Who hunts with old military rifles besides me?

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wfrr

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My Dad had an old sporterized 303 british MkI that he might have given $15.00 for back in the 1950s. He claims it cost more to have it drilled and tapped for a scope than he paid for the gun. It shot all over the place so he soon gave up on it as a deer rifle.

In the 1970s Dad gave me that old gun. I shot a ton of that old military ammo through it open sight with the same results. Every so often I would brush the bore, always rusty as hell. The best it ever looked was ugly and dark. In 2003 I read something that made me want to try some defouling chemicals and bore compound just see what it would do. Man...what a difference.

You can't imagine the junk that came out of that guns muzzle. The bore became very shiney. It suddenly became reasonably accurate. I put a cheap 4 power scope on it and hunted the 2003 deer season with it. A 303 British is devastating on whitetails.

Next I bought an old Krag sporter. This thing must have been sporterized 75 or 100 years ago. It has been handled so much that the wood is smooth and dark and the checkering is almost worn away. If you look closely you can see where they cut a notch in the stock and added wood to make a pistol grip. The gun shoots great and does it ever have character. By the way 180 grain core-lokt in 30/40 is just the right medicine for whitetails.

This year I am hunting with a 1891 Argentine Mauser carbine in 7.65. This $65.00 semi-sporter job really consists of someone stripping it and welding on a turned down bolt. They left it with no sights. This one had been drilled and tapped. With some grinding and filing I modified a set of scope mounts to fit it and installed a 3x9 scope. This gun is very accurate with the Hornady loads. It looks nice and it is very easy to handle in a blind because of its short length. Yet to pull the trigger on bambi with this one.

Next years project, a $69.95, Type 99 7.7 Jap sporter, mum ground, with a side mounted scope and turned down bolt. Its not a true last ditch rifle, but still...this one is really some kind of clunker. The trigger pull is ridiculous. One of the most laughable sporter jobs any bubba ever attempted. The add on butt pad and the stock contour are not even close. There is varnish slopped all over the place. I'll have some work to do to unbubba things.

It had been bored to use 30/06 shaped cases but at the 7.7 case length. Too bad it wasn't bored full length to 31/06. Anyway, I didnt much like blowing out the cases on expensive 7.7 Hornady ammo im this guns bastardized chamber so Ebay supplied me with an excellent replacement 7.7 chrome barrel. I have to get up the nerve to take this hunk of junk in and get it installed. They are going to think I am nuts. I guess with some trigger work and a lot of shooting I will know it good enough to take deer with it.

For some strange reason I like showing up at the lease opening weekend when everyone is showing off their latest short magnum or 7mm/08 and drag out some old relic and take deer with it.

The difference is I will have shot my gun enough to know my scope is on and where the gun is going to shoot. Some of these guys will bring great guns that are not set up correctly and they won't ever shoot them enough to figure it out. Then it will always be the guns fault. Fun stuff.
 
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mosin

Ive been eyeballing those Mosins at Military Gun supply for a few years.What did you have to do to put that scope mount on it? I am okay with buying something someone else modified and doing whatever is required with those but I dont want to buy one that is original and do much modification.
 
Call me boring, but my SKS has taken, but one deer. I prefer my Remington, thank you very much. Ain't like it never took game or I never shot it, either.

Mmm, which would I rather hunt with, an underpowered .30-30 that shoots 3.5 MOA or a .308 that shoots 3/4 MOA???? Hmmm, what a tough decision.
 
A K31 is hard to beat, dead accurate, fast, roughly 308win ballistics, and handloaded with a .308 bullet. I havent taken a deer with it yet (havent taken it to the woods yet), but my NM garand has, and my M70 yugo (AK clone), about the best brush gun I have found for MDs fairly dense woods.
 
I've taken a few does with my Century Garand. I'd really like to get my Mosin sniper out before the season ends, but the way its going, thats not gonna happen.
 
I hunt in PA with an 1898 .30-40 Krag. A fine gun and very accurate. Some years ago, a friend of mine and I were going to after bear, his rifle of choice was a no1* SMLE, mine a 1905 Martini converted to .303.
had the same exerience you did with your SMLE, but mine was a type-53 Chineese Mosin, some VietCong had fired it untill it dropped. rusty, barrel looked like a sewer pipe. BUt I soaked it in engine degreaser and the barrel came out suprisingly good. I guess that the fouling created a sort of protective covering for the barrel.
 
