Maybe I'm strange but I love sporterized rifles. When I go to gun shops I rarely look at the new rifles and completely ignore the high end custom arms. But I'm drawn to the old sporterized rifles. It might be that I can afford them. Or it might be that there is always a story and history in every scratch and nick. Maybe it's some sort of mental deficiency, I don't know but I thank Saeed for allowing this forum.

quote:

I thank Saeed for allowing this forum.

quote:

Maybe it's some sort of mental deficiency...

I am also afflicted.

quote:

Originally posted by wetdog2084:
Maybe I'm strange but I love sporterized rifles. When I go to gun shops I rarely look at the new rifles and completely ignore the high end custom arms. But I'm drawn to the old sporterized rifles. It might be that I can afford them. Or it might be that there is always a story and history in every scratch and nick. Maybe it's some sort of mental deficiency, I don't know but I thank Saeed for allowing this forum.

I'm in exactly the same boat. All the new stuff has no soul and does nothing for me.

I guess it's not just me. As I see all the new models, with their high tech construction and their kinky little innovations, I have to wonder how many of them are still going to be in the field 60 or 80 years, from now. Some of them, I'd be extremely reluctant to trust my life to.

Grizz

quote:

All the new stuff has no soul

That's it exactly! Today's production rifles lack the craftsmanship and pride that was put into well done military sporters. Laminates and high powered scopes are nice but they will never replace nice Walnut and a good set of irons. The pics I just posted in the photo thread are perfect examples, especially the M95.

I don't think you have any problem at all. Either that or I am in denial about my personal tastes. I would lots rather find a good sporterized Mauser, maybe a Sears model, sporterized O3 etc. Older commercial rifles are also good to look for. I found what is now my 270 for $200 with a beat up stock and worn blueing. I agree they are better than the new stuff, no soul, or lawyerized or lower build quality. DW

Wetdog, I thought alot of the good new stuff was just a sporterized M98?

Winchester M70 classic,
CZ
Kimber.
Ruger M77
REmington 98

Since a Mauser actions, is a Mauser action, more often then not, a old sporterized military rifle is the best deal in the store.

I suffer a similar affliction but it's accompanied by another affliction I'll refer to as the need to "tinker". I seem to want to make something better from what others perceive as being nothing - like an old military rifle or a beater. To find a beat up old rifle and make it better is one of my sources of satisfaction. I also have this feeling toward woodworking. I enjoy refinishing and checkering stocks. I'm drawn to the finer mausers such as older, recently imported Husqvarnas and any DWM or FN-based military or commercial rifle. This is getting more expensive by the year though. You pretty much have to find cheap, non-butchered military sporters (diamonds in the rough)and the occasional mis-priced FN-based commercial rifle. The market can be described as becoming more price-efficient if you are into stock market academics. Another criteria - if it has not been traditionally used for hunting I'm not interested. I have to feel I can pick it up and go hunting (i.e no black rifles or issue military)

quote:

Bob58: the need to "tinker". I seem to want to make something better from what others perceive as being nothing - like an old military rifle or a beater. To find a beat up old rifle and make it better is one of my sources of satisfaction. I also have this feeling toward woodworking. I enjoy refinishing and checkering stocks. I'm drawn to the older, recently imported Husqvarnas and any DWM or FN-based military or commercial rifle. This is getting more expensive by the year though. You pretty much have to find cheap, non-butchered military sporters (diamonds in the rough)and the occasional mis-priced FN-based commercial

Ditto. Anything Mauser.

Something hit me the other day about sporterizing. It's a form of recycling.

quote:

Originally posted by cable68:
Something hit me the other day about sporterizing. It's a form of recycling.

Thats a good one. Maybe we could get the NRA to support a bill in congress for a new tax write off for recycling old military arms?

