This is my only sporterized milsurp. It started out life as a Swiss Gew 96/11 in 7.5X55 Swiss caliber. It had a 30 inch barrel and like most military rifles was stocked to the muzzle. The detachable magzine holds 6 rounds.
The importer wanted it in 308, because at that time Switzerland had not released any GP11 ammo and the only ammo available was Norma which was expensive and poorly distributed. However the 308 is slimmer than the 7.5X55, so thay had to take almost two inches off the breech end of the barrel before they could rechamber it. You can see the length of the cut in the next to last photo. Then they shortened the barrel to 22 inches, and remounted the original front sight. They cut the stock to sporter length. They also milled off a little on one side of the magazine follower and installed a steel plate on the inside of one side of the magazine to compensate for the narrower 308 cartridge. However I have a spare magazine without the plate and it feeds just fine.
I don't know who did the conversion but they must have had a semi-production line for these rifles; in the late 1950s, I visited a gunshop that had two US GI rifle racks, 20 rifles each, filled with these modified 96/11s and 11s. They were very cheap, particularly considering the quality; in the late 1960s I bought this one for the lordly sum of $22.50.
When I got it, it was anything but accurate. I slugged the barrel and found the groove diameter to be .311 inch, not .308. I was so surprised at this that I slugged it again, and got the same reading. When I switched to .311" bullets, it shot very accurately, so I glass bedded it to help the accuracy along.
It deserved better sights than the open sights it had. I took those off. Couldn't mount a scope on top of the receiver as it ejects straight up, so I had it drilled and tapped for a Lyman 57 peep sight. The sight and the installation cost almost three times as much as I'd paid for the rifle. The Lyman was pretty loose; you could wobble the end of the windage arm almost 1/4 inch. Nevertheless I ran it twice over the National Match Course, using 150 gr .311" bullets for 200 and 300 yards, and 180s for 600. Shot low expert scores with it. Later I found it shot a lot better with 180s than 150s, so I use those exclusively now.
I didnt really like that Lyman 57, but when I tried a Lyman 48, the thicker arm of the 48 would hit the top of the receiver before it was on target at 100 yards. I suffered with it until someone made a run of higher front sights; with the higher front sight and the Lyman 48 it's an accurate rifle with a lot of firepower, but looks like a real knockabout rifle that you could drop it in the bed of a pickup without harm as you go out in the country to shoot.
Last edited by Cyrano; 08-12-2012 at 04:34 PM.
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