Cooper 57 LVT?

[billdncn]

#1 - Is it legal for Hunting rifle?
#2 - If so, would it make weight with a 6.5-20 EFR and alum. rings?

Asking because there is a used one (mint) at a local shop. Just curious.

[davei]

bill,

Cooper has a long history of selling rifles that won't feed, won't extract, and won't go bang when you squeeze the trigger.  Their quality control has been horrible.  Their customer service has been even worse.  I know folks that sent rifles back for repair and never saw them again.  I spent $1700 on a Cooper M36.  The bolt wouldn't close when it arrived.  The magazine hangar all but fell out of the stock and, depending on the ammunition, had misfires up to 50% of the time.  When it went off it was extremely accurate...  but so are a lot of other rifles.
dave imas

[billdncn]

Wow! That bad huh? I would think that a piece with this kind of price tag, would be rock solid w/o even the smallest faults. From what I read and hear, they must be the most accurate rifles out there. I would expect craftsmanship and QC to equal that. I'm very disappionted to hear this.
Thanks, Bill

[drover]

The 57 is a completely different rifle from the 36 that Dave spoke about.  I do not own a 57 but I have handled them, shot them and know a couple of people who have them and they are completely satisfied with them.  Yes, they do shoot as well as advertised, if the shooter is capable of it.  I do have a couple of centerfire Coopers and personally I cannot imagine a better rifle for the dollars.  

There were a lot of problems at Cooper for a few years and there was some poor quality control.  The problems involved what would basically be called a "hostile takeover" but Cooper is back in charge, and has been for the last few years, and things are turned around.

With all of that being said - if you are thinking of the 36 as a silhouette rifle I would not recommend it.  Go ahead and get an Anschtz, that is what you will end up with eventually if you want to be competitive.