How a bubbad milsurp winds up in a museum

I have a Canadian Boer War Long Lee that was crudely engraved by the owner with his name and the battles he participated in.

The last one etched into the butt is from the day before he was seriously wounded.
 
Hi CM. I have a comment concerning your carved butt Long Lee. It is very common for the Boers to have carved their family name or clan name into the butts of their Mausers, Guedes, or whatever they had. Through the Legion magasine some Boer families advertised to get some of their family property back at one time. I believe there was a book published on Boer Mausers but I was too poor to buy such at the time. In British and Canadian service a soldier was not allowed to deface his rifle. Chances are that your rifle was acquired after the war and the owner then did the carving. The 'Rosalie" rifle on FW is carved after the war as well. JOHN
 
jtaylor said:
Hi CM. I have a comment concerning your carved butt Long Lee. It is very common for the Boers to have carved their family name or clan name into the butts of their Mausers, Guedes, or whatever they had. Through the Legion magasine some Boer families advertised to get some of their family property back at one time. I believe there was a book published on Boer Mausers but I was too poor to buy such at the time. In British and Canadian service a soldier was not allowed to deface his rifle. Chances are that your rifle was acquired after the war and the owner then did the carving. The 'Rosalie" rifle on FW is carved after the war as well. JOHN
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Here is a link that shows a lot of Boer and Brit/Colonial weapons that were carved.

http://www.boerwarriflecarvings.net/
 
Bubba'd would be the pitiful Ross Mk III the Canadian War Museum had on display a couple years ago. It had been drilled and tapped, hot dip blued and sanded to hell. Naturally this example was displayed prominently in a stand alone case as a showing of our unique service arm. I refuse to believe they didn't have something better tucked away that'd be worth displaying.
 
points said:
I wasn't slighting the rifle or the work. However, if I were to do the same today on one of my milsurps I would be flayed alive. Just noting the different point of view.
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Well its all about history. Thats guy engrave is rifle during war, in a trench, on the most vicious battlefield the world ever witness back then. So using the term bubba'd to descride this piece is pretty pejorative in itself. Big difference between that and a guy doing custom work in is garage. I dont think OP had any ill intention, Im just giving my 2 cent on how I feel about using the term bubba to decribe this gun.
 
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