Reminisce

[jdc606]

Bored and using up some bandwidth. Thinking on some old history, I'm 67. My Dad was FFL back in the 60's when you could buy surplus at bargain basement prices with your FFL license. Brother and I often lament the havoc Dad wreaked on the pristine surplus supply back in those days. He was not a Bubba but a real artist with wood and metal. 99% were sporterized with aftermarket stocks but there were a couple .30-06 FN Mausers he just trimmed/checkered the military stocks on. Think they must have had exceptional Walnut.
Point is they probably weighed in the 6.5-7lb range. We shot them from a bench wearing only white T-shirts and no hearing protection.
Grateful for the memories but not something I want to repeat. That's it.

 

[jmr40]

I knew of 2 local gunsmiths that sounded a lot like your dad. Both have passed on, but I'm glad I got to know them. One was more of a repairman and custom builder. He did mostly metal work, repairs, and accurizing. The other was more of a stock maker but he would do simple repairs.

Both men were from the WW-2 generation and were friends with my dad who was a WW-2 vet. There is no one locally that has stepped up to fill their shoes.

 

[44 AMP]

Brother and I often lament the havoc Dad wreaked on the pristine surplus supply back in those days.

That "pristine surplus" supply was about as common and nearly as cheap as dirt. The entire reason pristine milsurp guns are valued today is because there are not many left, and today people want them.

I did some sporterization work back in those days, and have owned quite a few done by others (actual craftsmen like your Dad) not "bubbasmithed".

So, for helping be part of that group that used up those milsurps so yours today are valuable, you're welcome!

The other side of that coin is that while some people today think we ruined "valuable milsurps" we knew we were making better rifles out of old GI "junk". (junk as in cast off trash, not in the quality of the rifles)

 

[jdc606]

picture

Sold off the bulk of Dad's collection back in 2004 using Auction Arms web site. I took all the photos while Dad did all the packaging. Received many requests for additional photos and info. You could "snipe in" on AA in those days and every firearm went to a last second "sniper."
I'm attaching an example of Dad's work, looks to be a Mauser of unknown caliber. Always jeweled the bolt and followers, Accra-glass bedded actions w/floating barrels, Timney triggers, Fajen stocks.
The biggest cash cow was a Win 52B that brought over $600.00 Didn't appreciate what we had those days. Dad would let me lug that 52 out on my pocket gopher trap sets.

 

[jdc606]

That "pristine surplus" supply was about as common and nearly as cheap as dirt.

Dad told me of half a dozen cafeteria tables out in a parking lot piled a foot deep with Arisakas, all you wanted at $7 each. I'm sure many of you have similar stories. If we knew then what we know now, we would have purchased all the mil surplus and MS stock our $40 per week wages would afford.

 

[44 AMP]

If we knew then what we know now, we would have purchased all the mil surplus and MS stock our $40 per week wages would afford.

Some of us did, but then while $15 for a Mauser (less for "lesser" rifles) isn't even a meal today, it was a good chunk of a weeks pay, so what we could buy wasn't a lot and over the half century plus since most of them have been sold, traded or otherwise gone away.

I've built, had built or bought other guys 98 Mauser builds in calibers from .22-250 to .458 Win Mag. Also Arisakas, Springfields, Krags, SMLEs and many others.

The irony is that these fine guns, often labors of love and true pieces of art, better for sporting use than their GI origins, are not what today's market wants. In today's market, they often don't bring what they cost to make, even adjusting for inflation. Outside of a handful of people who still appreciate the art and skill that went into them, they aren't wanted today.

The guys who made them are mostly long gone, and their kids or grandkids won't get much for them in a market that values stainless and plastic for new and original issue condition as historical collector pieces.

And yes, I have a collection of milsurps still in issue or service condition, from the major powers in WWi & WWII primarily though I have thinned that over the years, as well.

 

[jdc606]

...Outside of a handful of people who still appreciate the art and skill that went into them, they aren't wanted today...

I got to see a Shiloh Sharps not that long ago. I credit my Dad for the eye to appreciate that masterpiece of wood to metal fit.

 

[Seedy Character]

I remember going to Bargain Fair and seeing wire baskets full of mil-surps, setting in the middle of the aisle

98 Mausers for the ungodly sum of $19
96 Mausers were $12
1917s and A303s were $10
6mm Navy Enfields were $8
Arisakas and Carcanos were $7

Dad bought a Springfield, took it to a local, recommended sporterizer. Made a nice rifle and threw in a box of his reloads. He sold his reloads, no factory new. Scope mounted and sighted in. Just in time for deer season.

