The Bubba Bible *uhg* Take a look....

On the other sid of the coast, in Millhaven, there was "ED Kerrers GUNATORIUM", guaranteed to have 1000 guns in the store (most in crates) at any given time. It was like walking int a firearms museum. It to was a full service business, If you liked a handgun but were worried about function and accuracy, ED or one of his staff would say "go over to that counter and clean it up and we'll give you a clip or cylinder full of ammo to try it ou at the range out back. They didn't even ask for your drivers license. By the time I was actually old enough to go there myself, the laws concerning sales and ID had changed, you had to snow a drivers license as proof of age and to buy a gun you had to be from the state or an immediately adjoining state. In Eds' word " The whole thing is just going to the rats, darn communists in government you know."
I miss those places with their wonderful people, smells sights and all of the mystery guns and accoutrements. I'm to young for this type of crap, the world in some ways was a far better place in those days. I gues in some ways the tradeoff is worth it, buttttttttttt? bearhunter
 
Wow!! Talk about throwing salt on an old wound!! In 1965, I bought a 98 Mauser of some sort at the old Army & Navy in Regina for around $35. It was some oddball cartridge (8x57) from overseas. Luckily, the first milsurp got me sufficiently infected with the "collecting guns" disease, and I bought another nearly identical rifle in New Westminster, BC at the Army & Navy. Pretty heady thinking for an 18 yr old - "better have another of them oddball rifles!" I bought a laminated 98 stock for $10, sawed it all up nice, got the bolt bent, put on a used $10 scope. :redface: Fortunately, I left the other one alone. These rifles were made up of part German capture and part CZ parts, with a semi large trigger guard, done at CZ. I had the bubba'd one rechambered for 8mm-06 in the 1980's. (I figured I'd already buggered it, so I might as well jump right off!) Thankfully, of the 125 <> milsurps I now own, this is the only one I ruined. I did use it for most of the 40 years I've hunted whitetails.
 
I bought my second No1 MkIII from Hercules in Toronto in 1970 for $19.95. I bought another from Hallam and Hallams for aobut the same. Of course I was making about $1.50 an hour.
 
steve1973 said:
Yeah, supply and demand is a funny thing. Today's Norinco could be tomorrow's Springfield....
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I've had the same thought!
Remember this post in 20 years when RESTORING a Norinco M14 is all the rage.
 
Dosing said:
Yes and no. Thats an old copy, Williams still sells a more up to date version, I had a recent copy and gave it to someone, but forget who. Some nice stuff in it, the M1 carb in the thumbhole stocks are nice, but some of it, like Fajen stocks is a little out of date.
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You gave that book to me. No I haven't burned it :p But it is safely hidden away amongst other entirely unrelated books so that it won't fall into the wrong hands. If I ever have kids, I'll use it to beat them. :D
 
SwedeShooter said:
You gave that book to me. No I haven't burned it :p But it is safely hidden away amongst other entirely unrelated books so that it won't fall into the wrong hands. If I ever have kids, I'll use it to beat them. :D
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Ahhhhhhhhhhh, then start making stuff, a thumbhole Lee Enfield out of your bros #5 would be a good start :dancingbanana:
 
I remember talking to one of the guy,s at Gunparts corp(numrick arms) and he said the M38 Swed stocks they were selling were from Kimber when they first got into the rifle business,they butchered hundreds as did Parker-Hale I believe.Back in the day they were just not valued like today
 
I have a terrible urge to take an enfield and cut the barrel to about 16 and a half inches and put it in a black synthetic stock with a nice 4x fixed power high eye relief scope mounted scout style. I can't own an socom 16 but an Enfield 16 would have a legit 10 rounds. I would not do it to a pristine example and probably not even to a restorable bubba. It would look great with a flared flash hider ,like a 21'st century no 5.

I am a Parker Hale fan to though so that explains it.
 
You know a No.4 Enfield that got a barrel in 7.62x51mm NATO, a M14 Flashhider (want to be able to keep the ability to attach a bayonet :p), cut down wood ala-No.5 and a new bolt to make it work with the 7.62x51mm NATO with its 10 round magazine sounds good. :eek:

Dimitri
 
Dimitri said:
You know a No.4 Enfield that got a barrel in 7.62x51mm NATO, a M14 Flashhider (want to be able to keep the ability to attach a bayonet :p), cut down wood ala-No.5 and a new bolt to make it work with the 7.62x51mm NATO with its 10 round magazine sounds good. :eek:

Dimitri
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SIR's already got em! Beautiful NO.4's in cut down JC style stocks, with NO5 flashiders and bayo mounts. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! Anyway, they're very nice looking refurb/bubbas, and would be ideal fodder for future bubba projects...
 
Boer seun said:
If it's your rifle who cares what you do with it.
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Exactly.
Most of my rifles have been modified in some way.
I own shooters, not stuff that collects dust.

Even my Longbranch has a different stock on it than the original.