Barstooler

I am glad I joined this form. I like to get old beaters and military rifles. Dirt, rain, mud, etc. does not bother me with these. Once had a High Grade Browning 71 that I bought because Turners had put a really low price - by mistake I only shot it at a range because it was too good to really use. I have a turk 98 I use as truck gun and it fits my needs.

quote:

Originally posted by Bob58:
I suffer a similar affliction but it's accompanied by another affliction I'll refer to as the need to "tinker". I seem to want to make something better from what others perceive as being nothing - like an old military rifle or a beater. To find a beat up old rifle and make it better is one of my sources of satisfaction. I also have this feeling toward woodworking. I enjoy refinishing and checkering stocks. I'm drawn to the finer mausers such as older, recently imported Husqvarnas and any DWM or FN-based military or commercial rifle. This is getting more expensive by the year though. You pretty much have to find cheap, non-butchered military sporters (diamonds in the rough)and the occasional mis-priced FN-based commercial rifle. The market can be described as becoming more price-efficient if you are into stock market academics. Another criteria - if it has not been traditionally used for hunting I'm not interested. I have to feel I can pick it up and go hunting (i.e no black rifles or issue military)

Have you been in my safes!! I also love the FN's, Swedes. Hmmm, they are Mausers, everyone.
Even when I did buy a designated Varmint rig, it is a CZ Micro Mauser. 1st new rifle I've bought in 20 years.

I like to look at all the rare Mausers that ex-GIs butchered up in the 50s and 60s. But of course, they didn't know any better. Last year a guy had a "sporterized" Remington 1903A4 with the correct scope that his father had bought from Rock Island back in the 60s. (there used to be lots of them around here) I told him that he had a very desireable rifle and he should put it back into military configuration (it had a Fajen stock on it). He said he didn't care, his father gave it to him. I cringe when I hear those stories. Guess I have no sentiment.

I agree with Wetdog and Bob58. Taking a rifle sporterized by "Bubba" and ironing the kinks out of it is personally rewarding and oftens results in a lot of bang for the buck.

I think some of those old relics will outlast what they're producing now. Pretty hard to argue with a gun that's been around the better part of a hundred years and still going strong.

Grizz

I'm always buying sporterized military rifles. Probably the oddest is a sporterized Venezuelan FN-49 in 7x57.

Several Sweds, a couple of FN 24/30 Venezuelans, a couple of DWM 1908 Brazilians, a couple of small ring 98 Mexicans, etc.

Jeff

If you truely want to know if there is "something wrong with you", just ask your wife or girl friend.

Jim

QUOTE]
I like to look at all the rare Mausers that ex-GIs butchered up in the 50s and 60s. But of course, they didn't know any better. Last year a guy had a "sporterized" Remington 1903A4 with the correct scope that his father had bought from Rock Island back in the 60s. (there used to be lots of them around here) I told him that he had a very desireable rifle and he should put it back into military configuration (it had a Fajen stock on it). He said he didn't care, his father gave it to him. I cringe when I hear those stories. Guess I have no sentiment.[/QUOTE]



Funny, I prefer the old rifles because I see exactly the opposite when I look at the home-cobbled sporters. What I see is what I lived through during and right after the great depression of the 1930s...

That is, an era of honest hard-working folks, who loved to hunt, fish, and be independent despite the circumstances life threw them into. They took what they could find at prices they could afford, and put their spirit, hopes and dreams into it.

Often they could afford very, very little, and had few or no fine artistic skills, but they could at least muster the cajones to TRY to better their situations. My dad was one of those.

When the depression was over we had lost over 2,000 acres of farmland (we being he, and his 11 brothers, 1 sister, and their families). My dad owned a single shot 16 gauge shotgun which provided much needed food... squirrels, 'coons, 'possums, and birds. But he always dreamed of hunting deer and similar game.

When one of my uncles came back from an involuntary trek over Europe (and a stay in Iceland as well) he brought an 1895 Dutch "Hembrug" military mannlicher carbine with him. My dad traded him a butane stove for it, sporterized it, and gave a Frenchman a Luger for 100 rounds of ammo. (6.5x53-R, not commonly available at the time in NA).

We went hunting deer several times, but never saw a buck, which is all that was legal at the time.

