Pfeifer Waffen - Bullpup stalking rifle

[moray loon]

@JH83 is correct in that I do use a bullpup and have done so now for most of 20 years. I became a fan because I watched John Brown and Bob Holmes, both past Yorkshire Brach BDS chairmen using them effectively, the latter being the only man to get all his shots on target in a match against the N Yorks Police firearms team using a bolt action rifle when the shoot was against the clock. [The Police had semi-autos.] If I compare using the liveliness and pointability of my Crapahute compared to a conventional rifle, to using my Holland shotguns against my AYA then there is a lightness of feel and liveliness in the bullpup. With a reflex moderator it is perfectly balanced on my right hand in the pistol grip. It weighs very little; the sling weighs more than the stock so the overall weight is little more than the metalwork. Additionally the perceived recoil is low and it was only when I started using this rifle and moderator that I felt able to watch the bullet all the way to the target. I have always liked long barrelled rifles, and the additional muzzle velocity imparted for a given load, and a bullpup is precisely the way to achieve this.
The rear trigger (yes, it has two) is connected by a simple rod to the trigger in the pistol grip. I confess I was sceptical initially as to how well this would work but it is sufficiently crisp as to be more than merely satisfactory. I have used mine which is 6.5x57 (Cumbria Constab' would not allow me to have 3 no rifles in 6.5x55) for deer park culling of fallow, stalking red (very large ones), fallow and roe as well as driven boar and deer. It shoots better than I do and after more than 12000 rounds is on its second barrel. I have another barrel in stock for my son's use when I eventually give up using it.
The scopes on bullpups do tend to be set higher in order to allow clearance for the bolt but as I only have 6x max magnification on the scope parallax is not an issue. Also I am nearly 6' 3" and with long arms so it is comfortable. I do use an illuminated reticle and often for driven boar turn the magnification down a little. This will sound immodest but I have never had a problem with target acquisition through a telescope but I suspect that has more to do with a misspent youth!

Are these Crapahute rifles still for sale in the U.K. or are they only available on the Continent ? Look very interesting. And thanks for an informative post.

 

[Oldstalker]

Are these Crapahute rifles still for sale in the U.K. or are they only available on the Continent ? Look very interesting. And thanks for an informative post.

They are made to order by Gex-Dumez (armurier) - rifle smiths in Sallanches in Haute Savoie. It is not far from Geneva so you can fly and drive or it is a fairly full day's drive from Coquelles/Calais. You can specify what you want in the way of calibre, optics, and threading for moderators as well as stock length, trigger, safety mechanism if not the Mauser 3 position, barrel twist and maker etc etc etc. There are limitations on actions which can be used; at the moment I know Mauser and Heym are possible.
You may see the occasional one on sale second hand here in the UK. PM me if you want more info'. I am very happy to help and promise I receive no commission! The riflesmith is two days off being my twin and he and his family have become friends.

 

[moray loon]

They are made to order by Gex-Dumez (armurier) - rifle smiths in Sallanches in Haute Savoie. It is not far from Geneva so you can fly and drive or it is a fairly full day's drive from Coquelles/Calais. You can specify what you want in the way of calibre, optics, and threading for moderators as well as stock length, trigger, safety mechanism if not the Mauser 3 position, barrel twist and maker etc etc etc. There are limitations on actions which can be used; at the moment I know Mauser and Heym are possible.
You may see the occasional one on sale second hand here in the UK. PM me if you want more info'. I am very happy to help and promise I receive no commission! The riflesmith is two days off being my twin and he and his family have become friends.

Thanks for this. Best regards ML

 

[stevenedwards]

I bought mine from Brian Fox almost three years ago. I went with his recommendation, 243 with 1in 8 twist in order to be ready for lead free. It has been easy to load for and become my preferred rifle to the degree that I sold the MO3. It requires practice to use on sticks I found as the fundamentally different point of balance needed practice to be quick. The compact dimensions make it vehicle and high seat friendly and I don't get very many of those rifle on sticks clangs ! The trigger is very good but the GRS laminate stock seems prone to marking

 

[webley701]

Pfeifer Waffen - Bullpup stalking rifle

Thought this was a really interesting little single shot rifle. 6.5 Creedmoor with a 26" barrel, but only a 27.5" overall length. Not a rifle I would initially consider, but it would make a great little light weight backpack stalking rifle if you're covering large areas of ground on foot. I...

www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk

The backwards "trigger" puts a spring load on the transfer bar and sets the front sear. On firing, the button trigger trips that sear. This allows the transfer bar to spring rearwards, where it trips a sear in the butt plate, releasing the striker, which has already been cocked by the operation of loading the rifle. (Correct me someone if I've got this wrong!)