I wouldn't customize a stock military rifle , mind you, but I get questions all the time from people who want to refinsh or reblue a family heirloom that will never be sold.
"someone told me if I do that it will ruin the collecter's value"
If it ain't going to a collecter, who cares.
Cat
 
Agreed, books were from a different time. I remember my dad telling me about Lee Enfields at the army surplus store for $2 a piece back in the day. I thinks if I could buy in at that price I would have no problem bubbafying a few just to see what I could come up with. Gotta remember back then some of these old fella's were serious deer hunters, and a heavey mil surp was not part of the plan. The only real regret I have about bubbafiying of which my Dad is guilty of is when he sporterized his K98 BRING BACK (BY HIS FATHER) back in the sixties. That project basically ruined the rifle. I spoke with my father about it a few weeks ago, and let him know how much an all matching bring back would be worth today. He wished he did'nt do it. Oh well, my brother has the carcuss. I would still like to have it, but he got it first.
 
ollie said:
I've got another bubba bible-Frank Dehaas's definitive work "modern bolt action rifles" or somthing like. It's an interesting, but painful look at the past. Not only does he butcher up rifles, but he even goes so far as to combine rifles, ruining 3 or 4 milsurps to make 1 uber bubba:eek: His recepies were something like K98 Action, handcarved stock, new barrel, trigger from a swede mauser, trigger guard from a Springfield 1903, P14 magazine and on and on... My hat is off to his creativity and gunsmithing skills, even if it makes me cringe!
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Ummm.....:confused:
Frank de Haas's book "Bolt Action Rifles" is most certainly NOT a bubba-book, quite the opposite, in fact. ;) It's a very detailed and respectful homily to 124 military bolt-action rifles.
 
Six Star said:
Ummm.....:confused:
Frank de Haas's book "Bolt Action Rifles" is most certainly NOT a bubba-book, quite the opposite, in fact. ;) It's a very detailed and respectful homily to 124 military bolt-action rifles.
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He does give good summaries of thier strenghts and weaknesses, particularly as to how they can be modified into hunting rifles. If you have the book, please look inside the cover and tell me honestly that he is not bubba personified. I'm not putting him down, but his work primarily concentrates on describing bolt actions and suggesting ways to make them more suitable for hunting. He pretty much writes off the Mosin Nagant action based on the fact it doesn't have a suitable safety...That can't make him popular here on www.canadianmosinnagantnutz.com ;)
 
Its not just the ex-service rifles, that got altered. How many 1911 pistols have been reworked? Accurized, resighted, reblued? In the 50s and 60s it was popular to take a Winchester Low or Highwall single shot and convert it into a varmint rifle. Priced an original Winchester lately? Interestingly, some of the varmint conversions are now collectible in their own right, having been converted by well known custom gunsmiths.
As far as value goes, which is worth more - a South American contract Muser in fine condition, or a premium sporting rifle made by a master 'smith on one of the actions? Of course, Bubba has ruined a lot of guns. By the same token, a Bubba special can be a great starting point for a project, even an excellent opportunity to learn some gunsmithing skills, without one of the surviving unaltered specimens being lost.
I think nowadays it is generally accepted that cutting up a decent original is not a really good idea.
 
ollie said:
SIR's already got em! Beautiful NO.4's in cut down JC style stocks, with NO5 flashiders and bayo mounts. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! Anyway, they're very nice looking refurb/bubbas, and would be ideal fodder for future bubba projects...
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Not the same, would like to do it myself. :dancingbanana:

Dimitri
 
Cool I'll have to get this book so I can sporterize my Lee-Enfield No.4 (T)
am thinking of cutting the barrel down to 18.5" and that crappy WWII scope has got to go.
 
There's another thing to consider as well, many of the men had just come back from the second world war or Korea. Military rifles weren't exactly in favor. As far as being avid hunters, well maybe and maybe not. Things were much different back then, firearms were an honored part of everyday life in Canada. They even had shooting ranges on parliament hill.
Many people were just ekeing out a bare liveing and a cheap accurate rifle meant that there would be meat on the table for everyone in the family. In the fifties, tube steak was a luxury meal, not a hardship meal.
Many of the men were incredibly self sufficient and extremely proud of it.
Many were also very handy with basic tools and it showed in some of the so called "bubbas". Don't get me wrong, many fine rifles were badly butchered beyond practical use and we've all seen a few of those, but then again, many were turned into fine sporting rifles that many of us are very proud and content to use today.
Bubbaiseing is and was a fact of life, many men and boys would never have been able to afford a decent factory sporter let alone even think of hunting without those cheap rifles. Many a young and old man still gets their first rifle cheap because it was bubbaised and could never afford anything else.
Consider this as well, if bubba hadn't gotten to as many milsurps as he did, they wouldn't be nearly as interesting as they are today. Just more milsurp crap to turn your nose up at. bearhunter
 
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