My Life as a Shooter: The Little Carbine That Could

If there is one gift that I'd like for Christmas this year, it's a new rifle. I've had my eyes on this since I first heard of it a few years ago, but knowing now that it's still available and still rocks the house, I've put it on the Acquisitions List as a high-priority acquisition. I love CZ firearms, and this bolt-action carbine is no exception. It's just two steps out of spec to fulfill Jeff Cooper's Scout Rifle concept as-written, but that's good enough for me; this would be the jack-of-all-trade rifle that Cooper wanted the Scout Rifle to be. In particular, I want this in 7.62x39, w/ a few spare magazines.



Okay, fine, that's the company's sizzle reel. You want some substance? Here you go:



More meat? Fine.



Okay, you get the idea. That rifle is small, light, and handy yet stout enough to easily handle steel-cased ammunition from the former Warsaw Pact region. Put in commercial soft-point loads and it's a legit deer rifle that's ideal for a region like Minnesota, where flora restricts effective range to what that 7.62x39 cartridge allows. If necessary--just like the lever-action rifles that are favorites for deer hunting here--it can be put to use for homestead and personal defense because it uses a cartridge that militaries adopted.

This is just how I want to use it: a jack-of-all-trades rifle. For me, that means shooting at a range or private land most of the time with the very viable option of hunting any game in the Upper Midwest as Primary and Secondary considerations. It's not a safari rifle. It's not a battle rifle. It's not a squirrel rifle. It's a scaled-down Mauser, a mini-Gewehr 98, and as anyone familiar with Europe in the World Wars can tell you that's a hell of a pedigree. While an AK would be better for fighting, this carbine will do the job if put to it; I just have no ambition to do so.

May I be so lucky as to get my wish.