Then I went in the service, where I became permanently disabled. Still, when I was air-evac'd home, I managed to con myself into a job as a sheriff's deputy and bought, among other things, a Model 36 Marlin in .30-30, with a Weaver 330 scope in Weaver mounts. It had a recoil pad made from a piece of truck tire. Not exactly a high class item, but it shot very well for our purposes.

Shortly afterward, my dad and I went hunting together again. On that two day hunt I shot my first deer. Even better, my dad shot HIS first deer too. Both of us used the ol' Marlin 36.

MY DAD WAS A HELL OF A MAN. He re-soled our shoes when we needed them done. He built our first two houses. He dug the ditches, installed the piping, and hooked our second house up to the public sewer when it came available. He dug our first well and"rocked" in it's walls, by hand. He raised chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows to provide us and the neighbors with meat during the war. He rebuilt the engine in our 1936 Ford when it needed rings and bearings and a valve job. He also painted it. He could fix danged near anything mechanical, and he tanned leather for our belts, And on and on.

My mom was just as good. She canned most of our food, made sauerkraut, churned butter, baked fabulous pastries, re-upholstered furniture for our house, taught me to read when I was three (used phonics, BTW). She made clothes for us (including my two sisters) using printed flour sacks when other cloth wasn't available, crotcheed (SP?) fine doilies and table cloths, knitted socks, sweaters & toques, and generally made all the other things many girls can only get from catalogues today.

That's what the old guns are to me....a memory of a real, fine, country which the USA used to be. A time when people didn't look for handouts from a nanny state and most didn't get ahead by shafting their neighbors. They cherished their resources, and "made-do".

Those guns also bring back the days when we used to hand-churn a gallon of ice-cream made with real cream from our own cow, and would sit out on our front porch in the evening, covering the ice cream with home-raised strawberries or dates, and slurping it all down while talking about our day's happenings and our hopes for the 'morrow.

Sometimes we'd even get a lick of some of dad's "corn squeezins" in a cup of coffee and cream to finish it off.

Yessir, I can't walk past, ignore, or criticize any of those old sporterized warhorses. To me, those old sporters represent real men, not just paper-shoving "consumers" ripping off people with weasel word contracts, greed-based corporate policies, and ingrained, school-taught, dishonest financial practices at every turn. They represent people who built more than they consumed.

Those folks who "sporterized" those guns understood a lot better than most of us today can imagine.

Best wishes, y'all

AC

AC

I was not born until 1949, but had similar experience. My family had a huge garden and we raised chickens etc.

My dad's only rifle was a sporterized 1998 Krag carbine. When I became independent and inherited that rifle I restocked and reblued it into a fine looking rifle and gave it back to my father who used it until he passed away.

I really enjoy taking an old sporterized 1903 Springfield and making even nicer sporters out of them -- new stocks, new barrels, new triggers, reblue, and mount good scopes and turn the bolts. I know that when I am done that I have way more money sunk into them than what they are worth, but damn the actions are so smooth and they shoot so nice.

I just want to pass them all on to my son.

Barstooler

You brought some naustalgic tears to these old eyes ,AC. roger

quote:

Originally posted by Bob58:
I suffer a similar affliction but it's accompanied by another affliction I'll refer to as the need to "tinker". I seem to want to make something better from what others perceive as being nothing - like an old military rifle or a beater. To find a beat up old rifle and make it better is one of my sources of satisfaction. I also have this feeling toward woodworking. I enjoy refinishing and checkering stocks. I'm drawn to the finer mausers such as older, recently imported Husqvarnas and any DWM or FN-based military or commercial rifle. This is getting more expensive by the year though. You pretty much have to find cheap, non-butchered military sporters (diamonds in the rough)and the occasional mis-priced FN-based commercial rifle. The market can be described as becoming more price-efficient if you are into stock market academics. Another criteria - if it has not been traditionally used for hunting I'm not interested. I have to feel I can pick it up and go hunting (i.e no black rifles or issue military)

+1, That describes me to a T

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:
You brought some naustalgic tears to these old eyes ,AC. roger

Roger - I never got a chance to say thanks to you and a couple of other folks who welcomed me back the other day, but I appreciated it anyway. You're all good people in my book, and I treasure 'most everyone here!

