spend hours "sporterizing" military rifles for their buddies at deer camp?

Has anyone here beside myself participated in that old gun nut rite of passage?

Ah, yes. Picking up an '03 or 98 in excellent condition for $40. Taking off the excess wood and barrel bands. Replacing the front sight with a Redfield Sourdough. Ending up with a better gun that Win or Rem sold for a hundred more. Now let's see a show of hands from everyone who ever draw-filed a Springfield barrel.

Don

my GFs dad has a k98 that some relative had brought back from germany and cut it down..just saw it the other night.  still has the nazi markings and the receiver said 1940 on it.  

I sporterized a number of military rifles in my younger days.  I totally enjoyed it and learned a lot about gunsmithing.  

Luckily, I never hurt myself in the process.  I do remember once puzzling long and hard on how I could convert a Lee-Enfield bolt gun to a semi-automatic.  Fortunately I never figured out a way to do it.  

I remember reading Roy Dunlap’s “Gunsmithing”, cover to cover, while in college; poring over Bishop and Fajen catalogues; and eagerly awaiting my latest mail-order package from Herter’s.  

In hindsight, I do kind of regret working on these rifles – nowadays I’d rather have them the way they were. But, being church-mouse poor at the time, it was the only way I could afford to fiddle with guns.

199, I have seen a picture of a Savage 99 lever action that Bill Ruger converted to semi automatic. That man was a genius.

AAAAHH!!  Sporterizing is the bane of Krag collectors everywhere!  

199:
You must be an old fart, you remember Herters, Bishop and Fajen.  All three, as we knew them are out of business.
Herters had the very best of everything that they sold. God I do wish I had one of those old catalogs.
I just finished a Mauser 98, its now a 25/06 with a hand made thumbhole stock, heavy bbl. and Timmeny sp??? trigger.

i was just looking at a rienhart/fajen catalog,they had custom stocks for enfields,m'1 carbines and a host of others,also was looking at a 1950 remington parts book,granddaddy was a gunsmith as well as i