I'll Just Leave This Here

[echo1]

Don't know if you guys have sen this before. PAX

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[Mikej]

"Extra Hell"

 

[Mikej]

I wonder what year(s) it became sacrilegious to sporterise militaria? I've got a m 1917 (I think that's what it was) that my father obliterated everything, to my untrained eye, except the safety when he sporterised it just after he got out of The Navy in 1947. Not a stamp, number, sight or mark on it.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

It would be good to remember that :

For many years after WWII , It was popular to sporterize surplus rifles.
American Rifleman magazine even ran a long series of "How to" articles on it.
Heck , even after our so - called "Civil War" , Bannerman's made a boat load of money selling surplus arms...both of the sporterized and non - sporterized variety.

For a long time surplus rifles were inexpensive and available.
Nowadays , not so much , to take a non-sporterized military rifle and turn it , into something its not , ain't the best of ideas.

With that said...
I see nothing wrong with taking an old rifle action and building a new sporting rifle out of it...
Or taking some old neglected rifle that someone worked on the in the past and giving it a new lease on life.

Also some sporters are fine pieces of work...while others are , admittedly some fine POS's ....
Andy

 

[Cavedweller]

I wonder what year(s) it became sacrilegious to sporterise militaria? I've got a m 1917 (I think that's what it was) that my father obliterated everything, to my untrained eye, except the safety when he sporterised it just after he got out of The Navy in 1947. Not a stamp, number, sight or mark on it.

Post-WW2 it was the thing to do. Milsurps were abundant and cheap. Guys wanted good looking hunting rifles, not beat up relics of the war. WW2 vets like my Dad and his friends found sporterizing milsurps to be an economical alternative to factory made hunting rifles, particularly given the quality and accuracy of rifles like the 1903, Mauser, and Enfield which could be obtained for a song.

It became a heresy when a later generation became more interested in historical preservation and collectability.

 

[po18guy]

Remember as a kid in the late 50s walking into Pacific Iron and Metal on 4th Ave S in Seattle with my dad. Beside the cash register was a 50 gallon drum filled with Enfield Jungle Carbines. Dad never bought one because they were probably $10-$15.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Don't know if you guys have sen this before. PAX

View attachment 817012

That is so awesome! For me it's the same that I remember some kids doing to classic muscle cars. They would take a classic mustang or whatever and put hood scoops in multiple places, home made spoilers, louvers, shiny goofy wheels and god knows what else. And the interior was often worse. They would take hack saws to the metal dash to make a hole for some equalizer power booster or whatever. It's a free country and they can do it if they want. But we can also shake our heads at the horror (now that I'm older I don't point and laugh anymore... ).

 

[ma96782]

EXTRA HELL

Mr. until you actually get there....you'll be on.....


Aloha, Mark

 

[echo1]

I remember the pickle barrels full of "old" stuff too. I have several sport jobs. One, an 03-A3 that is so well done I thought it was a Griffon & Howe. Their archivist was kind enough to point out the subtle differences, but said the rifle was very well done. Another 1917 from the '50s, had the wood worked over but the metal bits are intact to restore. Two .303s, one only the furniture butchered, the other had the hack saw put to the barrel. I still scarf them up if they're cheap. PAX

 

[CountryGent]

Wow, flashbacks from this thread ....

Where do you draw the line with modifying "historic" guns?

So, a little carbine that will be here next week got me to thinking about this. And this is, where do you draw the line at modifying older, classic guns? Personally: If it is unique, super rare, expensive, or associated with an important historical event or personage, now way, José! That...

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