AC

Well, my stand behind rifle is a sporterized Remington Enfield 1917 so I mirror those sentiments. I paid $225 for it and it shoots the lights out.

That said, I spend a lot of money bringing others back to original military configuration. The ones that can't be brought back as such have the usual crappy looking weaver adjustable rear sights and blond or figure-less bishop stocks.... not saying they don't work but I'd rather spend the money to revamp one of those than buy new....

And it beats dropping cash on the "original" sporters from Jeffery, Rigby, et al!

quote:

Maybe I'm strange but I love sporterized rifles. When I go to gun shops I rarely look at the new rifles and completely ignore the high end custom arms. But I'm drawn to the old sporterized rifles. Or it might be that there is always a story and history in every scratch and nick. Maybe it's some sort of mental deficiency, I don't know but I thank Saeed for allowing this forum.

Nothing wrong with you at all. I love "Pawn Shop Hopping". Over the years. I have rescued, as I call it, a sportized krag. A sportized '43 M98 that went through various transformations from a 8x57>8mm-06>35 Whelen>358 Norma. Swedish 6.5x55, and a couple of years ago a nice sporterized '03 Springfield 30-06 below.


'43 M98 358 NM is the top one. Not perfect but shoots well.

quote:

Originally posted by arkypete:
If you truely want to know if there is "something wrong with you", just ask your wife or girl friend.

Jim

Ya don't even have to ask them, they'll usually just tell YA.

quote:

Originally posted by arkypete:
If you truely want to know if there is "something wrong with you", just ask your wife or girl friend.

Jim

nah.. EX wife or girlfriend

Oh my yes, you are one sick puppy! Just like me!

AC[/QUOTE]WORTH ANOTHER READ roger

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
QUOTE]
I like to look at all the rare Mausers that ex-GIs butchered up in the 50s and 60s. But of course, they didn't know any better. Last year a guy had a "sporterized" Remington 1903A4 with the correct scope that his father had bought from Rock Island back in the 60s. (there used to be lots of them around here) I told him that he had a very desireable rifle and he should put it back into military configuration (it had a Fajen stock on it). He said he didn't care, his father gave it to him. I cringe when I hear those stories. Guess I have no sentiment.

Funny, I prefer the old rifles because I see exactly the opposite when I look at the home-cobbled sporters. What I see is what I lived through during and right after the great depression of the 1930s...

That is, an era of honest hard-working folks, who loved to hunt, fish, and be independent despite the circumstances life threw them into. They took what they could find at prices they could afford, and put their spirit, hopes and dreams into it.

Often they could afford very, very little, and had few or no fine artistic skills, but they could at least muster the cajones to TRY to better their situations. My dad was one of those.

When the depression was over we had lost over 2,000 acres of farmland (we being he, and his 11 brothers, 1 sister, and their families). My dad owned a single shot 16 gauge shotgun which provided much needed food... squirrels, 'coons, 'possums, and birds. But he always dreamed of hunting deer and similar game.

When one of my uncles came back from an involuntary trek over Europe (and a stay in Iceland as well) he brought an 1895 Dutch "Hembrug" military mannlicher carbine with him. My dad traded him a butane stove for it, sporterized it, and gave a Frenchman a Luger for 100 rounds of ammo. (6.5x53-R, not commonly available at the time in NA).

We went hunting deer several times, but never saw a buck, which is all that was legal at the time.

Then I went in the service, where I became permanently disabled. Still, when I was air-evac'd home, I managed to con myself into a job as a sheriff's deputy and bought, among other things, a Model 36 Marlin in .30-30, with a Weaver 330 scope in Weaver mounts. It had a recoil pad made from a piece of truck tire. Not exactly a high class item, but it shot very well for our purposes.

