German rifle engineering

I spotted a rifle hanging on a rack in a picture taken at the NRA annual meeting that caught my interest: the Krieghoff Semiprio in-line repeater.

No doubt it's too expensive for this provincial, who generally buys a rifle for its action. Then I hunt down a stock, barrel, optics, trigger, etc., over a long span of time to build a new rifle up the way I speculate it should be. Sometimes I don't finish, which leaves some components to for another project I may or may not complete. It keeps life interesting. There's always something to rediscover at the back of the basement shelves.

If you're the type to derive pleasure from being different that every other rifle toter, the Krieghoff may suit you. I doubt anybody in your gun club or circle of marksman friends will have a rifle like it. The Adobe Acrobat Reader file that can be downloaded at the bottom of this page holds more specifics.

The pluses: The no-tools-required, take-down feature that shortens the rifle into two sections no longer than 27.5 inches; interchangeable barrels, magazines and bolt heads; the prominent Combi-cocking device; push-button "Click-and-Go" sling swivels; optional 14 oz. "BreakO" recoil reducer; pre-machined for several types of mounts, which makes it possible to quickly switch to different optics; equally adaptable to both left- and right-handed users; and its 6.8 lb. weight.

Things that cause me pause: The scope travels back and forth with the barrel and forearm when the action is hand cycled. Then I wonder if something like a sleeve or piece of brush could catch between the action and forearm to lock up the rifle. And most of all, how will it group with that moving barrel?

I doubt I'll ever see a Semiprio here in the Osage Cuestas unless a lost Kansas City mogul stops by asking for directions to a hunting lease.