Opening morning. Dad has a monster buck in his sights and rifle goes boom. Face full of splinters, bolt whizzed past his ear and lodges in the bed of pickup. 100 yards down the holl.

Gets back home, goes to see the 'smith. He admitted to loading pistol ammo, then switching over to .30-06 and "possibly" forgetting to switch powders.

He refunded the cost of sporterizing and the rifle, plus he gave Dad another rifle that he had spoerterizer. Not quite as good looking as the first, but it turned out to be 3/4" shooter.

It is a shame the younger generation doesn't appreciate those fine, old sporters.

 

[Hawg]

Gibson's dept stores used to have Mausers in a 55 gallon drum for 15.00. I turned down Mosin Nagants at gun shows for 9 bucks.

 

[Scorch]

I remember going into the military surplus/gun store in 1969 with my father and brother. We were buying 22 ammo for an outing, 50 cents a box for the Winchester Super X or green box Remington-Peters, or 39 cents for brown box UMC Mohawk ammo. Red/black box Federal was a bit cheaper. It was that price for a number of years until the early 70s when inflation started to become a word. Yes, there were barrels of milsurps for sale, muzzle down in a steel barrel. Never really took much interest in them, I didn't like the way the smelled and would make your hands stink if you handled them (still don't like cosmoline to this day). I remember the shiny new Winchesters, Remingtons, Rugers, and Weatherbys on the racks, lined up on racks that showed them off at a 30 degree angle. But the stuff I really got into was all the canvas gear and helmets and gas masks and canteens and boots and bayonets and and and . . . Yep, those were the days.

 

[44 AMP]

Another thing few today realize is that back in those days you could get a good milsurp, and have it nicely sporterized to the equal of a new Remington or Winchester and generally for significantly less money than the new rifle.

Or you could spend a bit more and get something better in several ways than the standard factory guns.

I have a 1974 Gun Digest that lists the Remington 700BDL for $174.95 and the Winchester Model 70 for $5 more. Ruger 77 (non-magnum) w/rings was $168.50 With sights and rings $183.50

Mauser 98 rebarreled to .308Win with Williams open sights, Weaver bases and rings a Fajen stock and a Tasco 3x9 scope cost me $140 from our local gunsmith Red Johnson. Doesn't sound like a lot (and isn't a lot today), but at the time, that price difference was about 15% of my month's pay.

 

[Doc TH]

Surplus

When I was a teenager, you could take the subway down to Canal St. (yes, in New York City!) and wander among stores there that had hundreds of surplus rifles - Mauser 98's, U.S. 1917 Enfields, 1903 and 03-A3 Springfields, SMLE's, Swedish Mausers and more. By the late 50's - early 60's they were nearly all gone. Strangely enough, the easy availability of so many firearms on cash and carry basis did not lead to increased crime rates in NYC.

 

[BornFighting88]

I am of a younger generation, I am almost 34 years old. But the fascination of taking parts and making something of them is beyond cool to me. SARCO is down the street from me here in Easton, and they have 98 large ring actions for around $170 plus tax and transfer. Just need to slap a barrel on and a stock and whatever stock you want. Glass, too, if you prefer.

I picked up a Belgian Dumoulin (I’ll never get that spelling right) from them for under $400 about two years ago, a few months before the sham-demic hit. Barrel on the way, and will be fitted by a gunsmith for $400. So with the action, barrel, gunsmith service, and a scope I picked up used for $300, and stock for $200, I am at $2000 right now…. But to get a custom rifle made or buy one off the rack that is anything similar, I’d be out WAY more, I feel.

But picking up a surplus action for $185 out the door and going from there?? Can’t see too much wrong with that path.

 

[reynolds357]

Bored and using up some bandwidth. Thinking on some old history, I'm 67. My Dad was FFL back in the 60's when you could buy surplus at bargain basement prices with your FFL license. Brother and I often lament the havoc Dad wreaked on the pristine surplus supply back in those days. He was not a Bubba but a real artist with wood and metal. 99% were sporterized with aftermarket stocks but there were a couple .30-06 FN Mausers he just trimmed/checkered the military stocks on. Think they must have had exceptional Walnut.
Point is they probably weighed in the 6.5-7lb range. We shot them from a bench wearing only white T-shirts and no hearing protection.
Grateful for the memories but not something I want to repeat. That's it.

My Dad used to tell me I didn't need ear plugs. "Your ears will get used to it and it will quit bothering you. ". I guess he was technically correct. You get deaf enough the loud noises will quit bothering you.