Author Topic: Scout Rifle??? (Read 2880 times)

S.S. · « **Reply #30 on:** March 10, 2009, 05:16:04 PM »

Cementman,
glad to help on the clips.

Spanky · « **Reply #31 on:** March 10, 2009, 05:43:54 PM »

Quote from: jmayton on March 10, 2009, 05:00:15 PM

I've got a M44 wearing one of those cheap Ebay mounts and scope. I didn't want to spend a lot on putting glass on the rifle so I went the cheapest route possible. It is my truck gun and I take it hog hunting occasionally. After a good amount of loc-tite, the mount is pretty solid. I didn't want to do a lot to it and I want to be able to return it to original condition, so this was the best way to go for me since I wanted glass on it. It's ugly, but it works....and isn't that the point. I'll agree, hacking up a perfectly good milsurp might be bad judgement, but if it works for that person, who am I to say they did the wrong thing.

There's nothing wrong with what you did to your rifle. That's about the only way you can put glass on an MN without some type of modification. That's not a bubba job at all.
I didn't have someone like you in mind when I first posted.
I'm talking about the hack jobs where there is no chance of the rifle being returned to original.

Just about any mil surp can be made into a nice sporter, it just takes the time and effort to do it right. The guy who goes through his gun from top to bottom and makes a nice sporter has something to be proud of regardless of what the purists think. On the other hand, someone who hacks one up just gives the purists something to b**ch about. Next thing you know the "bubba" word comes out, even to the guy who did the good job.

My real thought is this... A mil surp has generally been around for a long time. If you want to sporter one, that's fine. Just show the old girl a little respect when you do it.

A question now... how does your 44 shoot with that mount and scope setup? I have a sported 91/30 with an over the bore scope setup. I've had good luck with a Simmons 2.5x20 shotgun scope on mine. I'm getting some pretty decent groups with the Brown Bear stuff (185gr.FMJ) I'm going to get some of the 203gr. soft points and try that for deer season next year if it shoots well.

Spanky

Spanky · « **Reply #32 on:** March 10, 2009, 06:53:28 PM »

Check this "scout" out.

http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=54168

This is the type of hack job that I'm talking about.
No time and effort put into it just chop, chop, chop... it even has the flip flop recoil pad on it.
All it needs now is the truck bed paint,

The other 2 MN's in the thread really show what a little time and effort can produce though.

Spanky

jmayton · « **Reply #33 on:** March 11, 2009, 04:24:19 AM »

Spanky, I get about 2-2.5" @100yds with the 203gr Brown Bear ammo. As for the comment on showing the rifle the respect it deserves, I totally agree...but to each his own.

Old Fart · « **Reply #34 on:** April 03, 2009, 10:45:38 AM »

1911crazy that's kind of where I'm at. Find a clunker and fix it up. Sometimes it means using some of the stuff that's available on the market today to replace a butcher job, other times it means fixing a butcher job by repairing the current issue. I came across an Enfield that bubba had gotten ahold of. Took his chainsaw to the stock and his grinder to the action.

Then to top it off he left it outside a few days to get a nice healthy brown patina on it.

Well I junked the stock in exchange for a synthetic. I'm in the process of rebuilding the missing action parts he destroyed. Then I'm going to parkerize all the metal. When finished I hope to have a nice little workmans rifle for everyday field use. I suspect about the time I finish someone will need it worse than me and I'll need another project to keep me off the street corners at night.

woodchukhntr · « **Reply #35 on:** April 03, 2009, 01:28:28 PM »

Quote from: Spanky on March 10, 2009, 06:53:28 PM

Check this "scout" out.

http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=54168

This is the type of hack job that I'm talking about.
No time and effort put into it just chop, chop, chop... it even has the flip flop recoil pad on it.
All it needs now is the truck bed paint,

The other 2 MN's in the thread really show what a little time and effort can produce though.

Spanky

It does what he wants it to do, just as a $2000 custom, and it is only an inexpensive, very common rifle. So who is smarter? I knew a guy who was trashing really nice Swedish Mausers to make "sporters" about 15 years ago. He was trying to sell them! I wonder how that worked out?

Gerry N. · « **Reply #36 on:** April 03, 2009, 02:56:27 PM »

In about 1959 or 60 I bought a M1917 to throw in the back of my huntin' rig. (A 1950 Plymouth station wagon with three on the tree and a fifth under the seat.) Anyway at that time M17's were just another $30.00 war surplus rifle. There were half a dozen of 'em in every gun shop in the Seattle area. I lugged it around and rassled it out of the way when I was trying to sleep until I just got tired of it.

