doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Unknown Springfield Sporter

Hi All,

I have been following this board for several years with growing interest in the pre war sporters. I have learned a great deal from all of you and have benefited from the information shared on here. So first and foremost, Thanks!

On to the topic of my post...Originally, I bought this rifle as a donor for another sporter project. I had initially thought this was a reworked arsenal stock and had intended to scrap or ebay it away. Upon arrival the first thing I saw when I unpacked the rifle was the buttplate which quickly increased my excitement. The buttplate is a trap door style that was discussed here some months ago and is engraved. Likewise, the gripcap is engraved. Both surprising bonuses to the purchase. The rest of the stock was about on par with what I had expected from the auction sites photos. Inletting quality and fit and finish are not great. The real mystery are the wedges or filling shims used to tighten the barrel inletting. It appears as if the barrel channel was originally inletted for a bull barrel and then tighted up with these shims or filler pieces.

The stock is not marked in any way. The grip cap and buttplate(marked made in Germany and stamped with a 16) do not seem to match the overall fit and finish of the stock which is mostly utilitarian in nature. Have any of you seen one like this before? Any opinions on what to do with the stock? Is it worth keeping or salvage the buttplate and gripcap and donate them to my other sporter project? I do not want to destruct an important piece of history...Any other thoughts or comments? I'm interested on anyone's opinion on this!

Photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30024657@N06/

Unknown Sporter Photos

-Tom

Tom,
I think rifles like this are neat. It may not be the peak of prewar craftsmanship but an interesting rifle none the less. The trap buttplate is not of the same quality as the grip cap but both are very cool. The builder probably spent many hours pouring over magazines and catalogs of the day before ordering the parts to build it on a limited budget.
In my opinion, the rifle needs a little bit of work to freshen it up but I would keep it together as you received it. I see it as a time capsule.
Scott

I think it's worth keeping together. I would have bought it for the swivels and the grip cap.

And the buttplate, the Lyman 48, the barrel and , bolt and receiver, keep it together. Can you tell us the serial number?

Very neat rifle. I'd just give it some TLC and maybe stabilize that crack, and leave it as is. Although, I would really have to fight the urge to break out the checkering tools and checker that stock. Maybe copy an old Wundhammer pattern.

My first thought was NRA sporter, but the lack of crossbolts and the cheek piece rule that out. Possibly the barreled action wore a sporter barrel when it was first stocked, and was later rebarreled with an issue barrel which is a lighter contour. I have an NRA sporter that was reworked by G&H. In order to improve the barrel inletting, they turned a wood dowel to fit the barrel channel, glued it in, then re-inlet the barrel into the new wood. Anything is possible.

John

This is a good example of the parts are worth more then the rifle. I have no idea what you paid for the rifle so this is just a guesstament.

Last week a friend sent me a link to a interesting Krag stock. I checked the other auctions this person had and saw the barreled action that came out of the stock. A lot of folks are buying guns with scopes and sights and other interesting attachments and parting them out.

Thanks for the responses everyone! The auction house people were helpful but were not gun people so I had difficulty determining over the phone what this rifle really was...They made no mention of the buttplate and gripcap over the phone. Were these items commonly available in the prewar time frame? Any idea as to their cost at that time? I feel like they are quality items which are incongruous with the stock inletting and overall construction.

Michael, not sure if you remember, but I emailed you regarding this serial number, I believe you stated it was not on your list but the very next rifle was, and was listed as a NRA Sporter.

This rifle has a star gauge barrel, headless cocking piece, polished raceways and appears to be a NRA Sporter action. The interesting thing is that this barrel is a bit thinner in profile than another NRA Sporter in my stewardship, yet heavier than a standard barrel and the barrel band fits correctly. This being a later serial number, 141xxxx vs 127xxxx makes me wonder if they changed the barrel contour at some point, Brophy's book makes no mention of this that I can find. Any thoughts?

-Tom

The buttplate appears to be similar or identical to those available from Frank Mittermeier, postwar, maybe prewar. Need some close ups of the swivels to determine whether they are Winchester, military, or something else.

Eightbore, I updated my Flickr account with photos of the rear swivel. It is the same width as the military swivel/band on the fore end.

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