Sears, J.C. Higgins, with Belgium action questions

I have one of the 50s in .30-06 that I bought used in 1967 for $50. It is exactly as the one pictured above except my father checkered the stock. The blued finish has become a nice brown patina. I am not in any rush to refinish it.

The only number on my gun that could be considered a serial number is on the bottom of the receiver. You have to disassemble the rifle to find that number.

Mine will shoot MOA at a hundred yards with factory ammo and a K-4 scope.
 
Most of the early M50's had no serial number. There was no federal requirement for rifles and I believe shotguns to have one.
If you take a close look at the picture of the ad for the M50, you can see the rear sight is shown with the notch over the chamber. Looks kind if like it was installed backwards. All my other M50's have a 4 digit serial number. :confused:
Paul B.
 
My JC Higgins is from the late '50s and is a 30-06. The previous owner fell on the rifle and busted the stock at the wrist, since repaired with dowels and epoxy. The gunsmith also added an ebony forend tip. Mine is definitely a shooter, will routinely go sub ¾" groups at 100 yards with both factory and hand loads, both before and after the break/repair. The quality of the walnut is also rarely seen today at anything under $1500.

HigginsMauser_06.jpg~original
 
The quality of the walnut is also rarely seen today at anything under $1500
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I don't think either the Model 50 or 51 saw walnut of that quality because that doesn't appear to be an original stock. Neither had a Monte Carlo like the stock shown. The 50's stock was uncheckered as shown in the ad in an earlier post. The 51 was checkered and had a cheekpiece, but had neither a forend tip nor a crossbolt.

I suspect that the stock was replaced at some point in the last 60+ years.
 
"I don't think either the Model 50 or 51 saw walnut of that quality because that doesn't appear to be an original stock. Neither had a Monte Carlo like the stock shown. The 50's stock was uncheckered as shown in the ad in an earlier post. The 51 was checkered and had a cheekpiece, but had neither a forend tip nor a crossbolt.

I suspect that the stock was replaced at some point in the last 60+ years."

I'll second that. Someone did a nice job on that M50. I do have two M50s that have quite decent wood though, quite close to the quality of the wood in the photo. :cool: The other two though are quite plain. All are in 30-06. The fifth one has been restocked and rebarreled to 7x57.
Paul B.
 
I just found one of these in my local gunshop in 30-06. It has the very plain wood or the model 50 and still has the original 4X scope. I will pick it up tomorrow. I'll shoot it in 30-06 just in case it's a real gem or something but really wanted the action for my 6.5x55 Mountain Gun project.
 
Over the years, the J.C Higgins/Sears rifles were made by a few different companies. The model 50, FN action/High Standard made is a respectable shooting rifle. Think the last Sears centerfire rifle with J.C. Higgins on it was made by Winchester.

Anyway, Own one of the earliest made 30-06 SAKO rifles sold in the U.S, It was made back in early 50s, before SAKO began making their own actions. Found it in a used rifle rack in a Cabelas, mislabeled as being a custom mauser. SAKO used the same FN commercial action used in the model 50 Sears/J.C. Higgins. My Sako is very nice too.
 
I just found one of these in my local gunshop in 30-06. It has the very plain wood or the model 50 and still has the original 4X scope. I will pick it up tomorrow. I'll shoot it in 30-06 just in case it's a real gem or something but really wanted the action for my 6.5x55 Mountain Gun project.
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Give the barrel a good cleaning and definitely shoot it first. The chrome lined High Standard barrels used on 50s and 51s are very accurate.

If you rebarrel one, you'll spend hundreds of dollars and you'll be lucky to get a rifle that shoots as well as it did with the original barrel.
 
Over the years, the J.C Higgins/Sears rifles were made by a few different companies. The model 50, FN action/High Standard made is a respectable shooting rifle. Think the last Sears centerfire rifle with J.C. Higgins on it was made by Winchester.
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The Model 50 and 51 use FN commercial Mauser actions and chrome lined High Standard barrels. The barreled actions are the same, but the 51 has a slightly fancier stock with checkering and a cheekpiece.

The 51-L uses a different action (Husqvarna?). The 53 is a plain Jane Model 70 Winchester.
 