I had a 7x57 Spanish 1916 (93 action) mauser. It had a really fast twist and didn't like anything, but 175 grain round nose hornadys. I mean, it was good to a couple hundred yards, but the 7x57 is such a GREAT caliber with 140s. Shame. If I get another one, it won't be a military rifle with a military twist rate. I think that thing was 1:7, way too much for the lighter bullets. I had it drilled and tapped and had a 4x scope on it. It was a decent bang around rifle, but not something I wanted as a "go to". I sold it for the little bit I had in it, $125. Gun cost me 60 bucks and I had an old Weaver K4 on it.
 
I hunted with some guys who used some really old junk rifles, like a Trapdoor Springfield, original military issue, in 99% condition, and a rebarreled Remington Rolling Block in .45-70, also from the 1870s.

Bunch of old POS milsurps, but hey, they worked okay. Unfortunately, they're not available for $75 on line...:p
 
I have a slightly sporterized Rem O3-A3 with scope and Timney trigger. Heavy as hell, and that straight stock makes it kick like a mule, but it's quite accurate after all these years.

-Steve
 
I hunt with an "old" FAL that was sold off for scrap, chopped-up, and lovingly reassembled by me.

I can't take credit for the prose. But this thread does remind me...

Originally posted sometime around 2000 by Maddawg on the FAL Files:

The Story of Number 27

Maddog
May 05, 2000 17:13

I was a refugee…

For many long years I was dragged from place to place, knocked about, and only occasionally allowed to perform my mission. Many men put their hands on me, abused me, and finally left me – marked and abused, covered in red dirt, and barely recognizable. I was just a number, Number 27, crudely painted in garish yellow across my butt.

One day, all of us forgotten, cast-off guardians were unceremoniously piled up and carted off to a different place. The clanking of machinery could be heard, hammer blows, the clatter of broken metal, and, finally, the most horrible sounds imaginable. One by one, we were torn to pieces, our backbones ripped out, and then, the crunch of Doom – as our very spirits seemed to cut in two, and thrown away. The remnants of our once shapely forms were bagged, tagged, and piled in what looked like coffins. Sadness filled the cramped spaces, as we slowly settled into a shapeless heap, suffocating the very life from our mangled corpses.

We seemed to drift, afloat on the memories of what we had once been – Protectors of Home and Farm, Guardians of Liberty, Right Arm of the Free World. Now, we were banished, banned, and on our way to oblivion.

A bright light filled the air above us. One by one, we were carefully removed, still in our bags, and examined by faces we had never seen before. Gone were the gunracks, the familiar aroma of gun oil. These men had no uniforms. They stacked us in piles, and occasionally would take a few of us, place us one by one into smaller boxes, and then, the boxes would disappear out the door. One day, my turn came. What was to become of me, the Ghost of Number 27???

I was tossed, I was thrown, I slid around in the tiny box, until finally I was handed to someone. Suddenly, the handling was gentle, like a soldier who once loved me had treated me. Carefully, I was taken to a small shed, where I recognized the tools and smells of someone who worked on things, and liked doing it. Carefully, tenderly, he examined each and every part of me. Sometimes I would sit alone for days or weeks, but then he would appear again, a kind smile on his face, with a new part or tool that I knew he had gotten – just for Me!

Finally, after the workbench was crowded with things, my new owner came in with a look of determination on his face. "Number 27, I have never done this before, but I have tried to learn everything I can about your needs, and today – Today, you will be reborn…"

I was excited, but scared! The Armorers in the Old Place had sometimes performed cruel torture on us. Some of my mates just disappeared. Many of us wore scars from their labors. What is my new owner going to do to me?

The job that had been started in tearing me limb from limb was completed in the shed. My rusty, worn, weary parts were twisted, scrubbed, oiled, wiped, and lined up in the bench. Sometimes I was stubborn, and would only let go with a shriek, by my owner patiently worked. I saw the new backbone lying there, and, soon, I found that I was whole again. Missing pieces were replaced, and with a final "Snap!", my two halves were made whole again.