Very close to being correct - but there’s no sear in the butt plate (breech block) nor is the striker in the butt plate cocked at any time.

The spring loaded transfer rod you mentioned impacts one end of a rocker in the butt plate which in turn & impacts a very light & short striker/firing pin. The rocker & striker are not spring loaded in any respect - also they have so little weight that no feasible amount of knocking (dropping) on the butt would give them sufficient inertia to fire the cartridge.

The downside of the long sprung transfer rod from the trigger is the lock time is relatively slow. Having had a range session with someone’s Pfeifer it was very noticeable at first but I got used to it to some degree. It was the only aspect of the rifle which I wasn’t keen on. As I can’t recall reading or hearing criticism of the SR-2’s lock-time perhaps sensitivity to it is a very individual thing.

 

[webley701]

It's not the mount that's high, but the PW mounting block on the barrel. That being said, it probably would be more suited to low Picatinny rings.

I can understand the various comments regarding the apparent height of the scope relative to the bore line but the bore line is much lower than normal relative to the line of the comb - actually the bore line is about an inch below the heel of the stock.

Whilst the consideration with many rifles with fixed combs is to get the scope low enough to give decent cheek contact on the stock the reverse is true with the Pfeifer & ‘low’ rings would place the scope too low for most people to look through comfortably or at all. Equally a lower mounting block on the barrel wouldn’t be a good move.

 

[Dalua]

Very close to being correct - but there’s no sear in the butt plate (breech block) nor is the striker in the butt plate cocked at any time.

As I understand it, it is not a set trigger; and importantly, until the cocking-button in the trigger-guard is pressed forward (which one does just before firing), nothing is cocked at all.
This makes it a safe prospect to carry with one in the chamber.

 

[stevenedwards]

As I understand it, it is not a set trigger; and importantly, until the cocking-button in the trigger-guard is pressed forward (which one does just before firing), nothing is cocked at all.
This makes it a safe prospect to carry with one in the chamber.

You are correct. Having used one for some time I am not sure how i would get on a conventional safety catch system, I envisage lots of opening and closing of the bolt to put the weapon in as safe a condition. but I don't know as I have only ever owned manual cocking rifles.
I am now using 80.5 gr copper bullets and it is superbly accurate which is confidence inspiring. I am considering getting a second in some thing bigger than 243 perhaps 7-08 but 7x57 would be a classic choice. That is a bit academic as Devon & Cornwall can't seem to process my renewal A phone call yesterday was met with "it will be another 5 to 6 months" which will be one year from submitting the renewal. Apparently covid is the problem

 

[John Doe]

If the Steyr AUG was available in .308 Win that would be a great option.

 

[ChesterP]

Personally I like more traditional rifles, and if after a single shot lightweight stalker for the hills, I'd look at something like the Merkel K3 or K5. Far more elegant.

 

[sh1kar]

Single shot falling block classic

Hunting Africa with a Falling Block Rifle: The Dakota M10 Single Shot - Sporting Classics Daily

The romance of the falling block single-shot rifle has never been lost on me. The courage to trust my hunts to one sometimes has been.

sportingclassicsdaily.com

 

[stevenedwards]

Personally I like more traditional rifles, and if after a single shot lightweight stalker for the hills, I'd look at something like the Merkel K3 or K5. Far more elegant.

I understand your point but I feel they do not look "right" with a scope and moderator, spoiled perhaps. I have seen a K5 in 6.5x55 in action without a mod and an Aimpoint sight it looked really good and no doubt very handy. The owner felt that the maximum range was 150m for him with the red dot.

