What's the deal with cutting off bayonet lugs.

[kjohn]

A couple or three years ago, I found a really nice Mexican M54 30-06 Mauser. I posted a couple of pics on an American site. One fellow said he has been keeping an eye out for a decent one for his collection for 30 years, with no luck. There were scads of nice Mexican Mausers imported to the US, but a goodly number were made into sporters. No surprise, I get people telling me at gun shows about the crates of new (fill in the model here) being "sporterized".

None of the rifles in my pile/collection are for sale. I do appreciate, however, that the firearms I have are worth considerably more today than they were when I bought them. I would not say that was any of my doing, nor will I be willing to take the blame for the increase.

I see more younger people taking interest in military surplus rifles at the gun shows. Some of the dealers seem to think that any old hacked up Lee Enfield is a rare collector item. I constantly tell the young guys to do some research on the rifle model they are interested in. I also preach to them to always try to have cash on hand so they can take advantage of good opportunities.

 

[ipscgraz]

When I was a kid i watched my older brother "sporterize" a Martini Henry. Even at that age I was wondering WTH he wanted to do that for...

I still don't understand the mindset that would make someone do this...

 

[green]

No 4 rifles were shortened to just ahead of the front sight by commercial firms to freshen up barrels with worn muzzles.
A number of MLE and MLMs were imported from England in the 50s with the muzzles cut back for the same reason.

 

[MiG25]

When I was a kid i watched my older brother "sporterize" a Martini Henry. Even at that age I was wondering WTH he wanted to do that for...

I still don't understand the mindset that would make someone do this...

How old are you?

 

[kawicrash]

The only thing I can think of with the #4's is that when you remove the wood and front sight protector the barrel looks disproportional like it has a long snout.
The lugs don't get in the way of anything, and the weight saving would be negligible. Re crowning wouldn't require cutting it back either

 

[Eaglelord17]

The only thing I can think of with the #4's is that when you remove the wood and front sight protector the barrel looks disproportional like it has a long snout.
The lugs don't get in the way of anything, and the weight saving would be negligible. Re crowning wouldn't require cutting it back either

Re-crowning isn't always the solution for Lee Enfields. Since the British used pull throughs exclusively, they had issues with cord wear on the muzzle. Rebarreling, counterboring, or chopping off the junk part of the barrel are the only solutions.

 

[camster]

It's a little easy to apply today's perspective to yesterday, and get all judgey/wistful...

For me it's clips. Recently acquired a few carcano clips. Couldn't stop thinking about all the clip fed rifles (Berthier, etc). At some place, and time people might have been up to their ankles in "disposable" clips.

EDIT/ADD ON
Some of the fellas who actually carried these for non-white tail (N'er seen a muley, but they may be wiley) purposes didn't really wanna carry one in that form. There also really was a time when "sporting" a gem added value.

 

[kawicrash]

I rememember reading a post from Ganderite where he said when he was a kid he collected .303 chargers in 45 gallon drums cleaning up the range.

 

[ipscgraz]

How old are you?

64, although my wife still tells me to grow up on occasion.

This was around mid to early '60's...so it was already close to a century old. Kept this to myself but I was wondering why butcher a single shot black powder rifle that throws an ounce of lead, for a supposed deer rifle?

 

[bdft]

After reading all this I am reminded of the story my father told me. When he came back home after WW2 he went to pick up his 577 Snider that he had left in a friend's possession. The old guy has taken the barrel off and used it for a pry bar. The ultimate bubba.

 

[AikiNut]

My brother bought his SMLE for $5.00 out of a barrel at the "Army Surplus" store that used to be at Portage and Memorial in Winnipeg - across Memorial from the Bay. I remember handling those $5.00 rifles but I was only about 12 at the time. Had I known then that they'd be worth over $500 now, I'm still not sure I would have bought a bunch of them - nor could I - weekly "chores" allowance was about $0.50...
Bitcoin, on the other hand - why the heck didn't I buy $10.00 worth of them when they were a few cents each..

 

[Imperial luger]

Bayonet lug removal may or may not have been mandatory, more likely for esthetic purposes. however finding a real Jungle Carbine bayonet and scabbard is becoming hard to find, pricey when you do find a UK manufactured example instead of the Indian copy. Speaking about bayonets and getting a little off topic the removal of saw backs was an international agreement during the first war and hard to find an unground version nowadays, the odd pioneer or butcher bayonet can show up at a gun show but brings in the bucks same as an old Imperial German sawback bayonet.

 

[gaff]

there is still quite a large disdain in the shooting community for military firearms , don’t fool yourselves. in the 1980s people would leave the range, when I would start shooting converted autos.
in the club I’m in now the target rifle folk , consider service rifles made after 1945 as pure evil . the shotgunners are just horrified at the idea of shooting military firearms.

 

[Sharps '74]

Fuddism was and is still alive and well. MY guns are OK - yours are not.

 

[XRCD011]

there is still quite a large disdain in the shooting community for military firearms , don’t fool yourselves. in the 1980s people would leave the range, when I would start shooting converted autos.
in the club I’m in now the target rifle folk , consider service rifles made after 1945 as pure evil . the shotgunners are just horrified at the idea of shooting military firearms.

Ha Ha, maybe that stupid A-hole of a "pm" Canada currently has just may have gotten one (1) thing right..............."Diversity IS our strength".......within the shooting sports.

 

[chofo]

@ ipsgraz ...

Maybe it was your brother that got a hold of this one then! LOL!



Seriously though... WHY??? .... Did Bubba really shave that much weight off her?



And she's obviously "ever-so-handy" now in the bush, don't you agree?

Jesus wept...

 

[purple]

there is still quite a large disdain in the shooting community for military firearms , don’t fool yourselves. in the 1980s people would leave the range, when I would start shooting converted autos.
in the club I’m in now the target rifle folk , consider service rifles made after 1945 as pure evil . the shotgunners are just horrified at the idea of shooting military firearms.

There's a lot of truth in this. There's a bit of a pecking order in a lot of clubs/ranges where some groups are quite disdainful of others.

On the No 5 JC, I've managed to shoot a moose, a bear and a number of whitetails and mulies with mine having the bayo lug in place. The No 5 is a 2.5 - 3 MOA shooter on a good day, but it's tough to beat for close range shooting in cover.

 

[Imperial luger]

Going to give mine a try on some wolves up north ,wolves considered NBL and cattlemen assoc has a bounty on them so the military FMJ can be used with little hide damage. Bayonet lug is on and some have white asses so just maybe maybe . will be nice to carry on snowshoes in the bush.

 

[Philthy1]

there is still quite a large disdain in the shooting community for military firearms , don’t fool yourselves. in the 1980s people would leave the range, when I would start shooting converted autos.
in the club I’m in now the target rifle folk , consider service rifles made after 1945 as pure evil . the shotgunners are just horrified at the idea of shooting military firearms.

Lol shotgunners.

 

[trainman278]

Silly how laws in some places consider a bayonet lug as dangerous and a "military" feature. How many cases of criminals bayonet charging people have you heard of?