So I took a 4 oz. ball pein and began tapping on the front sight band expanding it to allow me to drive it down the barrel. Tap and drive, tap and drive. In an hour or so I had the sight far enough back I could cut the barrel to 18", file the muzzle square and crown it with a countersink in an eggbeater drill. I lined the sight up best I could and drilled for the crosspin, the key having been tossed into a tuna fish can of spare parts. I then carefully cut the stock and handguard back, refitted the upper band/bayonet lug. It didn't look bad and was a great deal handier to carry hunting. It was a rifle one didn't shoot on a whim however, definitely not a plinking rifle. I had that rifle for about five years, shot a few deer, got some interesting comments, even loaning it out two or three times. The borrowers usually returned it by throwing it through the front window with a shouted curse. Yeah, it barked and it kicked, but it always came home.

I was at the Kenmore range one Sat. morning trying some seriously reduced handloads in the .30-30 range when this old boy came over and started telling all about the history of the little known and very rare M1917 Tanker Carbine. I don't remember all the details, but it was sure interesting learning all about my rifle. He ended up offering me $125.00 for it, and I couldn't hand it over fast enough.

A good used Winchester M94 cost me $65.00 at Stan's gun shop in Seattle about an hour and a half later. I bought a set of dies and components to load some .30-30 shells along with it and had money left over to gas up my huntin' rig and take my girl friend out for a steak dinner and a movie. I've often wondered what happened to that rare and valuable bit of military history. I got paid the following Friday and took the M94 to Stan to have him put a Williams FP receiver sight and a Redfield Sourdough Patridge front blade on it. That rifle should be around somewhere too. If you see it, there's a mother of pearl dot in an ebony diamond inlay on the left side of the butt, about half way down. There may still be a piece of paper under the buttplate with my parent's old address in Ballard too.

Gerry N.

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #37 on:** April 06, 2009, 02:18:56 PM »

While this is not a military rifle. this is the kind of thing you were talking about in your original post right?

MGMorden · « **Reply #38 on:** April 06, 2009, 03:08:59 PM »

Quote from: woodchukhntr on April 03, 2009, 01:28:28 PM

It does what he wants it to do, just as a $2000 custom, and it is only an inexpensive, very common rifle. So who is smarter? I knew a guy who was trashing really nice Swedish Mausers to make "sporters" about 15 years ago. He was trying to sell them! I wonder how that worked out?

Everybody has their tastes, and they're certainly welcome to them, but to me seeing something like that is like seeing a fella say he likes big gals with hairy legs. If it floats your boat then more power to ya, but, um, yeah . . .

The beauty of having opinions is that we all get to freely disagree on stuff, while not taking it too seriously.

That said, if your buddy did up those Swedes PROPER - a nice Monte Carlo stock, reblued, drilled/tapped, bent/polished bolt (extra points for jeweled), low swing safety, etc, then I'd take that rifle FAR quicker than I'd take an original condition Swede. Truthfully, I really, really like a nice sporter. Don't get me wrong I keep a lot of original condition mil-surps, but lately I've slacked off from buying them. They make good conversation pieces from a historical standpoint, but when I'm I'm really honest with myself, I don't like the looks of most of them, and looks, for better or for worse, are very important to me in a rifle. Also important is uniqueness - once I have 1 of a commercial rifle I never want another of the same model. Sporters I can vary a bit on because you can outfit them with enough different stocks and such that they end up looking and feeling completely different in the end, and I like having something a little different (but not "different" to the point of being ugly

).

Just personally I have 4 sporters in my collection right now. 1 is a Turk Mauser - rebarreled to .257 Roberts, with a nice maple stock. Another is a Springfield 1903 - original barrel but outfitted with a really nice walnut stock (still have to have a buttpad fitted to it - I've bought a new Hogue pad but have to take it by the smith to be fitted). Third is a La Coruna Mauser - original barrel on this one, but I did have it drilled/tapped, bolt bent, added a low-swing safety, and had it reblued. I also got a new walnut stock that has a nice shape, even though it's pretty plain as far as looks ago. #4 is an old SMLE No1 Mk3. It's my "ugly gun"

. It's stuck with a synthetic stock right now - it's my only one. I pretty much hate synthetic but I've been unable to locate a proper wooden sporter stock set for this gun as of late

.

I've also got an Enfield 1917 project I'm working on (slowly). Picked up the receiver and a lot of other parts for a song ($30 I think) a few years back. Haven't decided on what barrel to have fit to it - 6.5x55 or .35 Whelan are most likely.

RaySendero · « **Reply #39 on:** April 06, 2009, 04:12:21 PM »

Guys,
Y'all need to quit bashing scout set-ups - Bet most doing it haven't even tried one!

You shoot'em with both eyes open, they are fast to get on target and they can be accurate! Here's a better look at that target:

That S&K mount and the Leupold scope above is rock solid! This K31 has become my favorite carry around deer rifle and has also won 2 hunter fun shoots at the local range - Both were 100/200 yard off-hand timed matches at pop-up deer silhouettes.