JC Higgins 50's and 51's

I have owned one of the FN commercial model 50's and I will add one warning that was mentioned above. The trigger has issues in that it is a two piece affair with the trigger and sear attached to the floorplate. Very hard to fine tune and can even be dangerous to attempt it. I did some bedding work with mine and was able to, very cautiously relieve some wood when glassing to achieve a safe but decent trigger pull. Still, the best solution for someone wanting a safe good trigger in these old FN model 50's would be installation of an aftermarket trigger.
Besides the trigger, these particular commercial FN actions were the epitome of what came out of FN.
I also own a model 51 JC Higgens featherweight and I will never part with it. The Husqvarna model 1640 is the action used. I've read that it is the lightest small ring commercial action ever made and I believe it. The High standard chrome lined barrel has the front and rear sights machined in, and its accuracy defies everything one hears about chrome lined barrels. They were notorious for splitting stocks and mine was no exception. It took a little work but I was able to do a decent job of adapting a High Tech Specialties mauser stock to the action. Topped with Leupold VXiii 2.5-8x36 the model 51 weighs just shy of 7 lbs. Caliber is 270 Win and it is a joy to carry in the field. I would dearly love another in 7x57 or 9x57.
 
"I would dearly love another in 7x57 or 9x57."

Me too! :D I satisfied one urge by having my gunsmith rebarrel one I had in .270 Win. to 7x57. Replaced the stock with one from a Husqvarna Husky model from the early 1960's and replaced the trigger with a Timney. Very accurate and one of my favorite rifles. The .270 was an early one with the rear sight dovetail cut on top of the chamber. Probably was safe but it made me nervous.
Paul B.
 
The model 50 J.C. Higgins was a nice rifle, no doubt about that. Tried to buy one via the internet one time, when I had a C&R license. But kinda hard to document its year of manufacture to pass the 50 plus year qualification for buying with a C&R. Did learn a gent named John Stimson, if I remember the name correctly, possessed many of the manufacturing records for High Standard. While his records are incomplete and not well organized, his info on the Model 50 production for J.C Higgins is interesting and useful. Just google, John Stimson and High Standard, you'll probably find some info on the Model 50.

Anyway, I do own one of the SAKO made rifles made in that era. At that time SAKO only made barrels and used the same FN commercial 98 Mauser action as the J.C. Higgins 50 to make their first rifles sold in the U.S. Another reply in this thread mentioned Browning FN mauser actioned rifles. So happens, these were probably made by SAKO for FN/Browning. Evidently, when SAKO began making their own actions, FN asked SAKO to continue making the rifle (different stock) to be sold under the Browning label for a number of years.
 
Finest in my safe

Back in the early 90's I traded a Colt King Cobra for a Model 50. Mine is in .270 and as I said in the title, it's one fine rifle.

I replaced the Tasco 4 power with a Bushnell 3200 Elite 3 X 9 and refinished the stock with about 15 coats of Tru-oil. It has very unusual and IMHO nice wood.

Even with the recent price hikes of the King Cobra, I'm still happy with the trade. Mine is an early one, 583/91 is memory serves.

I free floated the barrel, and still plan on bedding it. It's accurate but does walk it's shots as it heats up. Have not really wrung it out since I free floated it.

One day soon I shall have it checkered. Mine has a very nice trigger. It's in close to mint condition. A little blue wear from riding in a trucks rifle rack, and that's it.

I will give up every other gun I own b4 this one. Would post pics but it's not here with me.
 
The Model 50 and 51 came with Beechwood stocks to keep cost down.

It there is walnut stock, it didn't come from the factory that way.

Jimro
 
The Model 50 and 51 came with Beechwood stocks to keep cost down.

It there is walnut stock, it didn't come from the factory that way.
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I'm afraid this simply isn't true. I have 2 50s and a 51 and they all have factory walnut stocks.

 
"The Model 50 and 51 came with Beechwood stocks to keep cost down.

It there is walnut stock, it didn't come from the factory that way."

Baloney! I have four of these rifles and three still have the original WALNUT stocks. The fourth was made into a custom 7x57 and I still have the original stock from that rifle and it too is walnut.
The beech or birch stocks (not sure which) were on the Sears M53 which was a somewhat buggered up Winchester M70.
It is believed that either Fajen or Bishop furnished the walnut stocks to High Standard to complete the rifles for Sears.
Paul B.
 
My 1962 Model 50 with the Companion 2.5 power scope is also walnut, I know
for a fact that it has never been altered.

If I didn't know better, I would have thought that natman posted
a picture of mine...post #37.
 
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Paul B, Natman,

You are correct, I was mistaking the "Tradewinds" imports with the Sears models. Same action and trigger, different barrel and stock.

Jimro
 
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