As the majority of ex-military rifles are medium bore, plus the 6.5's, I think this is the appropriate place for this thresd.
My major gun passion is modified, sporterised, salvaged, call it what you like, ex-military rifles. I'm not talking about the ultra big buck customs, I mean the average blokes attempt at making a useable, working rifle,the cut down Enfield, the homemade scout rifle, even the re-stocked mauser, but the home-made model, not the french walnut job.
I'm not interested in the "bubba'd", butchered ones, but the honest working mans sporter.
At the top end of the scale,I love Col. Townsend's Krag, mainly because you can still see the rifles original lines and heritage .
So, the point of this rambling is, lets see your working rifles, your home-made beauties, your pride of workmanship with a file and hacksaw.
.....after all this you'll have to wait to see mine as my camera's died

Roger

Oops,now it wont take a brain surgeon to figure out my handle !
All I had done to it was the bolt turned down and the receiver tapped for bases.Err,well I did put in a Timney trigger and bed the action as things developed.
Rebarreled by Schultz and Larsen in 1946 in 6,5x55 for the Danish Sports shooting Association and I paid the princely price of 850DKR for it or 85 pounds at the time of purchase about 8 or 9 years ago.

Not real fancy, but real handy.

Sporterizing Mils. has always been one of my things. Have a fairly large Number of rifles and photos but have never learned to post them. Willing to share by E-Mail but posting isn't my thing.If someone wants to post my stuff I'll be glad to inundate you by E-Mail. roger

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:

Not real fancy, but real handy.

Looks about as good as it gets to me! roger

........exactly! As long as you can hit 'em and they drop .......it's done its job

all very nice ......keep 'em comin'

Craigster.....what calibre ??

Roger

7.65 x 53

....OK, camera's working ( sort of )
I have been using this swedish m96 mauser for about 20 odd years now, it gets thrown in the truck, bashed about and never misses a beat. Rechambered in 6.5x55 Improved,the grip came from another broken stock ( glued and doweled ), barrel band is a piece of tube turned on the lathe and silver soldered to a QD swivel, lo-swing safety and cut down military stock......I think the sling was originally a suitcase strap





Most of my guns are some sort of 6.5



From the left...6.5...x39
...zipper Imp.
...250
...x55 Imp.
...284
...'06 Imp.

Roger

PS....I made the bolt handle, threw on a bit of walnut stain and some cold blue and added the recoil pad(just to add length, I'm 6'4" )

Heres a 338-06 built on a Armee d'Haitee FN M98 action , timney trigger , synthetic stock , Burris mounts , Burris 3-9 scope



And a VZ24 based , heavy-barreled .243 Win that shoots exceptionally well but is a bear to carry - 'specially uphill

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:


Not real fancy, but real handy.

This is about as well done as I've ever seen.... For a cheap truck gun, this is first class!

two thumbs up!

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:



Not real fancy, but real handy.

I have this "thing" about short and handy rugged rifles.

That is one of the best I have ever seen.

Well Done.

Thanks for the compliments! OAL is 36" , 3" shorter than a Model 94 Winchester. With a full mag it's 6.5 lbs.

Enfield 30-06 barreled action re-bored to 9.3x62 and stocked in a plain piece of American Walnut.

Swed + ramline + Bushnell 2-6 eer + homemade base + 19" bbl.

Not mine:



-as straight-forward a working gun as I have seen.

That 7.65 x 53 is a fine job, also.

Hello,

This is my 7x57 made TOTALLY with military parts: M1935 action German made Argentine contract; M1935 barrel German made Chilen contract; Original Stock 1935 Argentine contract, modified. Looks good to me and shoot better !!
http://s741.photobucket.com/albums/xx52/P57H/M1935/
http://s741.photobucket.com/albums/xx52/P57H/

quote:

Originally posted by PatagonHunter:
Hello,

This is my 7x57 made TOTALLY with military parts: M1935 action German made Argentine contract; M1935 barrel German made Chilen contract; Original Stock 1935 Argentine contract, modified. Looks good to me and shoot better !!
http://s741.photobucket.com/albums/xx52/P57H/M1935/
http://s741.photobucket.com/albums/xx52/P57H/

Nice job.

quote:

Originally posted by 458Win:


Enfield 30-06 barreled action re-bored to 9.3x62 and stocked in a plain piece of American Walnut.

That's the first time I've seen a mannlicher stocked 1917, I LIKE that!

Red

I've got a few more but until I can get them loaded this is what I've got for now.

Got a chance to load some more photos.

.35 Whelen 1903



VZ-24 8m-06



.338-06 1903




.300 H&H 1917 that will be wearing a new stock very soon.




.300 H&H in new clothes! Still not the prettiest but should be functional.

Try to up load the pictures directly....

That's a modified military stock?!

Wow!!!

Looks beautiful...

Double heat treat M1903 receiver, 1:10 twist 35 Whelen barrel, Weaver four power scope.

over the years I have brought several Mil sporter working mans rifles. They all have worked well.

The best thing about them is that normally they are cheap and fun.

......I'm with you Monte,thats an amazing job on a military stock !! Patagonhunter, how about some close-ups of that stock ??

