I looked it over and from what I can tell, it's clean and it's "right". He said it was in the back because they weren't real sure how to price it. I looked up IMA's website on my mildly intelligent phone and told him what IMA was asking for them. He said the boss had been thinking about $100 more but wasn't sure since he isn't familiar with them and didn't know IMA had them. The counter guy shot me a very fair price which I had to turn down due to lack of funds for now.
Now's here's the dilemma. I've been wanting a M-H for a while now but when it comes to ammo it's either pay through the nose for specialty ammo, roll your own from expensive cases and expensive dies or form your own from slightly less expensive 24ga brass hulls but still needing expensive (to me at least) dies for forming and reloading and the supply of 24ga brass hulls isn't always there. Due to that, I've put a M-H on the far back burner as a "someday" purchase. OTOH, I have found out that 24ga PLASTIC hulls can be used with the S-E. No annealing or fireforming needed, just cut to length and tinker to fine tune. That's a lot more appealing to me.
I've also gotten a hankering for a full stock CZ .22. With the 452 out of production and the 455 taking it's place, prices are climbing on the 452 FS so I'm thinking about a new 455 for not much more than a used 452.
The FS is very trim and handy with ammo on hand that could also be obtained from any shop in the land that carries ammunition. The S-E would be around $100 more than having the shop order me a brandy new 455 FS but it's not often I have the chance to get a 140 year old shooter in pretty good shape for it's age. And it's easier to load for than a M-H.
I'm asking here because this is neutral territory. I'm leaning towards the S-E at the moment but if I go back and look at the Mannlicher threads that got started within the past week or so, I'll be back on that kick again.
It'll take me some time to round up the funds so I'm in no hurry. So, what are your thoughts and suggestions (besides "Get both!
)?
). I don't get to shoot in my backyard, nor do I have woods to patrol for vermin. Either rifle is going to sit in the safe until the next range trip/cleaning session/fondling frenzy so "handiness" isn't a make or break factor.
