chambered for a proprietary British .410 Musket round which was basically a .303 case without a neck or shoulder (approx. 2″ OAL). Most of the ones in the US had their chambers reamed out by the importer to fit standard US .410 shotshells.