The worm can reopened...
Believe it or not, but there's those who look at just about any rifle and see it as nothing more than a tool.
That's true. And for those that butcher any rifle, to see the real tool, they should look in the mirror.
But DO NOT confuse Bubba's hack job with all sporterizing.
Also, don't make the (common) mistake of applying your current values to the past. As many have said, these rifles were nearly as common as, and nearly as cheap as dirt. (although the cheap part isn't quite as true as it seems)
Looking at the old ads from the 50s, seeing the guns for $15-$30 does seem really cheap. Until you see that a decent blue collar "working man's wage" brought home around $50 a week. And a new station wagon cost $700.
They got cheaper, as time went on, usually not even quite doubling in price, by the 70s when the average take home pay had, or more.
here's where the cheap part comes in, You could take a milsurp, and build it into a nice custom rifle (including rebarreling), with a decent scope, for about $100 less than a new Remchester of similar quality (or even less "quality" than your custom build) without a scope!
$150ish for a nice scoped Mauser, with a custom stock, hinged floorplate, bent bolt, drilled and tapped, scope safety, and adjustable trigger, with a Weaver scope, base, and rings vs. $250 ish for a Rem 700, Win 70, Ruger 77, or Savage 110 (rifle only, no optics or mounts). And a Weatherby Mk V was $450!
That made sense to me then, still makes sense to me now.
Another side of the coin is, that in those fondly remembered days, a well done sporter was a matter of prestige, and pride. We DID turn sow's ears into silk purses.
But today seems like all we hear is "Shame on you!". (and that's when the milsurp fanboys are being
nice...)
Why did we do it? Because we got something as good, and often better than what we could buy from commercial makers, for a LOT less money. Plus we got EXACTLY what we wanted for features, and nothing we didn't.
And if we hadn't done that, in large numbers, the "rare, valuable" issue condition milsurps would be neither rare, nor valuable.
really, you milsurp collectors ought to be thanking us!