Hi:
In my recent post "Bubba Strikes Again" Forum Members 45WheelGun, Roundgunner, and FeralMerril was kind enough to post photos of Their awesome and beautiful Sporterized Military Rifles.
May we see those Rifles and other Member's Sporterized Rifles again?
Thank you,
Jimmy

Let me begin with #85 from my FAQ.
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“Sporterizing” old military rifles

85. Cutting down, restocking and otherwise modifying military rifles like the 1903 Springfield, various Mausers, and other similar rifles to make them more useful for sporting purposes was a common practice in the past. When what seemed like an endless supply of these rifles made them available at very low prices reworking one into a hunting rifle seemed like a good idea. At this point these guns have become much less common and are increasingly difficult to find in original condition. Naturally, this situation has driven the prices up on the remaining examples. Given the value of an unaltered military rifle, the availability of good quality commercial rifles at attractive prices, and the loss of history in butchering a fine old military rifle, it really makes no sense to do this any longer to a weapon in good, original condition.

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Now let me confess that in years past I committed my share of atrocities on military rifles. None of the rifles I currently own were butchered by me. They were already cut up when I got them.

My little Arisaka:

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Lost it all in a boat accident

As requested:

Every now and then, bubba gets it right...

I bought this last year at an OGCA show for $280 with the scope. I bought it from the guy who did the conversion. I thought I stole it. After the deal was done, with a twinkle in his eye, he smiled and said "You know, I only paid $25 for that rifle..." I think he felt he had taken advantage of me.

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Dave

1879 Trapdoor Springfield.

Wile they are sporterized, they are also beautiful, and each unique in its way.

Neat thread.

1917 Eddystone.

She shoots real good!

A Sedgley sporter,,30-06,,built on a Low# '03 Springfield (I'm assuming) and it's still in one piece after all these years. Probably done in the late 20's or '30s.
Shoots great. Lyman 48 rear sight. Very accurate,,sees mostly light cast bullet loads. Still puts 5 into 1 1/2" @ 70yrds with my old eyes doing the looking.
Military markings removed and Sedgley serial number added to action in the sear raceway.
RFS bought the LN '03 actions and parts as scrap metal from the Gov't and built them into sporters.
Barrels and butt plates were from Winchester. Stocks were his mfg. They made a 'deluxe' sporter also. This is the plain model.



The ever popular Model 1893 Romanian Mannlicher (orig built by Steyr) in 6.5x53R.
Built into a sporter carbine probably sometime between the Wars. Original barrel cut to 17"+ length, 1/4 rib w/site added. New mfg full length stock, not a cut down military, DST w/trigger guard alteration done to shotgun type. Some light engraving. No makers/gunsmiths name on it.
Sights are small bead front and 2 leaf U notch rear. Getting tough to see but fun shooter. Reloads from 303Brit or 30-40Krag brass reformed in 6.5 Mannlicher Schoenaur dies. Likes the 160gr Hornadys best.
Was a bring back from WW2. I got it at a gun show for $25 plus a worn 12ga Western Field shotgun that I had just bought at the same show for $125.
With it came 1 enbloc clip and one lonely round of Dutch military ammo headstamped 1917 (IIRC).





Have a couple of Lee Speed Sporters, two Haenel (sp?) 88 Commission sporters but those were all purpose built that way,,not redone military rifles.
A Mauser 98 sporter by JP Sauer which I also think was a sporter from the start and not a conv. military.

This 03 was sporterized, by my grandfather Harold Baker from Toledo, Ohio. It was his go to hunting rifle. I know he took many deer, but my Aunt has a pronghorn hanging in her house. He also took moose, elk and bear that I know of. he was a avid hunter.



It shoots much better groups than I can. My Dad and Aunt tell me he took a first place win at Camp Perry 1000 yd in the 50s.

My first memory of this gun was at the range shooting at a paint can half full of white paint. The way that paint flew when he hit it was unforgetable.

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Shoot fast & live long
Warren

I do believe that's a 1917 like mine. Great rifles!

You must be right; I got a couple PM’s too. I questioned the identity of the rifle on this forum a couple years back, that is why I made up this collage. I either got bad info, or more likely inverted the information in my mind and have been convinced I knew what I was talking about, or something like that. It is full auto right?

Thanks for letting me know.
This is one of the other rifles given to me.


22 Hornet. I also inherited a 300 Weatherby. That is a sweet rifle too.

I’m not really into rifles much and he was not much of a handgunner but he did will me this 357 Mag. Herters.



This seems like a very well built gun. It is my only single action so I don’t really have anything to compare it to.

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Shoot fast & live long
Warren

...out life as a Czech-made 98 military mauser action. It's chambered in .30-06, and it has a 20x42 Tasco Super Sniper scope on top. The stock has a Weatherby-like cut to it.

Oh, by the way, the barrel on it is off a Browning .30 Caliber machine gun. It does shoot MOA in the range of .2 at 200 yards with Sierra 175gr BTHP MK's (weighs in @ 14 lbs).