Shortly afterward, my dad and I went hunting together again. On that two day hunt I shot my first deer. Even better, my dad shot HIS first deer too. Both of us used the ol' Marlin 36.

MY DAD WAS A HELL OF A MAN. He re-soled our shoes when we needed them done. He built our first two houses. He dug the ditches, installed the piping, and hooked our second house up to the public sewer when it came available. He dug our first well and"rocked" in it's walls, by hand. He raised chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows to provide us and the neighbors with meat during the war. He rebuilt the engine in our 1936 Ford when it needed rings and bearings and a valve job. He also painted it. He could fix danged near anything mechanical, and he tanned leather for our belts, And on and on.

My mom was just as good. She canned most of our food, made sauerkraut, churned butter, baked fabulous pastries, re-upholstered furniture for our house, taught me to read when I was three (used phonics, BTW). She made clothes for us (including my two sisters) using printed flour sacks when other cloth wasn't available, crotcheed (SP?) fine doilies and table cloths, knitted socks, sweaters & toques, and generally made all the other things many girls can only get from catalogues today.

That's what the old guns are to me....a memory of a real, fine, country which the USA used to be. A time when people didn't look for handouts from a nanny state and most didn't get ahead by shafting their neighbors. They cherished their resources, and "made-do".

Those guns also bring back the days when we used to hand-churn a gallon of ice-cream made with real cream from our own cow, and would sit out on our front porch in the evening, covering the ice cream with home-raised strawberries or dates, and slurping it all down while talking about our day's happenings and our hopes for the 'morrow.

Sometimes we'd even get a lick of some of dad's "corn squeezins" in a cup of coffee and cream to finish it off.

Yessir, I can't walk past, ignore, or criticize any of those old sporterized warhorses. To me, those old sporters represent real men, not just paper-shoving "consumers" ripping off people with weasel word contracts, greed-based corporate policies, and ingrained, school-taught, dishonest financial practices at every turn. They represent people who built more than they consumed.

Those folks who "sporterized" those guns understood a lot better than most of us today can imagine.

Best wishes, y'all

AC[/QUOTE]WORTH ANOTHER READ

Yep, I too go straight to the used rack with hopes of finding an old bubba'ed military rifle that needs some TLC. For that matter, I'm still not above customizing nice original Mausers. It would have to be darned rare and valuable before I won't shuck it apart for the receiver. I still look upon them as spoils of war and deserving as such to be converted to a more "peaceable" role. I don't touch original 1903 Springfields anymore though.

I must have caught it as well. I think it may have to do with the basic "SCOTSMAN" in those of us who grew up in leaner times. I have several "art" rifles in my safe that never seem to be selected on hunting day, but my old, beat up Husky always is.

quote:

Originally posted by Antelope Sniper:
Since a Mauser actions, is a Mauser action, more often then not, a old sporterized military rifle is the best deal in the store.

I am constantly on the look for a bargian on anything that resembles one of the old Belgian sporters, J.C. Higgins, Mark X. IMO they are in the same class as the vaunted pre 64 model 70. In fact I prefer them.. And that is basicaly what a well done millsurp sporter is.. That is how I rationalize our "ailment"..

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:
AC

WORTH ANOTHER READ roger

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
QUOTE]
I like to look at all the rare Mausers that ex-GIs butchered up in the 50s and 60s. But of course, they didn't know any better. Last year a guy had a "sporterized" Remington 1903A4 with the correct scope that his father had bought from Rock Island back in the 60s. (there used to be lots of them around here) I told him that he had a very desireable rifle and he should put it back into military configuration (it had a Fajen stock on it). He said he didn't care, his father gave it to him. I cringe when I hear those stories. Guess I have no sentiment.

Funny, I prefer the old rifles because I see exactly the opposite when I look at the home-cobbled sporters. What I see is what I lived through during and right after the great depression of the 1930s...

