Just wondering if anyone else has fallen into this trap. I still have nothing against sporterizing, and at the young age of 32 will probably do so to quite a few more military rifles.

But along the way, I also began to appreciate the qualities of Mausers in military form, a form of contagion now spreading to other military rifles (getting a K-31, eyeballing a Garand, etc etc). What got me hooked on the military versions was getting a few with great looking figured stocks, and finding I couldn't pull them apart no matter how nice the action was. I now spend as much time on the Czech, Mauser, Swiss rifle, and restoration forums as I do here.

Has anyone else been lured into this? How?

Todd

[ 03-07-2003, 05:13: Message edited by: Todd Getzen ]

I keep an eye on these forums:

http://www.gunboards.com/forums/

http://pub109.ezboard.com/fparallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsforumsfrm81 (straight-pull rifle forum)

http://www.303british.com/

i got pulled inot the milsurp sickness when i was still in high school. 5 years later, and things got worse...i have moeny to buy what i want now.

BTW, i'd like to know how that swiss rifle shoots once you get to playing with it. from what i heard they're supposedly tops at the mil-surp shoots.

I don't restore. It generally costs more than the ending value. I do however buy two rifles If I buy any these days. One to keep original and the other to play with. I only buy excellent examples anymore unless the specific model is quite rare and having one in any condition is a feat in itself.

I never refinish or reblue. I buy em wipe off the cosmo and put em awway or shoot them. No trying to clean the stock nonsense for me.

-M

Z1R,

I see your point about the stock cleaning. Getting cosmoline out of wood is a daunting task, and the only sure way to success (??) is to throw it in a fire. No wood, no cosmo.

Seriously though, I spent much of this morning tinting a 98/22 with alcohol soluble dies, to a nice cocoa brownish red color. The way the tiger stripe stands out now is stunning. Some are worth working on, but many aren't. The other side of that coin is loss of collector value, but I have stopped selling guns, forever, so I don't care as long as I like them.

Curtis, thanks for those pointers -- there are a couple I wasn't aware of. It will be, unfortunately, some time before I get to that K-31 -- instead of loading up, I might just buy some INDEP or GP-11 to try it out sooner.

Best,
Todd

[ 03-08-2003, 07:03: Message edited by: Todd Getzen ]

I do what Z1R does, I buy at least 2 of one type rifle, and keep the best one orginal.

I went to a gun show yeterday after work and saw several vendors with stripped actions for sale - one guy had complete VZ24 Czech actions, stripped and cleaned - for $50 ea. I don't think I would take a complete rifle and strip out the action if I could buy one for less than a $100 and he had several in this price range. All parts you could ever want or need and as stated the actions ran from $50 to a $1000 - don't know why some were so valuable. Did note that he had some complete small 98 actions - the so-called Mexican, I think - that had been cleaned and lightened some as well as drilled and tapped for scope mounts. I think one of these may be coming to live at my house as I really need (WANT!) another light 7X57 sporter and I think this would be ideal. So many ideas and so many great guns with so little time to work and shoot!
Regards,

I follow z1r,and,major caliber.I usulally get two of whatever.To draw oil out of mil stocks I use a 50/50 mix of kutz-it and mineral spirits,and soak it for 48 hrs.Then I make a paste out of fresh kutz-it and lime,,cover the stock liberally with the paste and leave out in the sun.Come back in 5 hrs.scrape off the paste and apply fresh paste.Takes 4 or 5 apps.If you have a black anodised aluminum tool box on your truck,,,put the stock in it on a hot day,,,will boil out that oil in a hurry.The lime gives the oil something to adhere to so you don't just wipe it back into the stock.Have fun! Clay.