So, I guess it qualifies as a military conversion.

Enfield re-worked by Gibbs to .45-70.

Wanna sell it?

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All Rights Reserved

If you wake up Christmas morning and find Santa has left this under the tree for you...it means you haven't been a good boy....it means you've been an EXCELLENT boy....

How accurate?
How many rounds it hold?
How bad is the kick?

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The Last Standing Knight

Last Standing Knight, here is some info:

Gibbs Summit .45-70 Rifle

Collecting and Shooting the Military Surplus Rifle (2006) - Surplusrifle.com

Ive been looking for one of these for a while now and have even been contemplating doing one myself. With a little help from my gunsmith.

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All Rights Reserved

My Gibbs will place all rounds within the 9 ring of any standard target at 200 yards and the majority will be in or break the 10 line. The sights are typical Williams with a a flourescent insert in front. The mag holds three rounds.

This is a really nice, heavy nearly carbine sized rifle and I can attest to its handling hot loads very well. As for recoil it is a matter of technique. Any rifle firing loads this heavy is going to recoil and requires re-thinking stance. A loose, forward-leaning stance is best for off-hand and a nice offset posture for prone works well. One thing is sure - a rigid posture has the potential to hurt you... and that includes most bench-rest positions.

I have taken 5 healthy bucks and a 410 lb. black bear with this rifle and not a single one walked more than a dozen paces. Most simply fall in place. My furthest shot was a measured 203 yards... and he was broadside, stopped and head-down munching.

Getting an Enfield made into a .45-70 is not difficult. Getting magazines is impossible. You need a whiz bang technician to make them for you. I was lucky enough to buy a spare from a guy - for $175. I have made every attempt to keep this rifle as immaculate as possible.

The rifle is not for sale as, unfortunately, I just sold it or, rather, traded it for an Ed Brown Exec Carry.

I am now looking for a Kodiak SxS .45-70!

Left to Right

Mark X Mauser 300 Weatherby
US 1917 Enfield 7mm Rem Mag
Kar 98 K Mauser 25-06
Springfield '03-A3 30-06
98 Mauser 22-250
Arisaka 7.7 Japanese
Pattern 14 Enfield 375 H&H

Phil VH

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Here's a 98, one of 4 my Father sent home from WWII. He gave 3 away to friends and kept one and had it sporterized. It is still chambered in 8x57, the original barrel was turned down to remove the steps and taper it. It has a different bolt knob, Buelher safety, Timney trigger, and is bedded in a Fajen stock. It still shoots great. He also picked up a nice Luger.

He didn't talk much about the war, but one thing he did tell me was about the piles of guns in the streets at the end of the war. They picked through them and got what they wanted and then the rest were destroyed.

I also have a Drilling that my Uncle sent home.

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Big Fred

I don't know if you would call this "sporterized", but it's a custom-receivered M1 Garand. It was built as a high power competition rifle. It has Redfield Palma sights, is chambered in 7.62mm NATO, a custom stock, and a competition barrel. It will shoot .5MOA at 200 yards.

1896 krag

M1 Carbine, Commercial...



In your dreams...

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Non gratum anus rodentum

A pair of Walther M98's, 7x57 and 8x57.



Another 7x57 on a M96 Swede.



An 8x57 on an Erfurt Mauser.



A pre-war JP Sauer M98 rebored to 35 Whelen .

Made me a scout rifle from a Swedish Husqvarna m96
6.5x55 is the caliber, It is not pretty but very rare
Had it cut and treaded and was going to make a silencer for it to.

I like your chair and I like your rifles!

Well, this was how it was when I bought it.



But she ended up like this.

I like the reverse sporterizing!

You made that ol 03A3 plumb respectable again. Well done.

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Eccentric old coot

Here's my $200 Venezuelan Mauser. Advertised as 7mm mauser, took it to the range and on the first shot the 7x57 brass came out in pieces!!! Had to slug the chamber to determine caliber. She shoots a lot better with .280 remington. The barrel is the original military barrel so someone obviously reamed the chamber.

The stock is currently getting a well deserved checkering job.

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.

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I'm doing an 1898 Krag right now. Was a "bubba'd" rifle. Barrel cut, so it will be a carbine when I through.

Did an '03 into a faux '03A4. It was "bubba'd" also.

Will be sending off a 1917 enfield in 30-06. Ears are off, gunsmith will fill in the duck pond with the dutchman thats in place now. Then fit some weaver steel grand slam steel bases. Plan on using Burris weaver Zee rings with the inserts in them. Everything to get bead blasted and then blued. I have a nice cut down Canadian marked 1917 stock already finished. Should make an interesting setup. And have a nice Zeiss Conquest scope 3x9 waiting. If that doesn't work then an old Lyman All American straight 10x with AO. Leaving on the military trigger as I've shot a lot of mil surps and have come to prefer the two stage trigger. Oh yes, the bbl length is 21.5" long. Beautiful bore. Frank

Here’s a Sauer K98 that I inherited that was a sporterized duffle cut. I decided to restore it with a correct stock.

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