Gentlemen

I understood Musgrave rifles to be fairly straightforward, serviceable rifles made for local sportsmen.

I did not know they were rare and collectible. Here is one for sale in the US, a 30-06, for $3500 at Hendershots, which is a quality shop.

Musgrave for $3500
Are Musgraves so special, even if refurbished?

Musgrave rifles were usually made with the military mauser 98 action. As far as I can remember they made their own actions designated M80, M90. These actions were a Musgrave design and of sound quality. Musgrave barrels were cosidered very accurate. They also made a single shot bolt gun for target use and these are fine shooting rifles. If you come across a Musgrave rifle in goog condition, buy it.

FWIW, there's actually two manufacturers that went by the name Musgrave. There's the main Musgrave Rifle Works and then there was Bennie Musgrave who was related to the family but traded as a separate entity because (I believe) of a family rift.

I'm going from memory but believe the main factory made several grades of rifle from very basic, working rifles to some rather nice pieces of kit.

Bennie died a few years ago of a heart attack but his hand made (mostly) target rifles were superb.

All that said, the one on the site looks to be from the main factory

Musgrave rifles are usually no frills, bit like the BRNO, but good solid guns and indeed accurate. The one you illustrate derives it value from a custom walnut stock and some other embellishment.

This rifle appears to be built on one of the Musgrave actions (Model 80 or 90, note sure?) as it is a push feed.

As fairgame says, this rifle's custom features add to its value, but the price seems a bit steep to me.

In the mid 1980s, Musgrave tried to break into the U.S. market and actually introduced its line at the SHOT Show and SCI. Safari magazine was among the publications chosen for the company's advertising campaign. The rifles I saw at the shows had retail prices about $100 more than the better Remington and Winchester rifles at the time but the stocks and metal finish of their samples were a bit rough, I thought. The venture ended when Congress passed sanctions against RSA products.

Bill Quimby

someone can probably dredge up a beautifully done Musgrave the later PHC had done up. Problem was he had it at like 11 lbs which well balanced or not must have been a little overkill.

found it:

http://forums.accuratereloadin...?r=21510232#21510232

"Craig Libhart, a member of the ACGG, completely restored this fine rifle to as new condition. "

Peter.

I am not African based, but I currently have 8 Musgrave rifles, and for many years the late Major Dick Hampton of Woodlawn, Ontario, Canada was both a good friend of mine and the North American importer of Musgrave products.

Trevor Musgrave's company made a variety of rifles. The most commonly seen world-wide is the one Americans call the "RSA", but which Musgrave called the "Target Rifle".

Introduced in NA in the 1970s, it was based on a Musgrave-made single shot flat bottomed, long, very heavy single-shot action with no magazine cut-out (and therefore no magazine) and a Mauser-style bolt, bolt face, and extractor. It has long been used in Commonwealth countries as the basis for outstanding target rifles. A review of Precision Shooting articles from the 1990s will reveal several articles on them. I have 5 of those, one of which I used in the New Zealand National Matches at Upper hutt (Trentham) when on the '79 Canadian Palma Team to New Zealand.

Americans call it the "RSA" because it has a large RSA stamped on the left side of the action above the stock line. That actually was how the country of origin was easily identified, so it could be imported duty free into most Commonwealth nations. It stood, of course, for Republic of South Africa.


Then Musgrave also made a series of sporters which were very nicely done on Mauser '98 type actions. The principle two were the Mark II model and the Mark III model, if I recall correctly. One had a classic sporter stock with no Monte Carlo, while the other had a somewhat fancier stock with a Monte Carlo. Both were CRF. I have one of each, a .270 in the fancier model and a .308 in the less "stylish" version. Very few of them were imported to NA.

And then, Trevor's company (the main Musgrave firm) also made the Model 80 and the Model 90, both of which were push-feed. I have one of those in .404 Jeffery. For bore diameters which were not in enough demand for his company to make them itself, he often used Ferlach-manufactured barrels on the Models 80 & 90. On my .404 he had to use two of those...the first did not meet his specs for bore diameter and rifling depth, so he made them send another.

Some of his rifles, such as my .404 (the first in that chambering and bore his company ever made) were all-out bespoke customs. Mine is an absolutely beautiful piece of work, to my specs, took 6 years between placing the order and delivery, and is very accurate, as were most all of his rifles.

He also used to supply replacement barrels for target shooters. They basically came in three weights and lengths. I currently have about half a dozen of them stowed away in hopes I live long enough to need them.

For a real collectors item, Trevor manufactured a VERY few sporters based on the "RSA" (Target) action, which was cut away to accept a magazine. Apparently the reulting rifle was too heavy to attract North American purchasers so, other than a couple of samples, even Dick Hampton never saw any come through his hands. I tried to buy one in 1977, but Dick couldn't find me one, and Trevor flat refused to build any more. Too much additional machine work to break even on.

Please excuse all my typos, I was never a clerk-typist.

Edited to add: My Musgrave Model 90 chambered for .404 Jeffery is, I believe, a nicer rifle than that pictured, and it IS in the U.S. also. Probably because mine was/is a bespoke rifle and I specified the stock dimensions, mine definitely appears to have somewhat less drop at the heel. Mine is also more typical "English" walnut in appearance, without the red-ish stain. There are some other differences,but those are mostly personalizing touches which are matters of individual taste.

I beleive some of the later PF Musgraves had Littleton barrels. Littleton was the commercial name for one of the South African defence contractors.

Littleton barrels were also available for re-barreling earlier rifles.

Ben Musgrave built custom hunting rifles for just about every politician in parliament at the time. I saw a masterpiece that was built for the member of parliament of Standerton - Mr Hefer, whose son is a great friend of mine. Since Mr Hefer was a rather tall man, his 30-06 Spr (built on a K98 action) featured a 15.5" LOP. A beauty.

Warrior

Just as an after-thought, it is probably worth while to note that Musgrave .308 barrels on target rifles perform very, very well with .308" and larger diameter .30 bullets such as those common in the U.S.

They do NOT, however perform particularly well with the smaller diameter bullets found in much of the world's NATO-spec 7.62 ball ammo. That is especially true when firing the 144-147 grain boattail stuff such as the IVI military 7.62 ammo made in Canada in the 1970s and '80s.

Those short Canadian boat-tailed spitzer bullets were best served out of 14" twist barrels. But, with that slow twist of barrel, their very very, short bearing surface, and their bullet diameter which was often as small as .306", any wear at all to the edges of the rifling in the large Musgrave barrel's bore quickly sent long range accuracy "south".

As a result, a lot of Canadian shooters who used Musgrave target rifles "back in the day" used Sportco or Black Mountain barrels imported from Australia to re-barrel their target rifles. The Sportcos in particular were tightly bored (around .2985" bore diameter and .3065" groove diameter), inexpensive, and had a 14" twist perfect for peak accuracy.

Around 1978, Krieger started supplying tighter-bored barrels as an option, with any twist from 1-in-10" to 1-in-15". As they were reputed to be better made than the Sportcos, the Kriegers began to replace Sportcos as the barrel of choice, even though they cost twice as much or even more.

Anyway, anyone buying a Musgrave target rifle which has been in Canada should take pains to find out exactly the make, dimensions, and twist of the barrel on it before blindly making the purchase.

(Unless, of course, the price is $300 U.S. or less, in whch instance they should avoid any possible problems by just selling it to me!)

LOL

AC