How BUBBA came to be!

[buffdog]

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I found the following post on one of the Swiss Rifle Forums. It deals with a question of "Sporterizing" a Swiss K-31 but is applicable for all original Milsurps. A few of the words were changed to make it a bit more appropriate.
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If the Good Lord had intended k31 stocks to be shorter, he would have caused them to be made shorter!

Read and be ashamed!


23. For the children of the house of Bubba, in their ungodliness and misery, looked down upon the issue stock, and, behold, it was abominable in their eyes and they were sore downhearted.

24. And so it was the the elders and the sons of the children of the house of Bubba cast about their number, asking, one to another, "How this be made better, and more passing good in our eyes, that we may be lightened of our grievous burden?"

25. And one came among them, secretly in the night, a stranger, but spoke in their tongue with pleasing words of honey, for he was Satan. And coming among them, he spake thus - "O elders and children of the house of Bubba, take into thy hands a saw, that ye may cut down the length of the issue stock, that it may be more pleasing in thine eyes, and thus a lesser burden upon thy back."

26. And, behold, the elders and children of the house of Bubba, yea even the sons of sons, and their daughters, took up the saw, verily a great saw, and they cut down the stock, that it might be more pleasing in their eyes, and a lesser burden to their backs. And they made an great fire of the wood thereof, and killed a fatted calf that they had slew before times, ere the stock had been shortened by their will. For though the stock be ungainly, and unpleasing in their eyes, the k31 was mighty accurate.

27. And behold, the Lord looked down upon the children of Bubba, and he wrathed a great oath, and was sore offended at their affrontery, that they chose to act in such a way, contrary to his design, and so saying, he spoke to them - "What do ye do to so offend me, and make an work so unwelcome to my sight? Yea, though it make the k31 look spiffy in thy sight, yet it is not so to mine, and I am sore offended by it."

28. And he caused their barrels to be bent, that they might not achieve their aim, and from that day forth, and forever, the elders and sons and daughters of the children of Bubba went hungry all the days of their lives.

Here endeth the lesson.
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[kjohn]

Ah, so that's how it all started! Bubba passed briefly through my world about 30+ years ago, but I was able to exorcise him. I hacked the stock on a mixmaster CZ 8mm 98 and had the bolt bent, drilled and tapped it. My stomach rolls every time I think about it. I still have the rifle, since rechambered to 8mm-06. It has put lots of whitetail meat on the table.

 

[purple]

I recently picked up my daughter-in-law's new .243 to mount a scope on it and to reload some ammo for her. My 22 month old grand-daughter was hollering, "bu-ba" at me , which is her best shot at saying "grandpa".

 

[H4831]

A few years after the war many thousands of 303 Lee Enfield rifles, of many variations, came into the hands of huge retailers like, Army and Navy, various war surplus stores and in the west, Spencers and Woodward's.
These retailers quickly found that sales of full wood Lee Enfield's was nearly zero.
Thus, they hacked off much of the wood and did other minor variations to enable all those rifles to become sporting, hunting rifles, to be sold retail for about a quarter, or a third of what a commercial hunting rifle would cost.
Probably 99% of the Lee Enfields you tend to call Bubba'd were converted by this meands.

 

[purple]

The golden age of sporterized MILSURPs ran from the late '50s to the early 70's. It was all about cost and availability. When you considered the cost of a new Model 70 Winchester or Model 99 Savage sporter, you could understand why so many MILSURPs, especially the Lee-Enfields, P14/M1917 Enfields, Model 98 Mausers and M1903 Springfields were converted.

The gun rags were full of DIY articles about it. I got an as new No5 JC for $18 in 1962 and used it as a hunting rifle for a long time. I installed a Bishop butt with monte carlo comb, had it D&T'd for a Weaver T01 mount and that was it. It got me a few truckloads of Whitetails, incl my biggest ever, and Mulies, a moose and a nice black bear. It was/is about the handiest rifle you could ever want in the bush. I left the handguard in place and used a few scopes on it, finally settling on a Redfield 23/4X Widefield which it still wears.

It is capable of 2.5-3 inch groups @ 100 yds, plenty accurate for hunting in the bush. Nowadays folks feel under-equipped if they go deer hunting with less than a 3-9x variable scope and some kind of magnum ctg. Mind you, a lot of them go out and shoot at deer instead of hunting them which allows you to get your shots at 100 yds or less.

 

[Mike Webb]

Bruce got it right. Back in the 50's through the 70's the cheapest way to get a big game rifle was to buy a surplus rifle and cut it down or buy one already cut down. I don't blame anyone for doing that years ago but there are so many butchered milsurps around there is no need to hack the few remaining ones up. One of the reasons Czech G33/40 mausers are so scarce is that they made a great basis for a really light hunting rifle. Consequently an original in good shape will fetch over $2000.