Swiss 30-30 info?

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Robert Nicholson

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Hi! I searched for some info on Schmidt-Rubin 1889's that have been converted to 30-30 and nothing much comes up.:confused:

A guy has told me about his garage sale rescue that he has tucked away in his basement and will show me if I am interested.
There does not seem to be much internet talk about these rifles but because I am a 30-30 fan, I want to look further into this.

Anyone care to expand on these rifles? TacFoley?
 
it was fairly common years ago for older SR's to get reamed to 30 30 and converted/sportered into hunting rifles. Saw nearly a dozen of them in 3 gun shops in Nova Scotia on day on vacation. Usually the older 98's and 11's. I don't think they even had to set the barrels back but they might have?
 
I had a few. I used them for parts and sold the rest of the parts on ebay. This was a thing that was done by some companies as well as gunsmiths. Same sort of idea as the Globco SVT-40s that were rechambered to 303 british. If i had it I would Definitely have it inspected by a competent gunsmith before firing. Also this is no more valuable then a bastardized Lee Enfield. So pay accordingly
 
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I have one. Value depends of course on condition, if it has the original sights and mag and/or if one is looking to complete a SR collection. If the gun does not have a magazine with it, it is not worth much.
 
my buddy has one... broken mag, as well as generally a huge POS. Sad waste of a good old rifle IMHO. I personally would not fire it with my face nearby :)
 
Cocked&Locked said:
it was fairly common years ago for older SR's to get reamed to 30 30 and converted/sportered into hunting rifles. Saw nearly a dozen of them in 3 gun shops in Nova Scotia on day on vacation. Usually the older 98's and 11's. I don't think they even had to set the barrels back but they might have?
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They used to be a gift if you subscribed to the Chronicle Herald (new papers), when you took out a 1 year subscription (IIRC). Hence tons of them in NS.
 
They actually drilled out the old chamber of the SR and put in a insert for the 30-30 cartridge. The original 7.5 was actually a bigger shell then the 30-30. I have one also and got it real cheap at a gun auction. They sold it as having the action seized on it so it could be sold as a parts gun and not have the $25 charge to register it. The same auction sold bundles of Lee Enfields in parts the same way to avoid the charge which would have meant either no sale or peanuts for the guns. The mags are impossible to find for the old SRs so the gun is worthless to use. They shoot just fine.
 
bobbynewmark said:
my buddy has one... broken mag, as well as generally a huge POS. Sad waste of a good old rifle IMHO. I personally would not fire it with my face nearby :)
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Well, well.....not quite the responses that I was expecting! Is the above ^^ description the one that generally captures the flavour of the situation?:(
Perhaps I should pass on the rifle, rather than thinking I would be getting the K31's cousin?:slap:
 
Robert Nicholson said:
Well, well.....not quite the responses that I was expecting! Is the above ^^ description the one that generally captures the flavour of the situation?:(
Perhaps I should pass on the rifle, rather than thinking I would be getting the K31's cousin?:slap:
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I have read reviews both good and bad. It depends what you want it for. Do you want it as just part of a SR collection , as part of a 30-30 collection or do you want to actually do a fair bit of hunting with it? If for hunting, there are certainly better choices unless you just want to take it out now and then to say you hunted with one. I do not use mine for hunting but I did put a few rounds through it when I acquired it. It functioned fine then. But as already said, if there is no mag, or the mag breaks, it will cost you as much as the rifle if you can find one.
 
As suggested Globe reworked these with varying(limited) success.

I had one chambered in 30-30. Acquired during the phase of "I have too many guns, so I'll buy for my Son" I think he was 6 or 7 when it came in, and 10 when it left.

Mine had a cobbled together feeding system, magazine was not removable. I was warned of feeding issues, but never suffered any. Found it pretty slick on the bolt honestly. New owner (and fellow CGNer) popped by to testdrive it before purchase. He had cycling issues with it. I loaded it up, and told him to just cycle it sharply...he was looking down into receiver when he extracted the first one...it popped out and marked his forehead, with a l'il trickle of blood to prove it.

I think they eventually relegated it to single shot use, but am curious where it ended up. Same CGNer would pop by once a year or so to testdrive other beauties, and I offered to buy it back (plus a couple bucks) a few times. He wouldn't part with it, so it couldn't have been that disappointing.

I liked it, little recoil, and slung 30-30 as good/better than my 94. It was kinda heavy for a small shooter, but in all other ways a good, cheap shooter.
 
Hahahahah I had a run-in with a guy on Facebook over one of these a while back. He was insistent that it was made in 1804 and was "worth a fortune." Would not listen to reason, even from multiple people. I think he couldn't believe he'd been swindled -- he'd traded a truck for it.
 
TheCoachZed said:
Hahahahah I had a run-in with a guy on Facebook over one of these a while back. He was insistent that it was made in 1804 and was "worth a fortune." Would not listen to reason, even from multiple people. I think he couldn't believe he'd been swindled -- he'd traded a truck for it.
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I am learning alot about these rifles from all of you, so I won't be offering a high price. Are there any redeeming features (besides being 30-30) that
will make me appreciate having one of these?
 
^Straight pull Swiss rifles are nifty to cycle!

I know it's fun to condemn these conversions for the historical loss. At the time they did it 30-30 ammo was behind almost every corner store/gas station's counter. A very cheap deer slayer that was easy to feed. Similar concept (and equally repugnant if not more) would be the SA markved SVT40s carved into .303 (Mohawk?).
 
camster said:
^Straight pull Swiss rifles are nifty to cycle!

I know it's fun to condemn these conversions for the historical loss. At the time they did it 30-30 ammo was behind almost every corner store/gas station's counter. A very cheap deer slayer that was easy to feed. Similar concept (and equally repugnant if not more) would be the SA markved SVT40s carved into .303 (Mohawk?).
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I agree with the above. 50-60 years ago, no one gave thought or cared that a milsurp rifle might have "collector" value some day, especially the people who were looking for a cheap rifle for putting meat on the table at that time. So many of the Schmidt Rubins were rechambered for a popular round of the time, 30-30. Some worked fine, others not, but that was discovered after the fact. Do they have a real high value? No, but who cares. They were/are a kind of a unique rifle of the time that put a different spin on the SR. Many that have one now or look for one, just want to round off a Schmidt Rubin collection. So OP, I can't believe what a difficult time you are having trying to decide if you should buy one. They are not a high price rifle so if you want it to finish off a Schmidt Rubin collection, or want a "unique" straight pull rifle that is over 100 years old to add to a 30-30 collection, then why not? If you want it as a primary hunting rifle, then no. And as mentioned, if no mag, then no unless you get the rifle for nothing.
 
Yeah, they were sold by various traders south of the 48th as Alpine hunting rifles - IIRC even Numrich for on the bandwagon with them for something like $19.95 [sigh].

As gunsaholic noted, having one and losing the mag means that you are going to have to pay out around Can$120 or so for a replacement. Kinda takes the fun out of it, eh?

tac
 
Thanks to all of you, I will know what I am looking at now, when I go to see the gun. I will offer $100 for it, if it is complete and looks shootable.

Would anyone like to hear back from me about it in a few days with a range report?
 
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