333 OKH

[f3]

I was in my favorite gun store today and they had a 333 OKH someone is trying to sell. The gun was brought up from Salmon. The guy is asking something like $2600.Supposedly it was done by O'Neil himself. I am curious how this could be verified. The rifle comes with some old Kynoch softpoints also. The shop was not in any way trying to sell it as a rifle associated with Keith or anyone else because they have no way of knowing. And as a matter of fact they thought the price was pretty high.

[mart]

Without some documented provenance that seems pretty steep. I'm assuming it's built on a Springfield. Unless it's an exceptional piece, i.e., great wood, good checkering and exceptional metal finish, and provenance, it's really not worth any more than any other sporterized or semi custom rifle of the time. If the shop will let you take the stock off, you might find some information on the underside of the barrel or on the stock under the barrel. Also check under the buttplate for a hole in buttstock that might contain some paperwork. It's a long shot but a possibility.

One of my gun buddies built two of them on old Springfields, both 30-06's and both with decent sporter stocks from the 40-50's. He got a fellow in Oregon, (not JES) to rebore them to .333 and since he has a chamber reamer (of which I'm half owner), had a local smith cut the chamber. Which really amounted to just throating the existing chamber. He has a goodly supply of the old Speer 275 grain .333 bullets and assures me the round is very decisive on Florida feral hogs.

It's a good round but unless a guy just wants one for the historical interest or to have something a bit different, there's nothing to recommend it over a 338/06. Hawk and Woodleigh both make bullets for it and it is a simple matter to resize .338 bullets to .333 for use in the round. Cases are no problem to make from 30-06. If you are lucky like my friend, you might find a stash of .333 bullets in the corner of an old gun shop or at a gun show. My friend seems to be able to turn stuff like that up frequently. But then he practically lives in old gun shops on his time off. Kind of a shooter version of American Pickers. A good guy to know when you're looking for something odd.