I have heard for years that Sears and Roebuck at one time under the brand name of J.C.Higgins, put together a bunch of rifles on good FN Mauser controlled round feed actions. I finally found one in a local gun shop and want to know if any one knows anything about the gun. It is an '06 with some use and marginally wear. It has no butt pad, an ugly black and white grip cap, a big Mauser safety hanging of to the left of the action and no serial number. The action is clearly marked FN, Belgium on the side but the barrel has J.C. Higgins and Sears and Roebuck marked on it. The shop owner assured me that I could scope it as the safety is offset to the left. It has fairly crude irons sights (reminiscent of an old Remington 721) and the screws for the bases have never been removed so it might have never had a scope on it. I didn't pay that much for it and suppose that I could sell the action if all else fails, but would like to make a carry-round-in-the-truck shooter out of it. Anyone familiar with these guns?

While I'm no expert on Mausers the FN's (I've had a few) are a good action. The JC Higgins/Sears FN rifles are on a good FN action, well made and often dramatically undervalued. In other words, good score. It ought to make a great truck gun and could even be the basis for a fine custom rifle. All depends on what you want and how much you want to spend.

quote:

R. Gunn: It has no butt pad, an ugly black and white grip cap, a big Mauser safety hanging of to the left of the action and no serial number.

I have taken many of these rifles over the years and slimmed the stock, added an ebony forend tip, steel grip cap, glass bedded the barreled action and in a few instances checkered or recheckered the stocks. You then have a fine sporter for little money.

Those are JC Higgins model 50 and 51. They have two different triggers; some have a trigger that is housed in the triggerguard separate from the sear and some have Sako #4 triggers in them. They are fine FN actions with High Standard barrels. It is a good hunting rifle as is and many were torn apart and rebuilt with mauser 98 military actions to rob the FN for a high dollar build. If under $400 buy it.

I think the 50's had low comb stoscks and the 51 had better wood, cheekpieces and fancier checkering.

Yup, 50 OR 51. Neither had the Sako trigger. Oddly enough, the Monkey Wards FN based rifles did.

Great for the action, most have the odd scope base spacing. Both Warne and Talley make proper bases.

Most I have had the chance to shoot shot real well. If not, good candidate for rebarreling.

I have a mod. 51, use it a lot. I put a timney trigger on it. It's a lot easier than trying to get a good pull on the original. If you scope the rifle the safety lays tight against the scope making it hard to get off. I bent the tip down to get my thumb on the safety.

Dave

I'd clean it up and keep it as is, most likely.

A perfectly good gun, A lot of custom rifles have been made off that action without much custom work done on them...Its better quality than any Remington IMO..

Most of the Sears, Wards, and even Colt rifles were put together in the old High Standard plant, which was just across the street from Colt in Hartford, Ct. The actual contractor may have been an obscure entity called the Jefferson Rifle Company, which appears to have leased space and equipment from High Standard. The barrels were probably sourced from a number of different sources, so some may be better than others. Most of the stocks had a strong "family" resemblance, but they, too, varied.

Mostly they were built on FN actions, but Wards also used some actions from Heym while Sears had a Husqvarna variant; and Wards, Sears, and Colt all used some Sako actions. I'm taking a Wards-Sako L57 .308 to Colorado this fall as a back up rifle.

Stonecreek,

thanks for the information.

As I have written, Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

I've owned several of them. Rumor has it that High Standard made the barrels, and all of mine were honest 1 MOA rifles after glass bedding. Oddly enough, they have chrome-lined bores, so they're great for foul weather.


Okie John

Herter used FN M98 actions on their 30-06 "field grade" rifles.
I had one of those turned into a 500 Bateleur.

If your action has the same contours as mine, these scope bases will work:

Weaver Steel Grand Slam: S46 for front, and S45 for rear.















I used those bases, listed above, attached with 8x40 screws and JB Weld.

Safeties and triggers galore are available, cheap and easy.

B&C Medalist stock cannot be beat, fits the M98.

Duane Wiebe bottom metal is a bit more rare, but built like a bank vault. A 500 Jeffery box just a hair longer than 3.500" inside was used.


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