[Gun thread] How things have changed...

[Fastguy]

Originally Posted by RedLS1GTO

How do you like the K98??.

You need at least one Mauser, be it German, Yugo, Turkish, Argentine, Czech, etc.
They are excellent shooters and the Mauser bolt action is legendary.
I have a Yugo as well and the groups it shoots at 100 yards on iron sights rival my scoped AR.

The Yugo on the bottom has the standard trigger guard, the Czech has a winter guard.

[Fastguy]

Originally Posted by Uncle Pervey

I've always understood that low numbered receivers on 1903's was a death sentence on them ever being fired again, however I have just been reading an article on it and it looks like it isn't that big of a deal. Yeah some receivers have exploded, however most of them that exploded were using ammo with poorly annealed brass made during WWI.
The Marines made no effort ever swap out their "low numbered receivers" and used them heavily during 1942 and 1943 and there are no reported failures from this time.

Very interesting. Information On M1903 Receiver Failures

Another good thread on early receivers.
Low number Springfield 1903 rifles

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by Fastguy

You need at least one Mauser, be it German, Yugo, Turkish, Argentine, Czech, etc.
They are excellent shooters and the Mauser bolt action is legendary.
I have a Yugo as well and the groups it shoots at 100 yards on iron sights rival my scoped AR.

The Yugo on the bottom has the standard trigger guard, the Czech has a winter guard.

Front row, rebarreled in .308 and shoots GREAT

[OddBall]

Oh hell, might as well.....

Just the milsurps...

[Uncle Pervey]

Here's some that are a little cheaper, of course they have fiberglass stocks.

M1903-A3 Springfield .30-06 Bolt Action - NATO Green Stock #RIFLE-SPRING-GR
$499.99

Here's one with a wooden stock,
WWII M1903-A3 Springfield .30-06 Bolt Action with Walnut "C" Stock #RIFLE-SPRING-WOOD
$749.99

Sniper version
Springfield 1903 30-06 A/4 Part #RIFLE-SPRINGFIELD
$999.99

I was thinking of buying one of the fiberglassed stocked ones and then ordering a repro stock from CMP, but they don't have any in stock and aren't taking orders, I also checked Boyd's and they have discontinued them. Looks like somebody bought them all up, probably Centerfire Systems or some other surplus dealer.

[Fastguy]

Originally Posted by Uncle Pervey

I was thinking of buying one of the fiberglassed stocked ones and then ordering a repro stock from CMP, but they don't have any in stock and aren't taking orders, I also checked Boyd's and they have discontinued them. Looks like somebody bought them all up, probably Centerfire Systems or some other surplus dealer.

Buy it, then buy a drill rifle. Swap parts.


Before and After: Rem 03-A3

[OddBall]

Originally Posted by Fastguy

Buy it, then buy a drill rifle. Swap parts.


Before and After: Rem 03-A3

Cool

[Fastguy]

Originally Posted by OddBall

Cool

What is on the far right in your pic? Almost looks like a Carcano.

[Fastguy]

I might have to group all of mine for one pic.

[OddBall]

Originally Posted by Fastguy

What is on the far right in your pic? Almost looks like a Carcano.

Lowe-Berlin Mauser. 1890 on the crown.

Traded a sleeping bag for it about 30 years ago.

[Uncle Pervey]

Originally Posted by OddBall

Lowe-Berlin Mauser. 1890 on the crown.

Traded a sleeping bag for it about 30 years ago.

It's not really a Mauser, it is an 1888 Commission Rifle. In 1888 the Kaiser decided that Prussia needed a modern rifle because the French had adopted the high velocity Lebel 8mm. They created a rifle commission to pick a new design. Apparently Paul Mauser had pissed off some generals, so they picked a Mannlicher design with a few Mauser innovations.
I have 3 of them, one has been extensively restored from what was essentially a junk state (I bought it for $19.95 from Old Western Scrounger) it had a broken stock and was missing some parts. I found a replacement stock and ordered the missing parts and put it back together. It has a Czech replacement barrel that is slightly undersized so I only shoot hand loads with gas checked cast bullets. Which I resize to .319 instead of .323 of a normal 8mm. It is extremely accurate at 100 yards, 5 shot groups average around 1-1/2 to 2 inches. Which is damned good with my bad old eyes and iron sights.
By the way Lowe produced 1888's were called Judenflinte (Jewish Rifle) by anti-Semites. When there were some problems with the original designed ammo.

[OddBall]

Good info. Thanks! It's nice to know the history that went into developing the rifles

[Fastguy]

Some more milsurps.

Russian M44 Carbine, Yugo M48 Mauser, H&R M1 Garand




This is my Saginaw M1 Carbine. What makes it unusual is that it has no import marks but is instead stamped with Austrian Rural Police (Gendarmerie) territory markings for the re-arming of Austria after the war.
In 2008, a batch of these were released to the CMP.