My owner carried me into the house, and carefully placed me in his room, where I could near the rack where he puts himself each might. Yet, as happy as I felt, there was still a great emptiness – was I doomed to be an ornament? Would I ever know the joy of making Fire and Thunder again?

Well, Today is a Special Day – Today is when I once again have truly become Whole. Even though my new owner was awkward with me, twisting my knobs, jerking my trigger, and tentative of my recoil, he never once slammed me to the ground, or banged me into trees. In spite of my battered plastic, and discolored, mismatched finish, he gazed at me with fondness, handled me with affection, and shot me with determination. We made Fire and Thunder, and we produced Hits! One, then two, then a dozen, and finally many dozens of Hits! Gleaming brass filled the grass around us and holes filled the targets we acquired. We are tired, we are grimy, but we are One...

Rejoice with me, all my fallen comrades! I dedicate my revival to all those who will Fire no more. In your honor, I pledge to be a faithful friend to my new owner.

I am a refugee no more - Number 27 lives. The days of Fire and Thunder have returned!

*********

I am his RIFLE

There are many like me but I am his. My owner is my best friend. He is my life. I must serve him because service is my life.

Without him, I am useless. I must shoot straighter than any enemy who is trying to kill him. I must shoot any enemy before he shoots my owner. I will...

My owner and myself know that what counts is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit...

My owner is human, and he is my life. My owner keeps me clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will...

My owner and myself are the defenders of home and farm, country and kinfolk. We are the masters of our enemy.

So be it, until victory is ours and there is no enemy, but Peace...
 
go to guns

I didnt mean to give the impression that these old military guns I play around with are my best go to guns. These are guns I might use up to 150 yards.

I am confident that my 1898 Krag or 1891 Mauser would do pretty good beyond that, but I have not tested them for that distance so I don't hunt with them when I might need a longer shot than 150 yards.

The Enfield is great at 100 yards and below and I have not fired the Jap enough to know.

I have a 4# Enfield converted to 45/70 that I am still working on so I don't know how it groups yet.

For go to guns I have a nice commercial Mauser in 30/06, a Savage 110 in 270 and a Remington 742 in 280 that all prove accurate enough for my current longer range needs.
 
I recently found a K43 (WWII German-issue 8mm Mauser semiauto rifle) in my deceased grandfather's attic. I fully intend to take it hunting, assuming I can get it shootable again (it's a little rusty).
 
I recently found a K43 (WWII German-issue 8mm Mauser semiauto rifle) in my deceased grandfather's attic. I fully intend to take it hunting, assuming I can get it shootable again (it's a little rusty).
Click to expand...

WOW, that rifle sounds rare and perhaps worth some good change! Any idea what something like that would be worth??? Maybe I'm off, might not be collector interest, but I'd be shocked if there wasn't.
 
Who needs a scope? I like to hunt with irons. I plan on taking either my M91 or S-R 1911 hunting in Alaska thin 2008. Either for PWS bear and sitka deer or bou, depending on populations. Right now its looking like the black bear are peaking and the bou are dipping.

But I'd think twice about taking a K43 on any rough hunts! Those pups can be worth a mint. I would STRONGLY ADVISE/YELL IN YOUR EAR/SCREAM AT YOU not to do BO DIDDLY with that firearm until you consult the authorities on it. Take some photos, write down the markings, and then see what they think here:

http://forums.gunboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=9

and here:

http://www.gewehr43.com/

Do not clean it or do anything else to it until you've figured out if it's just a sporterized parts gun worth under a thousand or a rare bird worth five or ten times that amount. When you're talking potentially rare Axis military rifles, the sky's the limit.

Also, IIRC some of these made late in the war in Berlin had CAST RECEIVERS and are strictly for collectors. They're not safe to shoot at all.
 
I'm still trying to get a deer with my enfield no5. When I first got it the bore was dark. I scrubed it real good with j & b bore paste and it started shooting better. The bore cleaned up pretty well. I now handload (neck size only) and she shoots really well. At 100 yds. off a solid rest I get 2 to 3 inch groups. Not too shabby for a rifle made in 1945 and my old eyes.

Actually if you want a rifle that is dead reliable and will function under adverse conditions the lee enfield is probably the best.
 
Mosin

No permanent mods are needed for a Darrell's scout mount. 15 min to replace the mount if you are slow like me. Can be reversed in the same amount of time.
 
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