Quote:
Originally Posted by LVSteve
 You were sporterising actual complete rifles?!?! I thought the story on these was that the Swedes sold off their spare actions and odd target rifles for conversion, not the collectible full stocked military variants. You had best go into hiding before the Swede Mauser Collecting Mafia track you down. 
I have tried to snag one of these conversions at auction but they always fetch too much money for my wallet. |
Remember, this was back in the day when a pristine Swede would fetch maybe $135-140, while a perfectly serviceable, if rough-looking, mismatched-parts shooter could be had for around $50-60 retail. They had a certain cult following, but were hardly in high demand, and if you were buying them in bulk they got real cheap, real fast.
I bought and sporterized 2 shooters and safe-queened an M-96 and an M-38 that were absolutely mint. The 96 had been built at Mauserwerk before the Swedes started making their own, and it was quite simply the most perfect mass-produced rifle I have ever encountered.
My sporters gave me great service for years, and each was eventually sold at a profit, but if the Kimbers had been made available 6 months earlier than they were I would have saved my time and labor and just bought a couple of them. They were very well done.