Am I being paged?
I have had a Lazzeroni Warbird/Sako TRG-S since they came out in 99 (minewas imported byStoeger before Beretta bought them and is blued, not nickel). My petname for it is "Thunderstruck" and I sold ALOT of them (my brother was a Lazz dealer) and there are still several (2 Warbird/Sakos, 1 Firebird/Sako, 1 Patriot/Savage) in our camp. The big guns probably aren't for everyone and aren't what most would have if they could only have 1 gun. (Tho if I had to empty my safe of rifles I probably would keep Thunderstruck because it can do ANYTHING!)
LOL the shells aren't $20 a piece, but they are $5 a piece and if you emptied the gun at one buck (sure is ALOT of missing, because if you hit him he is GOING down!) then it does indeed cost you a 20spot. Premium performance requires premium ammo. I wouldn't dream of shooting CoreLokts or Partitions from my 'bird (tho John Lazzeroni offers both in the Warbird) and I have become addicted too the 150 Lazerhead which is simply a tweaked Barnes Triple Shock. I have over 50 whitetails, 1 muley and 1 antelope too this rifles credit. Ranges run from a scant 45 yards too distances I'm sure many on here would redicule me for having taken. But this gun is doing at 300yds what a 30/06 is doing at the muzzle so I consider 500-600yd shots "easy" with this gun. Heck mine only drops 3.5" @ 400ydsl, I can't think of anything making a "quarter miler" any easier!
Unfortunetly John Lazzeroni has decided to cater to ONLY the most wealthy of clients I supposeand has dropped the Sako (actually Beretta pulled the plug on the TRG-S except for 2 calibers in a $4k tactical version) and the Savage deal only lasted a couple of years. I like the Savage gun as well, it is extremely light, shoots great (tho they were before the Accu-Trigger was around) and ballistically they are equivalent too a 300Wby Mag. But that gun kicks MUCH worse than my Sako, I mean it's uncomfortable after a couple of rounds! I think it's all in the weight and design of the stock. I put a KDF brake on mine simply because I shoot from shooting house windows alot and needed the gun to stay level when it's fired (I can watch the shot with the brake on). But the brake makes it necessary to use muffs or plugs while hunting with it, I use Walkers Game Ear IIs. The brake is removable and if I were to have to track something (again, a rarity with something that thunders like these guns) I can remove the brake, put it in my pocket and go with open ears.
John Lazz's guns are now $6k and any gunmaker can build you one if you like. But in most cases that too will be expensive. My suggestion is buy a Sako Warbird on something like
www.gunbroker.comThey show up there every now and then (believe one was there two weeks ago) and they usally bring around $1200 give or take a couple of hundred, some are new some are used a couple of times. The barrels will last 1500-2000+rounds (completely acceptable for a typical big game rifle IMHO) if you keep them properly clean and DONT get the barrel warm. Take your time at the range, 1 shot ONLY once the barrel is cool. If you empty the gun while it's 80 degrees the barrel will be come untouchable and you can figure a new barrel in a short while. My gun has over 200 round through it and it shoots 150Lazerheads .5" @ 100yds and 3.5" @ 400yds. I don't ask for any better than that! And in my opinion, even if you had to rebarrel it... so what? After 2000 rounds you have spent $10,000.00 on ammo, what's a few hundred dollar barrel?
They are a BLAST in more ways than one!!!
Sure they aren't for everyone and some will sneer at you for having one. But such is life when you own a "McLaren F1", they are ALOT of fun to own and are VERY worthy tools in the field if you do alot of long range hunting or want to stop practically ANYTHING in it's tracks.
RA
ps
The Scramjet isn't actually as fast as the Firebird or the Warbird. It truly IS overbore for that huge case. But it'sa worthy gun no less. I have a friend who has a large lease near Manhattan, KS (HUGE DEER!
) and after he saw my Lazz he wanted one. But he is older and had a cancerous tumor removed from under his shoulder a couple of years ago so he was worried about recoil. He hunted with 7mmMags prior to ordering the L2000 Scramjet. He has since taken MONSTER KS whitetails and tied the #1 overall Antelope with his Scramjet (you can see the BEAST lope on Lazz's site).