EABCO 97D rifle owners??

[PETE/NY]

I have been contemplating buying one of his 97D rifles in 6.5mmBR and have been seeing here that some were going to buy one also.Has anyone here bought one as of yet and how are they? I cannot find the difference in the standard and the made to order rifle except the large gap in price.Anyone care to share some pics on their guns? Thanks in advance to all that reply.

[olsingleshot]

I have the 97D all blue model in 6mm BRM. It is a nice gun. I bought it unfired from an estate. It does shoot around 1" at 100 yards. The trigger is set at 1.5lbs. There are a few problems with reloading. 1. Brass and dies are only available from E. A. Brown. 2. In my case they offered only one load. when I called about it , I was told they were not in the bullet or powder business. 3. They do not offer case forming dies so all brass needs to be purchased from them. You could get forming dies custom. made. 4. There were no swivels studs. I like doing business with them and their prices are reasonable, but some of the people have an attitude.
The only difference I see between the ready made rifle and the custom is the finish on the receiver. If I was going to get a new one from E.A. Brown I would go with the ready made one. 

[bob allen]

olsingleshot has some good points.I have one in 6 ppc and it shoots great.It has a very tight chamber and is cut for Lapua brass.And it did need dies that only Brown has BUT they work very well.About my only complaint is that extraction can be hard,so watch out there.If I could change one thing on this design it would be to make the lever a bit longer for better leverage and round it a bit for added comfort.other than that I like it alot and it is sweet to carry in the field........

[Doesniper]

I had them do an Encore barrel for me years ago, and I'll never do business with them ever again. Nightmare!

[carbineman]

Several years ago I purchased a model 97 in 30-40 Krag caliber. This rifle was extremely accurate with my handloads but had an extra tight chamber and all brass needed to be outside case neck turned to fit the chamber. The bullet needed to be perfect to not expand the neck of the case when seating or the round would not fit the chamber.

These rifles are made for bench rest shooting as far as I could see. I wish I had had the trigger pull around 2-3 lbs. as this rifle was not a good deer stand choice as the slightest touch of the trigger would ignite the round.

I had a guy in Texas that I corresponded with who wanted to get one exactly like mine, but didn't want to wait for it. We made a deal and I sold it to him. Nice rifle but I really don't miss it.