Thread: The Tale of a Rifle

In May 2006, I bought a BRNO ZKK601 from Alan Millars Hunting & Fishing in Dunedin.

I paid $450 for the rifle, and $80 to get 2" chopped off the barrel and a re-crown, as there was a bulge at the muzzle. The purchase included a Tasco 2-8x "World Class" scope.

This was my first centrefire hunting rifle, and I shot a few things with it over the time that I had it. I also upgraded the scope to a VX-I 3-9x40 and re-finished the stock (poorly) and carried it a lot of KM's.



In about December 2007 I got the bug for a new rifle, and sold my BRNO on trademe for $550 to a man somewhere in the North Island, and put the money towards a Remington 700 SPS, also in .270, bought from Alan Millars. My intent was to rebuild that rifle as a custom .280, and I replaced the stock on it with a fairly nice black laminate.



I didn't shoot very many animals with this rifle. I did put a fair few rounds through it at targets (including shooting Norway's first LR course with it) and shooting goats, wallabies, rabbits etc. I shot 2 hares at 500+ yards with it, first round hits. I only owned it for less than a year, and a fair portion of that time was spent working in Australia. In around July 2008 I bought my current Sako (also from Alan Millars), and the Remington remained basically unused after that, until about November 2008 when I decided to sell it to fund a stock and scope for my new Remington .223. I sold it on trademe, only getting around $1000 for it as I was in a hurry to sell. I bought a High Tech Specialties stock and a Nikon 3-12x42 Monarch with the money from the sale.





The High Tech stock never fit my Remington .223 properly, as it was inletted for the old-style trigger unit and my rifle had the new "X-mark Pro" unit. I ended up swapping it for a HS precison stock from a 700VS, which also did not fit. I made it fit with a bit of "gunsmith-in-a-box" work (Dremel tool). The Nikon scope I used a lot on both my .223 and my .243 Sako (on the Sako while my VX-III was at the custom shop), it worked very well for a budget scope and I did a lot of long range shooting with it. When I got my .223 rebarreled by Dan Hardy to a .223AI, he gouged out the barrel channel of the stock out extremely roughly, and I painted it tan when it came back.



In late 2009 sometime, I ordered a McMillan for the .223AI, and Isold the HS stock to forum member "Aurochs".

At the same time, I had loaned my Nikon scope to forum member "Gordy" to use on his Howa .243, and he had dented the tube, so he bought me a secondhand but "new in box" 4-16x42 Monarch to replace it. I sold this on trademe, and used the funds from stock and scope to purchase a used Leupold Mk4 4.5-14x50. I used this scope on my .223AI and .243/6.5x47 for about 8 months, making my longest shots on animals to date with both rifles - 525 yards first round rabbit with .223AI, and 700 yards first round goat with .243.



When I got my new job in Australia in March 2010, I traded the Mk4 scope, along with some cash and my Leica CRF1200 rangefinder to forum member "crzyman" for a pair of 10x42 HD Leica Geovids.



So that is the story of how my first hunting rifle, a $450 BRNO ZKK601, became a pair of Geovid binoculars.

I would like to own that BRNO .270 again, if I could find it, or another one like it.