The stupid wantsies thread with the modern Mauser (non-M98 derivative) made me remember how often you used to see sporterized ex-WWI and WWII bolt guns in the woods around here. Anybody have any of these?
Commercial Mausers, etc also welcome. Let's cap the original gun's production date around 1950 or so, but the older the better. Claw mounts, Reinhart-Fajen, Bishop, P.O. Ackley, stripper clip slots....
I inherited a Lithgow ShtLE (Australian built SMLE) that had been partially sporterized. Being unsure whether I wanted to bring it back to original military issue configuration or to try to modernize and improve it, ai have so far settled on reversible modernization. I replaced the wood stock with synthetic, and added a tail that clamps over the ejection port for an optic. The optic is currently a Bushnell TRS-25.
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I have had a Mauser project on the back burner for a while.
It is a J.C. Higgins Model 50 30-06, which some may recall were FN Mausers made in Belgium. Great guns. I dropped mine into a Boyds laminate, as the stock it came with had a crack in the wrist. There had been a repair job done but it was unclear if the job was done pre or post crack, as the owner had past, and I had picked up the rifle from an estate.
The action needs to be bedded and barrel free floated, and it is currently not wearing an optic. The intent is to develop a load that is on the heavier end of the scale and shoot it exclusively in the gun.
I like the idea of a heavy duty, internal box magazine 30-06 Mauser shooting 200, 200+ grain projectiles, for an all around, do everything rifle for larger animals.
A few years ago, I helped a guy at work sell a fairly nice sporterized Mauser in 30-06. I posted it for $300 and finally got a nibble when I dropped it to $275. The guys met up and the buyer offered $225 and the seller took the offer. I would have bought it for $225
-Seconds Count. Misses Don't-
My other Mauser based -06 is an old Tikka.
An Ithaca imported LSA 65. Kind of sleepers in the rifle world.
The SAKO TRG sniper rifles can actually trace their lineage back to the Tikka M55/M65s. 55 and 65 refer to millimeters, as in the length of the cartridge the action would accept. 55 were the short actions, 65 were the long actions. Sako bought Tikka sometime in the early 80s from Nokia, who had owned it for a brief period.
Anyways, the LSA 65 is a Mauser based rifle and has a fantastic stock design. Probably the best design for a rifle from the era. Flat sloped fore-end, and nice palm swell, with a proper comb. Beautiful wood as well.
Bofors barrels. Mine shoots 155 Scenars like they were made for the gun.
The Finnish people know how to build rifles, that is for sure.
Great thread! And where are all the sporterized ‘03 Springfields that were sold out the catalogs my dad had laying around? Surely a couple hundred thousand must be out there somewhere.
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I have mentioned it before on the forum but I have a back burner project of my own.
That’s a Schmidt-Ruben K31 with a laminate stock by Richard’s. It’s had a 2x scout scope mounted on a sleeve and glass bedded, and has a leopard rail and mounts for a Ching sling. It’s pretty bad ass.
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If we can move the production date forward some, there used to be scads of Mausers made into fairly decent sporters from the 50s, 60s and 70s. All sorts of "makers" used barreled commercial actions to make sporting rifles and sell them in the states. Some were a bit cludgey, some had hope if re-stocked in nicer stocks, some were very nice. The later Whitworths had some pretty nice classic styled stocks with decent wood. I had one in 375 H&H for a while, and have seen pretty fair deals on the common calibers now and then.
A Mauser or Springfield 03 sporter in a mild recoiling chambering could make a very nice old man/gimpy shouldered geezer gun. The 257 mentioned would fit that description nicely, as would a 243 or 6mm class round.
I have to admit, on the rifle subject, when the subject starts "AR" or similar, my eyes basically glaze over and it mostly becomes "blah blah......" Nice sporting rifles with wood stocks, bolts, levers, whatever, I start paying more attention. Even older .mil stuff from the wood stock era are much more interesting. Character deficiency I guess. Not that many guns arent practical, just hold no particular personal interest beyond "probably out to have one".
Last edited by Malamute; 10-25-2020 at 01:29 PM.
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
The JC Higgins rifles on the FN Mauser actions are some of the best deals going in used rifles. They tend to shoot very well, particularly if you replace the factory trigger. They also come ready to go with the "sporterized" features people used to add to military Mausers: drilled and tapped for scope mounts, low-swept bolt handle, scope-friendly safety, etc. Much easier, and cheaper, to find an old Higgins than it is to buy a military Mauser today and sporterize it.
This is the coolest thing I've seen in a while, I've been pretty burned out on rifles in general for a bit but seeing something like this gets the blood flowing to do rifleman stuff again.... My wallet now hates you ....Originally Posted by JAD
I have mentioned it before on the forum but I have a back burner project of my own.
That’s a Schmidt-Ruben K31 with a laminate stock by Richard’s. It’s had a 2x scout scope mounted on a sleeve and glass bedded, and has a leopard rail and mounts for a Ching sling. It’s pretty bad ass.
"So strong is this propensity of mankind, to fall into mutual animosities, that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions, and excite their most violent conflicts." - James Madison, Federalist No 10
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