The Dolphin Gun Company
Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 4:17 pm
An ooman of our acquaintance has been getting rather envious of our AI 7mm Rem Mag and decided he needed to leap frog ahead of us in the arms race, so we dragged him along to the dolphinarium to help him spend his money. Naturally on the way there we give him the benefit of our opinion on the many different calibres, actions, barrels and stocks that are available so he knew exactly what to buy.*
Mik greeted us heartily upon arrival at his emporium and soon we were sipping tea and talking guns. A nicer chap you couldn't hope to meet. First of all he enquired what sort of shooting the rifle was required for and explained the pros and cons of several suitable calibres, even including a snazzy demonstration of how to make a .284 cartridge case from some spent brass and what we thought looked like a pencil sharpener. The ooman was impressed and after more discussion settled upon the .284 cartridge as being the ideal calibre for his needs.
Mik then brought out a selection of actions and demonstrated them all, explaining the advantages and disadvantages of each. We were rather taken with Dolphin's own action which does have some quite impressive design features, is easy to strip and has an interchangeable bolt head. We liked it, thinking it might be able to double for .284 and .338 but after playing with all the actions and triggers, repeatedly, our ooman chose a Nesika.
Next came the stocks: a wide and varied selection of wood, polymer, aluminium and even carbon fibre. Lots of stroking and caressing followed, actions were fitted and adjustments made. The ooman almost did as we had told him and nearly selected Dolphin's own aluminium folding stock but then saw, tested and fell in love with a Joe West laminated stock with Dolphin's own integral aluminium bedding system. We have to admit, it was very nice...
Barrels came next, and Mik has rack upon rack of them. Twist rates were discussed, profiles considered and fluting toyed with. A nice Bartlein was selected. Unfortunately for us, not in .338 Lapua...
After several hours, with boundless help and guidance from Mik, our ooman had selected and specified a rifle perfectly designed and suited to his needs. Not our needs, not even Mik's needs, but his own needs. Now what could be better recommendation than that ?
* The Sett Armoury has a vacancy for a .338 AI
Mik greeted us heartily upon arrival at his emporium and soon we were sipping tea and talking guns. A nicer chap you couldn't hope to meet. First of all he enquired what sort of shooting the rifle was required for and explained the pros and cons of several suitable calibres, even including a snazzy demonstration of how to make a .284 cartridge case from some spent brass and what we thought looked like a pencil sharpener. The ooman was impressed and after more discussion settled upon the .284 cartridge as being the ideal calibre for his needs.
Mik then brought out a selection of actions and demonstrated them all, explaining the advantages and disadvantages of each. We were rather taken with Dolphin's own action which does have some quite impressive design features, is easy to strip and has an interchangeable bolt head. We liked it, thinking it might be able to double for .284 and .338 but after playing with all the actions and triggers, repeatedly, our ooman chose a Nesika.
Next came the stocks: a wide and varied selection of wood, polymer, aluminium and even carbon fibre. Lots of stroking and caressing followed, actions were fitted and adjustments made. The ooman almost did as we had told him and nearly selected Dolphin's own aluminium folding stock but then saw, tested and fell in love with a Joe West laminated stock with Dolphin's own integral aluminium bedding system. We have to admit, it was very nice...
Barrels came next, and Mik has rack upon rack of them. Twist rates were discussed, profiles considered and fluting toyed with. A nice Bartlein was selected. Unfortunately for us, not in .338 Lapua...
After several hours, with boundless help and guidance from Mik, our ooman had selected and specified a rifle perfectly designed and suited to his needs. Not our needs, not even Mik's needs, but his own needs. Now what could be better recommendation than that ?
* The Sett Armoury has a vacancy for a .338 AI