Meet the gunsmith Z-Hat Custom

Guns Magazine, May, 2004 by Dick Williams

For those of you who have not been to Wyoming, there are a number of reasons that firearms enthusiasts love the state. First, it is spectacularly beautiful. Second, it is a hunting Mecca with a large and diverse population of game animals. Third, it's shooter friendly. Finally, it's very sparsely populated, with major cities being about the size of residential suburbs located outside major metropolitan areas elsewhere in the United States.

This means that if you're in the gun business, you can't expect a large walk in crowd. So any gunsmith living in Wyoming had better be good enough to attract an out of slate clientele. Fred Zeglin is more than a good gunsmith.

Fred has a company called Z-Hat Custom located in Casper, Wyoming, and he does build custom rifles. He also has a series of custom cartridges and makes custom loading dies for shooters ordering a rifle chambered in one of these calibers. His work in all three of these areas is outstanding. But as usual when I get excited, I get ahead of myself.

Paying His Dues

Fred cut his teeth in the gun business working for an established gun shop in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, right after graduating from Lassen College with his degree in gun smithing. Rifles were king in Idaho. By the time he left several years later, Fred was shop foreman scheduling the work of several other gunsmiths while still doing projects himself.

Moving to San Diego, California, Fred became the full time gunsmith for two large gun stores. In this Mediterranean climate, his work leaned more toward handguns and general repair. After five years in California and more than 10 years experience in the business, Fred moved back to Wyoming where he had spent his boyhood. For the first two years back home, he operated a retail gun shop of his own. In 1996, he began marketing his multiple talents on the Internet, and he hasn't looked back.

I didn't personally discover Fred. I received a phone call from Phil Filing at Glenrock Blue who had restored (more like rebuilt,) a Model 1897 Winchester trap gun for me (see GUNS, November 2001.) Phil simply said there was a custom rifle builder in Casper who was pretty good and whose work might interest me. If Phil thought he was "pretty good," I had to follow up.

A few minutes looking over the Z-Hat web site (www.z-hat.com) gave me some familiarity with the series of Hawk cartridges. Magnum velocities using plentiful, inexpensive, non-belted brass sounded like a good idea, and brought back youthful flights of fancy through the old P. O. Ackley loading manual. Perhaps this was my chance to shoot a truly custom rifle with enhanced performance and minimal abuse from recoil. A brief phone conversation with Fred confirmed his interest in doing a project. We settled quickly on the .264 Hawk cartridge because I had never worked with a 6.5mm rifle and because it is an extremely pleasant big game caliber to shoot. Deciding on the rifle took longer.

Building From Scratch

Fred will either build you a rifle from scratch or start with whatever you provide. You can send an action, a barreled action, or a complete rifle for him to work or rework. To show the full range of his talents, we decided on a rifle from scratch. He suggested a Mauser action with controlled round feeding, specifically a Charles Daly 98, and an XX premium Douglas barrel.

I'm not one of the "controlled feed" fanatics. In my many years of shooting Sakos and Remington 700s, I've never had a failure that wasn't caused by me screwing up the bolt stroke. And since the .264 caliber is not your charging buffalo stopper, the dangerous game argument didn't enter into the discussions. I went with a controlled round feed system for the same reason I chose the caliber; I didn't have one. But it was when Fred mentioned he could install a Mannlicher stock that my knees buckled. I am totally goofy about Mannlichers!

The only downside is that most Mannlichers feature barrels 20 inches or shorter, and I didn't want to give up velocity in an "'improved" cartridge. When Fred said he could full stock a 22-inch barrel, I totally surrendered to his judgement. I can tell you unequivocally that I have not regretted that decision for one moment. Opening the box upon the rifle's arrival at nay house was one of the most thrilling long gun moments of my life. I was looking at a thing of beauty designed specifically for me.

The stock is a triple A fancy Claro Walnut from Acra-Bond, has a low gloss finish, and is beautifully fitted to the barreled action. It had been equipped with front and rear sling swivels. Barrel and action have a Double Guard finish, which is actually two finishes for extra protection from rust or corrosion of any kind. It's a matte blue with a coat of Teflon/Moly. The front end of the stock has the classic nose cap fitted, and it's finished in the same low gloss blue "Double Guard" as the barrel and action. A NECG 98 gas shield with a three-position safety has replaced the stock Mauser shield.

Special attention was paid to the iron sights. There is a fiber optic front sight covered by a hood with windows, both of which set on a Universal ramp with .030" elevation built in. The rear sight is a Classic Adjustable with a see through fiber optic insert. Fred also sent Talley's TNT rings and bases for a scope. These allowed the mounting of a Burris 3-9x Fullfield II rifle scope while leaving the iron sights in place in case some kind of disaster in the field made them necessary.