How To Convert Military Rifles (Pics heavy!!)

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greyman441

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I thought you guys would enjoy this. I picked this up at a gunshow a couple months ago. I was made in 1959 by william sight company. It shows how to turn those old ugly milsurp rifle into those lightweight sporters that everyone loves so much. :D
I bought it so it could never see the light of day again. Unfortunalty someone cut the SMLE converting out so no one can get any ideas anymore.

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i like most of them, except the m1 carbine sporterized.
dont get me wrong i love full wood mil. rifles, but for hunting i like guns wich are economical. so for a cheap but good rifle that i would be carring through the bush, in my arms and on my back all day i'd much rather have a $150 sporterized lee enfield, than a nice full wood one.
but as for me i personly like the look of the surplus stocks,thats why i refinished mine and left the sporterized surplus wood on it (if i was to get full wood or another sporting stock, it would ruin the gun since its still the original wood that came with the rifle)
 
When I was shopping for Lee Enfield books the other day, I saw similar books on sale. New, updated, improved. They are still being sold... and if you look at Enfield parts on eBay, there is a huge market for them. Those parts are obviously still coming from Lee-Enfields that Bubba is working on.

Dontcha know? Military rifles are ugly, they need to be cut down, sporter type, monte carlo stock, white line spacers, ebony grip caps, toss the ugly mil' sights etc...
 
hahaha, anyone up for a good ol' fashioned book-burning? Auction it off as a kit complete with some eddy-lite matches and some marshmallows!
 
AdrianM said:
hahaha, anyone up for a good ol' fashioned book-burning? Auction it off as a kit complete with some eddy-lite matches and some marshmallows!
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That's my kind of book burning!

Reminds me of the old articles showing how convert your USGI 1911 into a target shooter. :eek:

-Steve
 
desporterizer said:
Still happens now with what ever milsurp happens to be cheap at the moment. Tapco sks anyone?
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Was talking about this the other day. My dad was commenting how when he was a kid you could go down to the local hardware store and dig through a bin of enfields and other milsurp rifles tossed in. $20 to $40 bucks each, your pick. He said if he knew then what they go for now he would have bought the whole lot.

We got talking about SKS rifles being so cheap, and all the aftermarket goodies. Give it ten or fifteen years and people may be saying "remember when you could get an SKS for $75 to $250??? Oh those were the days."
 
I still have my copy that I ordered from Williams in 1969 for $1.95. I remember one of the magazine ads that Williams used to run at the time. It showed a somewhat beaten Garand with a flower in the muzzle and a caption reading "Restore it's dignity" or something like that.;)

There were very few MILSURP collectors at that time. Those that were into it tended to favor things like Lugers and P38s. Old Winchester lever guns were highly collectable and were in great demand. I had a friend who picked several walls-full of them from old homesteader's around Saskatchewan for a song. I still have my great uncle's Model 1892 carbine in .44-40 that he bought in 1919 on return from WW1 and used to keep the pot full in his batchelor shack in the bush for many years. At that time most saw the use of a rifle for hunting only, so sporterizing was very popular and seemed the norm. The military rounds were well known and were proven hunting cartridges in the pre-magnum era.

I sporterized several MILSURPs back when and have had many excellent hunting experiences with them. The first was a stone mint No5 JC that I got for $18 as a teenager 50 yrs ago. I installed a Bishop butt with monte carlo comb and had it drilled and tapped for a scope mount by the late Eddie Mather who had his shop on Avenue A in Saskatoon. I later got a byf 44 M98 Mauser for $45 which had been re-worked in W. Germany after WW2 and fitted with a new 7x57 Mauser barrel. I had a Williams bolt handle fitted to it and had it drilled and tapped for a Leupold 1 piece base. I also added an alloy triggerguard with hinged floorplate, a sporting stock, and an adjustable Timney trigger. I also bought an early Remington M1903 Springfield with some pitting on the receiver and a junk barrel for a pittance. This one was drilled and tapped for a Redfield Jr base and was fitted with a new 03A3 barrel, an alloy triggerguard with hinged floorplate and a sporter stock.

I don't regret having sporterized any of these 3 rifles. They got me a few truckloads of game, including deer, moose, and bear and I had some truly memorable hunts with them. They were always true to their military pedigree-rugged, reliable, accurate, and efficient killers.:rockOn: Would I sporterize one of them today? No. In fact, I've made a good hobby out of doing restorations. Talk about a sinner being rehabilitated.:eek:
 
purple said:
I don't regret having sporterized any of these 3 rifles. They got me a few truckloads of game, including deer, moose, and bear and I had some truly memorable hunts with them. They were always true to their military pedigree-rugged, reliable, accurate, and efficient killers.:rockOn: Would I sporterize one of them today? No. In fact, I've made a good hobby out of doing restorations. Talk about a sinner being rehabilitated.:eek:
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I think you're in the same boat as a lot of people. At the time it made sense and no one should point the finger and say it was wrong. At the time no one thought they would ever be rare and wonderful. So you made it more useful and used it. It's the same with everything. Many guys wish they still had a certain car they had 40 years ago...but you didn't save it...you drove it.

Of course people interested in milsurps hate to see them ruined. It's their hobby and it's frustrating to see someone irreversibly alter something you'd cherish. Bubba never meant any harm...he just wanted to hunt.

I think some of the old sporters, when done right, are awesome guns and collectable in their own right.
 
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