That is, an era of honest hard-working folks, who loved to hunt, fish, and be independent despite the circumstances life threw them into. They took what they could find at prices they could afford, and put their spirit, hopes and dreams into it.

Often they could afford very, very little, and had few or no fine artistic skills, but they could at least muster the cajones to TRY to better their situations. My dad was one of those.

When the depression was over we had lost over 2,000 acres of farmland (we being he, and his 11 brothers, 1 sister, and their families). My dad owned a single shot 16 gauge shotgun which provided much needed food... squirrels, 'coons, 'possums, and birds. But he always dreamed of hunting deer and similar game.

When one of my uncles came back from an involuntary trek over Europe (and a stay in Iceland as well) he brought an 1895 Dutch "Hembrug" military mannlicher carbine with him. My dad traded him a butane stove for it, sporterized it, and gave a Frenchman a Luger for 100 rounds of ammo. (6.5x53-R, not commonly available at the time in NA).

We went hunting deer several times, but never saw a buck, which is all that was legal at the time.

Then I went in the service, where I became permanently disabled. Still, when I was air-evac'd home, I managed to con myself into a job as a sheriff's deputy and bought, among other things, a Model 36 Marlin in .30-30, with a Weaver 330 scope in Weaver mounts. It had a recoil pad made from a piece of truck tire. Not exactly a high class item, but it shot very well for our purposes.

Shortly afterward, my dad and I went hunting together again. On that two day hunt I shot my first deer. Even better, my dad shot HIS first deer too. Both of us used the ol' Marlin 36.

MY DAD WAS A HELL OF A MAN. He re-soled our shoes when we needed them done. He built our first two houses. He dug the ditches, installed the piping, and hooked our second house up to the public sewer when it came available. He dug our first well and"rocked" in it's walls, by hand. He raised chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows to provide us and the neighbors with meat during the war. He rebuilt the engine in our 1936 Ford when it needed rings and bearings and a valve job. He also painted it. He could fix danged near anything mechanical, and he tanned leather for our belts, And on and on.

My mom was just as good. She canned most of our food, made sauerkraut, churned butter, baked fabulous pastries, re-upholstered furniture for our house, taught me to read when I was three (used phonics, BTW). She made clothes for us (including my two sisters) using printed flour sacks when other cloth wasn't available, crotcheed (SP?) fine doilies and table cloths, knitted socks, sweaters & toques, and generally made all the other things many girls can only get from catalogues today.

That's what the old guns are to me....a memory of a real, fine, country which the USA used to be. A time when people didn't look for handouts from a nanny state and most didn't get ahead by shafting their neighbors. They cherished their resources, and "made-do".

Those guns also bring back the days when we used to hand-churn a gallon of ice-cream made with real cream from our own cow, and would sit out on our front porch in the evening, covering the ice cream with home-raised strawberries or dates, and slurping it all down while talking about our day's happenings and our hopes for the 'morrow.

Sometimes we'd even get a lick of some of dad's "corn squeezins" in a cup of coffee and cream to finish it off.

Yessir, I can't walk past, ignore, or criticize any of those old sporterized warhorses. To me, those old sporters represent real men, not just paper-shoving "consumers" ripping off people with weasel word contracts, greed-based corporate policies, and ingrained, school-taught, dishonest financial practices at every turn. They represent people who built more than they consumed.

Those folks who "sporterized" those guns understood a lot better than most of us today can imagine.

Best wishes, y'all

AC[/QUOTE]WORTH ANOTHER READ[/QUOTE]


Roger, that is the most I have ever seen you type in a decade of hanging out on this forum, and possibly the best post Ive ever read..



You just summed up why I prefer my 35 Whelen over a 338-06 even though I believe the 338 version is somewhat superior, and you nailed what "Nostalgia" is really all about.. It is about a breed of men who are the epitome of the very rugged individualism that used to represent what it meant to be "American"!!


Amen brother!!

From now on when I sporterize a rifle I'm going to say "I AC'ed it"

Very good true story. I think our dads all had to be "a lot more" back in those hard days.