Sportco Model 44 target rifle

The one I used had a Central rear sight

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tiriaq said:
With original barrels and NATO ammunition, probably the Sportco.
With .308 ammunition and 155gr bullets, probably very similar.
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That’s what I have experienced as well.
My 950 T came with two barrels. The original barrel isn’t as accurate as my Sportco. The second barrel with the 950T is unshot beautifully blued, maybe I should screw it on.
 
I did up a 950T in 223 Rem 9twist a while back. Got the barreled action from caththehat, had a nice stock I refinished, cerekoted bedded scoped etc. Turned out to be the most accurate rifle I have shot. 70 Bergers into small groups.
I also have a factory 950T in 308. Accurate enough but doesn’t blow your top off like the 223. And another in 6.5/284, Savage J series varmint that shoots well too. Lots of fun turning a 400$ vintage target piece into a bit of a money pit.
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tiriaq said:
The Sportco has some interesting design features. Three lugs, bolt head pinned to bolt body, Savage style. If you look at the bolt heads, you will see numbers. I believe these relate to sizes, for headspace adjustment.
Lloyd Nielsen made the adapter which threaded into the Sportco receiver, and incorporated the locking abutments, with threads for a conventional barrel.
Nielsen went on to make his own action, using a two piece receiver. Receiver body is a simple tube, the front piece has the locking abutments and barrel threads - same idea as his adapter.
If you stop and think about it, this system makes it very easy to machine the locking abutments. Nielsen's actions used Sportco bolt heads, with full diameter tubular bolt body.
I have a .308 rifle built on a Nielsen MN300 action. Schneider barrel, Robertson stock. Last time I had it out, it shot a 5/8" group at 100m. with 155 Sierras, 46gr of Varget in Winchester cases with CCI BR primers.
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Jim Dugan in Saskatoon had a similar concept. He demonstrated it to the Cadet Organization at the DCRA matches one year. They didn't seem to care much. A year or so later Diemaco was contracted to rebuild all the Cadet Sportcos with a remarkably similar adapter. Jim was poleaxed.
 
Buckmastr said:
Which is generally more accurate? A Sportco M44 or CIL 950T?
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It is a toss up IMHO. They are both tubular solid bottom receivers with separate bolt head type bolts. The Savage/CIL has a bigger ejection port so it ought to be more flexible than the Sportcos. Assuming the barrels and triggers are comparable quality, and the striker lock time is the same, the barrel attachment is where (in principle) they diverge. I suggest the Sportco's combination of barrel-internal adapter-receiver is less rigid than the Savage/CIL barrel-external nut-receiver. Just my back of a cigarette pack level of engineering logic.

However, let us never forget that the Sportco and Savage/CIL arrived at a transition stage of DCRA shooting soon after the adoption of 7.62 NATO. The associations got free ammo from the Forces, and that was the one constant the organizers could control. The No.4-only type of shooting had no choice but to open the rules to any safe bolt action. That was 60 years ago, and the winning rifles may externally resemble a Sportco or Savage/CIL but are vastly better designs.
 
Post #32 - that picture - in early 1980's (?) I had a Savage 112V - bought it new, at a gun store at corner of Faithful Avenue and Circle Drive (?) in Saskatoon, Sask. - a single shot, no magazine opening, heavy barrel in 22-250. I am so sure the action looked identical or very similar to the one shown in Post #32 - but I do not remember the holes drilled and tapped into the left side of rear receiver for the rear sight. When I had it, I had a Lyman "All American" fixed 10X scope on it. With wisdom of "youth", in the early 1990's, I traded it off for a fish finder sonar at "Hunters Trailer and Marine" in North Battleford, Sask. That place burned down within a month or so - I suspect that rifle was in there. That Lowrance brand fish finder was replaced many decades ago ...
 
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