"The headquarters for the Gendarmerie was located in Vienna. They maintained their own armory, separate from those of the Bundespolizei and Bundesheer. When the first 8000 U.S. M1 carbines were turned over to the Gendarmerie by the Bundesheer in 1955/56, they were transferred to the Gendarmerie armory in Vienna. When the decision was made as to how many carbines would be issued to the Gendarmerie of a particular Austrian Land (State), the armorers in Vienna stamped the letters of the Land Gendarmerie Command (LGK) on the bottom of the trigger housing. along with a four digit number. Collectively, these letters and numbers became the Gendarmerie inventory number for each carbine (ie. LGK B for the Landes Gendarmerie Kommando of Burgenland). "

Mine is stamped T for Tirol.






Steyr M95. This is an unusual straight pull bolt and is the lightest and most brutal (recoil wise) of my milsurps.
Tough to find ammo for. All the ammo I have is 1943 vintage, with Waffenampts

[RedLS1GTO]

Originally Posted by OddBall

What kind of shape is the rifle in? Combat rifles tend to be in horrid condition. Especially in the extreme conditions that were prevalent in combat situations in both wars.

It is in as good condition as I have ever seen a 1903. The bore is perfect, the bolt and receiver look like the day they came out of the factory. The wood is beautiful. The only "damage" to the wood is a chip just behind the receiver where it looks like somebody might have tried to pry the receiver out to disassemble it at one point in it's life. The cleaning kit and even the original strap are in very good condition considering the age.

Originally Posted by Uncle Pervey

I've always understood that low numbered receivers on 1903's was a death sentence on them ever being fired again, however I have just been reading an article on it and it looks like it isn't that big of a deal. Yeah some receivers have exploded, however most of them that exploded were using ammo with poorly annealed brass made during WWI.
The Marines made no effort ever swap out their "low numbered receivers" and used them heavily during 1942 and 1943 and there are no reported failures from this time.

Very interesting. Information On M1903 Receiver Failures

I've done a lot of looking on the early serial issue and was a little skeptical about shooting it but I have come to a few conclusions.

-There were a total of 33 failed Springfield recievers manufactured between 1903-1917 (5 in 1906)

-I have looked a LOT and the only recently reported failure I could find was actually a 1,XXX,XXX serial Springfield

-Of the ones actually reported to fail in the field, most failed relatively early in their life, and all of the reported failures occured with the harder, more brittle early manufacture (pre 1927) brass.

-Faulty ammo could have easily been the cause of some (if not most) of the actual issues (from Hatcher's research)

-Most of the failed recievers were made in the 1903-1905 era and had seen much higher pressures at some point in their life firing the .30-03 round which was a 220gr. and MUCH hotter than the .30-06 from 1906 on.

-The failure rate of the RIA was almost double the Springfield.

-1st Marines used many low serial Springfields (about 7,000 of them) throughout the duration of WWII without a single reported reciever failure... which goes to the theory of if they were going to fail they did it early. There is no doubt that those 7,000 saw some serious use.

Here are some quotes from various researchers that I found to be enlightening on the subject:

Between 1917 and 1929 three soldiers lost an eye to receiver failure, and six more had unspecified injuries consider serious. An additional 34 soldiers received minor injuries from receiver failures.

Four of the reported Springfield receiver failures were due to accidentally firing an 8 mm Mauser round in the Springfield rifle. (Hatcher)

That one gets a

Long story short is that I am not afraid one bit to load a 150gr MILSURP round into this rifle and pull the trigger. On the other hand, I am rather fond of being able to see out of both eyes so I'm not about to load up a 220 gr.


I know that's a lot to read but I find this stuff to be incredibly interesting.

[RedLS1GTO]

... and some of you guys have some AWESOME rifles!

I see folks posting about all of the modern stuff all of the time but didn't realize that there were so many of you who had an interest in the older MILSURP as well.

[RedLS1GTO]

While we're posting pictures, here's me firing one of my all time favorites. I am surgical with the .50 and the M60.

[Fastguy]

Originally Posted by RedLS1GTO

... and some of you guys have some AWESOME rifles!

I see folks posting about all of the modern stuff all of the time but didn't realize that there were so many of you who had an interest in the older MILSURP as well.

I'd say my collection is 50/50 new stuff and old stuff.

Here are some of my coldwar/Bloc milsurp handguns.


CZ52 7.62x25


Polish TT33 7.62x25


Spanish Star Modelos Super 9mm largo (one of my favorite shooters)


CZ82 9x18 Makarov

[RedLS1GTO]

Originally Posted by Fastguy

I'd say my collection is 50/50 new stuff and old stuff.

Love that collection.

My biggest problem is deciding what I want next!

The list just keeps growing. Unfortunately my wallet is shrinking at the same time.

[Petew1971]

[RedLS1GTO]

Here are a few pics of the latest WWII era purchase (from the same guy I got the 1903 from)