Inheriting 2 Guns - tell me about them please

pthurman said:

My Second Great Uncle recently passed away and I am now inheriting one or 2 of his rifles. I received an email from his wife say that this is what she has.

"I have either a Cal. 270 Custom Rifle Douglas Bsl, F.N. acton S.N. M69, with a Redfield 3-9 Ver. Scope, Lee Dot 5.N.F. or a Ruger M-77 R 7MM Mag rifle witih a Redfield."

I don't know a ton about rifles so I am looking for some guidance here. From what I gather the .270 will be an excellent deer rifle and the M-77 will be the elk rifle. As far as all the abbreviations I am somewhat lost, especially on the Ruger. Please educate me on the specs of the rifles and help me understand 7mm Mag vs. cal.

Thanks fellas.

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PThurman, Both those rifles are likely very nice guns. The .270 sounds to be a custom rifle with a Douglas custom barrel added to a FN (M98 Mauser clone) action. I happen to own a very similar rifle, a M98, also with a Douglas barrel on it. The FN and original M98 actions are very similar both excellent actions.

That Ruger is another bolt rifle and that model Ruger (M77) has rings (R) and no rifles sights (would be a model RS then). I cannot tell if that rifle is a MKII (with a three position safety similar to a M70's) or an original "tang safety" Ruger M77. Either way, the Ruger M77 is a very nice Bolt rifle and I own 4 or 5 of the M77s in both tang safety and the newer MKII versions. One thing I really like about the Ruger 77 is that they have integral rings, no need for a scope base.

If I had to choose, I'd probably opt for the FN custom rifle. However, it would be nice to know a bit more about that rifle. Such things as if it also has a custom stock (fairly normal) and such. Some of these type rifles have a lot of nice custom (read that expensive) features. Best of luck with whichever (both?) you end up with. The chamberings are actually not all that different, but the 7mag has a bit more power.