 

[Muir]

I couldn't stand the dramatic music so i'll take your word as to how cool it turned out.~Muir

 

[webley701]

You are correct. Having used one for some time I am not sure how i would get on a conventional safety catch system, I envisage lots of opening and closing of the bolt to put the weapon in as safe a condition. but I don't know as I have only ever owned manual cocking rifles.
I am now using 80.5 gr copper bullets and it is superbly accurate which is confidence inspiring. I am considering getting a second in some thing bigger than 243 perhaps 7-08 but 7x57 would be a classic choice. That is a bit academic as Devon & Cornwall can't seem to process my renewal A phone call yesterday was met with "it will be another 5 to 6 months" which will be one year from submitting the renewal. Apparently covid is the problem

Steven,
Did you notice the slow lock time of the SR2 when you first started using the rifle? Presumably it’s not been an issue for you.

 

[webley701]

Single shot falling block classic

Hunting Africa with a Falling Block Rifle: The Dakota M10 Single Shot - Sporting Classics Daily

The romance of the falling block single-shot rifle has never been lost on me. The courage to trust my hunts to one sometimes has been.

sportingclassicsdaily.com

I own a Model 10 & it’s lovely although not without a couple of niggling design errors. Unfortunately it’s no longer in production.

The Dakota like most classically elegant rifles looks ‘odd’ to say the least if a moderator is added whilst the Pfeifer being unusual anyway copes far better aesthetically & is ideal where overall length is concerned.

 

[stevenedwards]

Steven,
Did you notice the slow lock time of the SR2 when you first started using the rifle? Presumably it’s not been an issue for you.

The difference in the trigger was obvious compared to the Mauser M03 but it was just that, a difference, and easy to just to I found that the advice I got seemed to work. Concentrate on staying on the shot and finger at 90 degrees and push the button straight back vey slowly. I suspect that this was generally good advice but with very little use it has become natural. Richard of Yew Tree bullets brewed up a load for me with his 80.5 gr projectile and an already good rifle now shoots even better. Whilst I can by no means do this consistently I put the second test group into a hole Richard measured at 0.084 and I have subsequently been able to get in the same region a couple more times. It has always shot better off of a bag or even a rolled up coat that a bipod why is that ?

 

[Pete1774]

I think it looks better with the carbon Fibre rather than plain plasticky looking wood. I do think the scope and all the extra rails and bipods rather defeats the object of exercise which is to have a small light and compact little hunting rifle. The perfect scope would be the z3 3-9x36 mounted nice and low.

I did look at one when I went to Jagd & Hund 2019. Well made and engineered. I am not sure about the handling, feels very different and the muzzle is very close. But I can see how it could grow on you.

Personally I would prefer a break down kipplauf for the same duty.

You can't always mount a scope "nice and low" on a bullpup because you cant get your eye low enough with that sort of stock. I bought a sub-12 bullpup air rifle to use for pigeons inside farm buildings and, like you, I thought a low scope mount would be ideal. It turned out the lowest useable scope mount is around 2.8 inches centre of barrel to centre of scope.

 

[ChesterP]

I understand your point but I feel they do not look "right" with a scope and moderator, spoiled perhaps. I have seen a K5 in 6.5x55 in action without a mod and an Aimpoint sight it looked really good and no doubt very handy. The owner felt that the maximum range was 150m for him with the red dot.

Yes, agreed any rifle looks better without a mod (or scope come to that) but if I wanted a light rifle and valued my hearing (what's left of it) I just accept that a mod is a sensible addition to any rifle for both the reduction on recoil (especially for a lighter rifle) and there are choices today like the DPT and Aimsonic mods which aren't that bulky or heavy. Any scope can be kept small. I'd opt for a 6 or 8 x 42 preferably with a BDC type ret and illuminated centre dot. All up, you could just squeeze it in under 7lbs given that the K3 only tips the scales at around 5lbs. As for range, there's no reason why one couldn't be used to 250m in the right Cal with the right load.

There's a good review on Fieldsports TV on them

 

[Bavarianbrit]

I will be putting a folding stock on my Contender 6.5JDJ fits in the rucksack but use it as normal when the time comes.

 

[kenbro]

See post #14

With the one I had, the action was only cocked when the ass backwards shaped lever was pushed forward.
Loading a round did only that....load it.
Ken.

I liked mine well enough, would still have it had it been in .243 or similar.

Neil.

Neil,
Would yours have been the one I purchased from Ivythirn several years back.
It was very accurate and loaded up to deer leg easily for me.
I too would have preferred one in 243.
Ken.