Sporterized military rifles

Gil Martin · Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 3:54 pm Post subject: Sporterized military rifles

Over the years I have collected a bunch of sporterized military rifles that I acquired at very little or no cost. They were sporterized by other people with varying degrees of success. That was quite a pastime in the 1950s and 1960s when military rifles were readily available and cheap. My goal was to pick the best of the best, fix what was fixable and get rid of the rest. I managed to salvage quite a number of 1903 Springfield rifles along with a bunch of 1898 Mausers and some Enfields (British and U.S.). Some have been rebarreled to .270 Winchester, .280 Remington, 7X57mm Mauser and .30-06 Springfield. Most of the rifles have been scoped and the others have iron sights.

Our rifle deer season opens in a few weeks and I have been taking some of these rifles to the gun club every week to sight them in and get some practice. They are delightful and quite accurate with my reloads. I get a lot of questions from fellow shooters who cannot identify military rifles. They often ask to shoot them. I readily agree and everyone is pleased..

I still look for sporterized military rifles in the gun shops that I visit. The supply seems to be drying up, prices are much higher and many decent rifles have been abused by Bubba. So it depends. All the best...
Gil

Vince · Last edited by Vince on Sat Nov 11, 2017 6:52 am; edited 1 time in total

I think sporterised military rifles were the mainstay of Hunting for quite some time after WW II, so much so that many still survive, and are holding their own.

A quite common conversion out here in Aussie was the .303 converted to 303.25... this calibre accounted for many thousands of Roos back in the day.

English Mike · Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 11:35 pm Post subject: Re: Sporterized military rifles

I was in a gun shop here in Albuquerque on Tuesday & they had a really beautiful sporterised Swedish M96 Mauser on the rack.
What a slick & tight action it had, as well as being chambered in 6.5x55 Swedish - one of the calibres I've desired to experiment with for a long time.
Done right, these rifles are a pleasure to behold, though there are some truly Frankenstein creations I've seen at gun shows.

Vince · Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 6:53 am Post subject: Re: Sporterized military rifles

Pomgolia Mike wrote:

...6.5x55 Swedish - one of the calibres I've desired to experiment with for a long time.

Soooo...did ya buy it mate? If not...why not?

Gil Martin · Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 6:05 pm Post subject: Re: Sporterized military rifles

I agree with Vince. When you come across a decent rifle at a fair price, then jump on it. I know a fellow that used to bore me to tears with his stories of the wonderful deals he encountered in various gun shops, but never quite took the final step to buy them. When he returned weeks later, the good deals were gone. I finally told him to only relate successful gun buying stories to me. All the best...
Gil

Elvis · Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 11:27 pm Post subject: Re: Sporterized military rifles

Im finding lovely guns are like lovely women, other than my wife..... I cant have so best not to even look...the desire goes away and life is good.
I started out with a mk3 lee enfield .303 brit but soon moved on. Ive owned a couple over the years and all did the job but werent really my cuppa tea at the time....guys are now rebarrelling them to wildcats again but necking up not down...big and slow is back in fashion .
I would kind of like to own a dirty old SKS for crappy wet days in the bus or for wallabies when letting off a few rounds is more important than hitting every time....you know intense recoil therapy type thing Very Happy

cant really justify anything else in cabinet as most every niche is doubly covered now.......if a .45/70 SXS Bakail comes along at right price however.....room will be made.

English Mike · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 9:44 pm Post subject: Re: Sporterized military rifles

Vince wrote:

Pomgolia Mike wrote:

...6.5x55 Swedish - one of the calibres I've desired to experiment with for a long time.

Soooo...did ya buy it mate? If not...why not?

Nope, for two reasons:

I'm very much left handed & left eye dominant.

I'm non resident in the US, so I can't buy firearms here. Sad

Back off to Blighty in the morning too. Sad

Vince · Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 5:58 am Post subject: Re: Sporterized military rifles

English Mike wrote:

Vince wrote:

Pomgolia Mike wrote:

...6.5x55 Swedish - one of the calibres I've desired to experiment with for a long time.

Soooo...did ya buy it mate? If not...why not?

Nope, for two reasons:

I'm very much left handed & left eye dominant.

I'm non resident in the US, so I can't buy firearms here. Sad

Back off to Blighty in the morning too. Sad

Being a lefty is not an issue mate. I am, or was, right eye dominant and shot right handed for near enough 50 years...then my right eye went south. I had to decide between giving up shooting or learn to shoot left handed using my left eye. Hardest part to overcome was muscle memory, but I shoot pretty much as well as I ever did now...and I haven’t changed any of my right handed rifles or shotguns.

Ah, but I’m sure you have a trusted friend in the US who could take care of the purchasing for you.

Safe trip home mate. My daughter is flying over there in a couple of weeks for a holiday, then going back in a February for a couple of years. She will be working in Newnham helping to look after a young child whilst the parents work.

Gil Martin · Last edited by Gil Martin on Mon Nov 13, 2017 4:47 pm; edited 1 time in total

I agree with Vince. I am a southpaw and have shot right-handed rifles, shotguns and muzzleloaders my entire life. In fact, left-handed firearms seem awkward to me and I never use them. It is easy to make the change.

Having a U.S. citizen buy a firearm and transfer it to a foreign national would constitute a straw purchase and is a federal felony under the Gun Control Act of 1968. The legal penalties are severe. However, in my area we follow the three "S" rule: shoot, shovel and shut up. All the best...

All the best...
Gil

Grant · Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 5:32 pm Post subject: Re: Sporterized military rifles

I have two sporterized 303's, one MkIII and one Mk IV. I still hunt with the mk IV, as a matter of fact I did on Friday. It's been several years since I used the MK. III, but the last time I did a nice cow Moose was put down by it. I love my WWI and WWII Enfields and me Pre-WWI Martini Henry still gets pulled out too.

Elvis · Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 11:24 pm Post subject: Re: Sporterized military rifles

nothing wrong with the .303 brit as a hunting round.....

Vince · Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 2:01 am Post subject: Re: Sporterized military rifles

Elvis wrote:

nothing wrong with the .303 brit as a hunting round.....

I agree totally mate, but a lot of the "wildcat" ex military cartridges came about after the War when the Govts would not allow the populace to own military calibre firearms.

I remember Mr Smith of Smith's Gunstore in Sydney used to buy up surplus .303 rifles, remove the barrel, shorten the barrel by a couple of "threads", screw the barrel back into place making the old .303 case slightly shorter, moving it out of the military round list.