Mateba - and then there were THREE

[saddler]

Do I win a prize now for the correct answer?

You win the prize for being the meanest Jon Do you have any thoughts regarding the question I posed earlier about the practicality of having my matte nickel Grifone refinished with either Cerkote or DuraKote? Can you foresee any potential problems?

I've duracoated a couple of shotguns. Not a big problem, though they were a much easier item due to their size, etc.

I'd personally ONLY do work to less common guns IF I could reverse engineer the work - undo it in other words - with no sign that it'd ever been done.

My Mateba is ok apart from the wobble in the forend...which 5 minutes with some epoxy will soon fix...and lack of scope bracket (cough cough)
The PM discussed rear sight having a Weaver style profile, but no cross slot to it - is the ONLY part of the gun I'd have designed differently. It should be an easy fix - new blank Weaver rail, cut to length then profiled base to match the original sight.
I also said, an added ghost ring would be interesting....and not too difficult given that the windage & elevation is all on the front sight unit.


Emilio Ghisoni was a great designer!

We should mark our diaries - 28th of April = Emilio Ghisoni Day (the day he died in 2008)

Seems that the firms origins was making pasta machines - not too bad & less prone to blowing up than the end products of that designer chap that made knives & shovels for the Austrian army, Herr Anton Glock

[Demonic69]

Plus as daft as this sounds with there being no new Mateba's made let alone imported into the UK, is it really wise to potentially deface such a collectable (I'm not saying don't do it, it just seems an odd course of action)?

Point taken, and certainly something I've thought about. I'd be very happy to consider a swap for a quality blued example in 357! Any takers?

As you have 2, you could sell me the 38/357 and keep an eye out for the other :-)
So how do these shoot in your opinions? What distances have you shot them out to?

[DL.]

I'm pretty sure it would be deer legal both here and up north if you could get it conditioned for such.

What? You could make one do 2450fps?

[A.J.P.]

What? You could make one do 2450fps?

OK, perhaps not deer legal in Scotland - well spotted. You'd make muzzle energy requirements with many loads but would only achieve 2054-2079fps with the very hottest - and that's from a 10" barrelled Freedom Arms revolver. Certainly not something I'd try in any Mateba - especially a UK spec. Grifone!

[DL.]

What? You could make one do 2450fps?

OK, perhaps not deer legal in Scotland - well spotted. You'd make muzzle energy requirements with many loads but would only achieve 2054-2079fps with the very hottest - and that's from a 10" barrelled Freedom Arms revolver. Certainly not something I'd try in any Mateba - especially a UK spec. Grifone!

I couldn't resist making that observation, for being grown up about it.

[saddler]

Wonder what you could get out of a Mateba 357, running 110gr bullets over 2400 powder.

Elmer Keith used 2400 under his own-designed 255gr Keith bullets & was touching on 2000 fps from a revolver...in 45 Colt.
I see some sums being done later today, if I can get these pre-Xmas socks off...

[saddler]

Wonder what you could get out of a Mateba 357, running 110gr bullets over 2400 powder.

Elmer Keith used 2400 under his own-designed 255gr Keith bullets & was touching on 2000 fps from a revolver...in 45 Colt.
I see some sums being done later today, if I can get these pre-Xmas socks off...

[Fester]

Hi maybe I can help I had one from new Mr Murfin I believe had his RFD revoked and then reappeared for a while as I think it was Euro Arms operating from Germany. I sold mine years ago as nobody would let me compete with it. I also had a mount on mine that replaced the rear sight giving a mount for a Shield mini red dot and although it had a horrendous trigger pull it was a fast gun I shot the smoke and hope steels at shield ranges in the UK (in practice) in .98 from the 45 degree position, perhaps that's why they wouldn't allow me to use it. As for Mr Savage I believe he's in prison in the USA after being extradited a few years ago.

[Sixshot6]

Hi maybe I can help I had one from new Mr Murfin I believe had his RFD revoked and then reappeared for a while as I think it was Euro Arms operating from Germany. I sold mine years ago as nobody would let me compete with it. I also had a mount on mine that replaced the rear sight giving a mount for a Shield mini red dot and although it had a horrendous trigger pull it was a fast gun I shot the smoke and hope steels at shield ranges in the UK (in practice) in .98 from the 45 degree position, perhaps that's why they wouldn't allow me to use it. As for Mr Savage I believe he's in prison in the USA after being extradited a few years ago.

You're right about Savage, strangely both him and Murfin wen't to court over straight pulls and it wen't in their favor (we actually have Savage for straight pulls even being on sale). These days though Savage screwed up big style and will likely die in Prison in the US.

I believe the RFD revocation was possibly when Gloucestershire police had the issues I mentioned and he didn't feel up to playing the game again. Its a travesty that crap like this happens. It sounds like it was a good gun. Got myself a mount coming for my vz58 that replaces the rear sight to mount a red dot. Got all sorts of plans, but since you mentioned a mini shield type that got me thinking (so its not completely off topic). What shield type did you use on Mateba then?