Little Crow Gunworks
GT Varmint Rifl e And W.F.T. Case Trimmer Roy Welch
of The Varmint Hunter Magazine®, led me to Dale Hegstrom, the owner of Lit- tle Crow Gunworks in Spicer, Minne- sota. Dale’s business is oriented toward varmint hunters and long-range shoot- ers who desire a rifl e that is accurate, but also light enough to use from a tree stand during deer season. Subsequent conversations with Dale revealed that he is building tack-driving, semicustom “Go To” (GT) varmint rifl es and mar- keting a unique case trimmer called the World’s Finest Trimmer, or W.F.T. Both products are reasonably priced and will appeal to varmint hunters. After speaking with Dale, I or-
A
The author’s GT rifl e chambered for the 204 Ruger cartridge features a trued Remington 700 action, a 24-inch Lothar Walther stainless-steel varmint barrel with a 1:9" twist, and an H-S Precision synthetic varmint stock with a 14-inch length of pull. A Leupold VX-3 8-25x50mm scope with the Varmint Hunter’s reticle mounted in Burris Signature Zee rings completes the rig.
dered both a GT rifl e chambered for the 204 Ruger cartridge and a W.F.T. I not only wanted to evaluate the prod- ucts, but also to test the possibilities for using a fast-twist 204 varmint rifl e with heavy-for-caliber Berger 50- and 55-grain Match Varmint BT bullets with ballistic coeffi cients of 0.281 and 0.381, respectively. In order to set the stage for what turned out to be a thorough test of the 204 GT varmint rifl e on South Dakota and North Dakota prairie dogs, let me fi rst describe a standard GT rifl e and then the rifl e I ordered in particular. The standard GT varmint (or
sporter) rifl e is built around a trued Remington 700 action fi tted with a Lo- thar Walther barrel of desired contour, length, and twist. With more than 180 reamers, Dale can chamber a barrel for nearly any cartridge desired. Favorites include the 204 Ruger, 22 BR, 223 Rem- ington, 6mm BR, 6.5-284 Norma, 6.5 Creedmoor, and 280 Ackley Improved. The barreled action is pillar bed-
Dale Hegstrom of Little Crow Gunworks adjusts the trigger on a GT rifl e. Page 78 Spring 2012
ded in an H-S Precision synthetic stock using a proprietary Kevlar bedding compound with the barrel floated to ensure consistent accuracy in all weather conditions. Unless otherwise specifi ed, the standard Remington 700 trigger assembly is retained with the pull weight adjusted to a crisp 3 lbs. Options that can be considered include
telephone call last winter from John Anderson, editor
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212