Taylorce 1, I too have an 8-06 on a VZ24, I'm restocking it at the moment and thinking about re-barrelling to 9.3x62.

Roger

How hard is it to buy a Krag nowadays? Are they expensive and can you still get the danish ones in 6.5 ??

That Krag gives me a h**d on!

1943 J.P. Sauer Mod 98 Mauser
30/06 Adams Bennett barrel
Bell & Carlson Stock
Leupold Scope base
Redfield 2x7 scope
Matte Blue

killed my biggest buck ever with this rifle, plus a neck shot on a cow elk. rough and tumble shooter.

quote:

Originally posted by yumastepside:
......I'm with you Monte,thats an amazing job on a military stock !! Patagonhunter, how about some close-ups of that stock ??

Taylorce 1, I too have an 8-06 on a VZ24, I'm restocking it at the moment and thinking about re-barrelling to 9.3x62.

Roger

How hard is it to buy a Krag nowadays? Are they expensive and can you still get the danish ones in 6.5 ??

I've thought about swaping barrels on my 8mm as well just don't know what I'd go to unless I did a .375 or .411 Hawk. As far as the Krag's go you can still find quite a few sporters here in the US I paid $325 for mine. A full military dress one is getting pretty expensive, but you got to be careful a lot of full stocked ones were cut down to carbine lenght. Last Danish Krag I saw on GB was expensive it has Nazi proof marks on it.

Having spent 20+ years in the Military, and hunting in the NZ bush, a reliable, no-frills working rifle is what I want. By the second or third hunt, the stock is scratched, been doused in water (rain or river) and spent several nights under a flysheet and hopefully a few hours butted up against a deer carcass being backpacked out. I have often seen gleaming examples of the stockmakers and machinists art go into the bush and energe after several days looking like a battlefield pickup from the Somme - one reason why synthetic stocks are popular.

Ex military rifles are ideal. For several years, my rifle was a sporterized No4 Lee Enfield - in NZ, the ubiquitous .303 - and then replaced with a German made Spanish M93 in 7 x 57mm. I got that as the 29" barrel military rifle and promptly had the barrel cut to 24', a scope sight mounted and the stock reworked. It shot rather well and I got a second M93 and rebarrelled it to 6.5 x 55mm, again with a modified issue stock.

It too, shot well and I was sorry to sell them when circumstances changed. Later, I acquired a VZ33 and put a 6.5 x 55mm barrel on it and followed that with two sportered Brazilian M98's, one with the original 7 x 57mm barrel and the other with a 6.5 x 55mm barrel.

The modified ex-military stocks are perfectly adequate for my use, I am not Bubba, but a user of a working rifle.

I have several of these and love them each and every one. The only photos I could put my hands on immediately happens to be one of my favorites. I may add some more later when I can take some pics.

This is a Krag I acquired some years ago. It was in this configuration when I bought it, with the exception of the receiver peep sight. I had to add that because of my old eyes.

As you can see, this was done by an original 'bubba' to suit his own tastes. There is a date below the 10 pointer's head stamped in with metal dies that reads 11/19/34. When I got it, I found two old Western Open Point 30-40 rounds jammed up under the buttplate trapdoor wrapped in a rag. The oil from the stock had coated them with an hard, oily paste over the years. As crude as the handywork is, I would not change a thing on it even if I could! I just wish it were possible to meet the bubba that did this.....

Man, if this rifle could only talk, the tales it would tell!

Nice! I'll bet that chair could tell a few tales, too.

great thread. Love it. More beer roger

M38 Carl Gustaf rebarreled with m94 carbine barrel.

Another view.

I love seeing these blue collar working rifles

Here is Ole Ugly my favorite 458

The modified military rifle really is the "working" rifle.As a rule, they are the "go to gun",and usually the favourite,the ones with carvings generally show that they mean something extra to the owner, and are not just another gun from the rack.A lot of the old timers literally lived with these tools of trade.

Roger

Keep em coming guys!

This interests me-



It's a .458, but I'd do it with a receiver sight, in 7x57; 6x57; .308 or .243.

If it was a Siamese, a .45-70.


-some cool stuff posted in this thread- a Mannlicher '17 and Krag(!), the Argentine and the Swedes... and that Ole Ugly .458.

Yes Tin Can, I've got the article on that 458 as well, love it!!
I have a siamese but did it in 7.62x54R, a vergueiro stock, 303 british barrel and an old Pecar/Berlin 4x that came off a kids air rifle.
It was my scrub/pig gun for years, never got blued, until the extractor broke and now I can't get another extractor for it !



Roger

.....a couple of in progress ones.....first, the worlds easiest conversion.....fit a 7x57 barrel to a lee enfield, tidy up the chamber,and you have a ten shot 7x57R "smellie"



....this is one I'm building for my son,it will eventually be a 6.5x55 scout



Roger

If my photo post comes out right, this is my 1917 Carl Gustafs M96 Swede. Exceptionally accurate. I reshaped the trigger guard and modified a $100 piece of walnut I got from Fajens when they went out of business in 1995. Not exactly plain jane, but I learned a lot from working on it.