Talking with an old timer this thanksgiving...

[Lone_Gunman]

I was talking to my wife's great uncle this thanksgiving, he's an old timer who has been shooting for years. Worked on M1 Carbines in the army, and then went on to gun smithing school after that. He told me about upgrading the carbines by knocking the rear flip sights off, and putting the new style sight in, and changing out the bolts. He spent his whole adult life working on and shooting guns. As a result he's almost stone deaf, and has a cochlear implant hearing aid, but it's still difficult to carry on a conversation.

Anyway he talked at length about guns, and I listened, shouting a question periodically. One of the things he told me is that they used to drill out a gas plug on the Garand so that the gas vented out the front, instead of operating the piston, and then used the rifle in single load mode. I thought it was interesting.

Something else he told me *cringe* was that 03A3 and enfields used to be so plentiful that he would buy them for $15 and convert them into hunting rifles, and sell them for $75. This included D&Ting for scopes, and in the case of the enfield, grinding off the rear sight...

[quadmx301]

And this is the reason I promised myself to never bubba anything, even a Mosin as a matter of fact, I've restored more bubba attempts than I care to think of

[Lone_Gunman]

And this is the reason I promised myself to never bubba anything, even a Mosin as a matter of fact, I've restored more bubba attempts than I care to think of

I don't think that converting milsurp into a nice affordable hunting rifle in the 1950's and 60's necessarily qualifies as bubbaing a rifle, but I get your point.

[bbodybill]

I was talking to my wife's great uncle this thanksgiving, he's an old timer who has been shooting for years. Worked on M1 Carbines in the army, and then went on to gun smithing school after that. He told me about upgrading the carbines by knocking the rear flip sights off, and putting the new style sight in, and changing out the bolts. He spent his whole adult life working on and shooting guns. As a result he's almost stone deaf, and has a cochlear implant hearing aid, but it's still difficult to carry on a conversation.

Anyway he talked at length about guns, and I listened, shouting a question periodically. One of the things he told me is that they used to drill out a gas plug on the Garand so that the gas vented out the front, instead of operating the piston, and then used the rifle in single load mode. I thought it was interesting.

Something else he told me *cringe* was that 03A3 and enfields used to be so plentiful that he would buy them for $15 and convert them into hunting rifles, and sell them for $75. This included D&Ting for scopes, and in the case of the enfield, grinding off the rear sight...

Something to relate to YOUR Grandkids... As THEY collect AK's :-(

[rdfact]

Did he say why they would change out bolts on the M1 Carbines? Were they worn out or replacing with a later type?
The CMP Marketplace forum is full of people looking for 'correct' parts to make a M1 all Winchester or all Rock Ola. The armories were not so concerned about what was 'correct'.

[Lone_Gunman]

Did he say why they would change out bolts on the M1 Carbines? Were they worn out or replacing with a later type?
The CMP Marketplace forum is full of people looking for 'correct' parts to make a M1 all Winchester or all Rock Ola. The armories were not so concerned about what was 'correct'.

It was Korean War era, and they were swapping them out for the later type.

[opos]

I was going to college in the mid-late 50's in Northern Colorado..worked in a gun/boat store most of that time..We bought 03's, 03A3's, 1917 Enfields and 8mm 98 Mausers all the time for $20 or so..none of us could afford the "big money" for a factory "deer rifle" so a Bishop or Fajan stock...some grinding and cutting, some Herters stock finish and a mount with a 4x Weaver scope was the hot set up.. Rifles like that fed a lot of folks in those days..I'd be hard pressed to cut up a milsurp that hasn't been touched but I've got a number of rifles that were "converted" over the years....I'm not interested in black rifles and really enjoy a well done, walnut stocked, nicely blued rifle from that vintage.

The first picture is of a Winchester 1917 Enfield that is not a bubba conversion..it's a Sears sold rifle with a "Ted Williams" 4x scope on it...Sears bought up a number of barreled actions and had a company in Chicago convert them...they converted 1917's, model 70's and many Mausers...they were (and this one) great shooters..Sears sold them for something like $75 complete and ready to hunt...I got this one a while back and it looks like new...has a great barrel and surprisingly tight headspace for a 1917.

Second picture is a 1917 that has been converted to a 25-06..Douglas barrel and Fajan stock, etc, etc...it has also been converted to a cock on opening with a side slide safety...it shoots one heck of a lot better than I can...I had a 25-06 in College and have no idea how many antelope and deer it took but it was plenty..

I know this makes collectors upset but taking something that is common as hen's teeth and having it be a really usable rifle is ok with me...these appear on the classifieds all the time and have no collector value and are not black so not much demand..around $300 will buy one really nice vintage rifle with a scope.