doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Was this something?

Still trying to get my bearings on 1903 sporters, was interested in this but wasn't willing to pay to win without being sure. I thought there were some things that looked less than first rate, did I miss something?

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/718534736

I don't know if you missed something or not but it was a pretty good looking rifle. I like the butt plate does anyone know the vintage of that plate?

I suspect we will see more information and some pictures once the winner receives it. He is good about sharing. Buttplate, sight and general styling are all interesting. I have this sinking feeling in my gut that we all overlooked a gem.

Thaine

The buttplate also attracted me. At first I thought there was a white line spacer under the grip cap but then realized it was all metal, perhaps German silver.

The entire gun has a lovely patina, especially the stock which looks like fine old furniture. Nice figure in the butt also.

Ah well, hopefully we'll learn more.

There is something odd about picture 27 of 43, is there
a device installed to take the slack out of the trigger?

Sear cut to remove 2 stage pull?

Nice wood/metal fit from what I can see.
A couple chips at the rear of the tang. Looks like a reinforcement through the stock under the front ring and plugged. Maybe added later.

The stock cut for the action cut-off looks some what crudely done when compared to the rest of the stock work. Perhaps that bit was done by someone else wanting the cut-off to work instead of just leaving it in the up position.

Has the bbl been turned down at the breech to remove the rear sight spine cut?,,can't really see that in the pics.

The swivels don't look 'period' to me, more like something from the 60's/70's,,but that may just be my take and being uninformed.

Love the long slide Lyman.

The inletting for the magazine cutoff bothered me also.

Sold $710. I like it.

Anyone care to share images of how the cut for a magazine cutoff should be done? I'm unsure what a good one looks like when done correctly?

Great question, I think this is one of the better examples.

look at picture 2

I'm the one who got the rifle, I also thought the cut for the cut-off was rather crude and the swivels will have to be replaced with more period style super grade width studs. The BP may be an early Rem type from the M8/M81 era.

I liked the long staff Lyman 48 but mainly I think the orig rifle was a 1920 NM rifle based on the serial number falling in the Mk 1 series and the arsenal polished bolt. I have 2 or 3 other 1920 NM sporters one of which was Michaels S-man.

I may have paid a bit too much but since I was skunked at Tulsa for any '03 sporters I was in a real "need" to buy something. Collecting really is a sickness you know!

Dan

That's a very nice rifle and I thought the price a great buy!
Congrats~~~

Well I now have the rifle in hand but the seller hasn't responded to my request if he knew any history of the rifle. I have sent Fred some photos to post for me. I had a pair of swivel studs for the old hook and eye type swivels and have them added to the stock. The PG cap looks like it might have the German silver part cast around the top blued steel part. I didn't get a photo of the barrel shank where the spline was filled because you can't see the fill but the shank is very close to the same diameter as standard so it couldn't have been reduced to remove the spline cut. There is nothing in the wood hidden under the metal parts to indicate who might have been the gunsmith nor anything marked in the metal.
Dan

Any more information you can share about the Buttplate? Is it from an old Remington
Thanks

Here are the images I received from Dan

LRF,
I don't know about the BP, I will clean up the inside and take some photos tomorrow and have Fred post them. I don't know what might identify it as Rem if that's what it is.
Dan

LRF, if you are thinking about the Remington buttplate that had the tang on the bottom, I don't think this was one. They didn't have a widow's peak on top and were just serrated across the butt. The lower tang was longer, but could have been modified. This is a good example of the buttplate I am talking about and is like the ones I have

Looks like another nice rifle landed in your stable Dan. I hope you find out more about it. Didn't you get another rifle not long ago that had cast German Silver on the grip cap? If so any similarity?

Thaine

I actually wasn't thinking of anything. Someone else thought it was a Remington earlier in the thread. I am just asking if anyone had ever seen a similar before.

more pictures from Dan

LRF,
I was the one who thought it might be Rem but now I see it sure isn't.
Thaine,
I think you might be talking about the German done '03 I got at RIA and I don't think there is any similarity with this PG cap. I will have to go find that one to make sure.
That black stuff on the inside of the BP won't come off but it doesn't appear to have any marking on it.
Dan

Dan,
It certainly is an interesting BP and very nice. I think you got yourself a keeper in that rifle.

Thaine, I found the rifle and it doesn't have a PG anything like this one, no German silver at all but the rifle has real silver inlays in the wood. I can't find any of my rifles with a PG cap made from German silver.
Dan

Dan, Thanks for looking. My memory gets foggy now and then. It might not have been yours, I sure couldn't find it when I went back through your posts. I'm pretty sure someone had one and hopefully they will see this and chime in.

Regardless, that is a nice looking rifle and another good snag.

Thaine

This is how Griffin & Howe did it, back in the '30's. No need for a cut off in a sporting rifle (or a military rifle for that matter).

I got a very little bit of history on the rifle. It came from an estate of a retired police officer who moved from CA to OR about 20 years ago after retiring. Don't know how long he owned it but it may be a CA built rifle but that's a wild assumption.
Dan

Dan, I think you could attribute that one to Steve Meunier. There are several features I see that are spot on. Can we see the receiver inleting?

Newton, what do you see that looks like Steve Meunier?

I sure don't see it

Dan,
I'll send some photos of the inletting to Fred for posting. At show and tell on Wed we were able to see the fill of the barrel spline with a flashlight which shows a slightly different color but it would never show in a photo. Whoever did it did a really good job of filling the spline.
Dan

pictures of inletting

Fred,
Whats up here you posted the same pics in two different threads. Are the pics a MN or 1903? Or am I missing something here?

It was a long year and a mistake on my part that I've now corrected.

Brent, to me the most noticed feature is how flat sided it is, then the swept back grip, grip cap angle, same toe line, and the dip in the forend between the front swivel and shnable. Yes the drop at heel is less and the comb fluted but those are in my opinion improved features of a later built stock.
We really need someone here to post pics of the muenier rifle in Michaels post for comparison to Dans . I can't do it from my end.
Dan, thanks for getting the inlet pics to Fred, and Fred for posting. I wanted to know if the maker inlet for the receiver lungs. I see they are not, same as the Muenier stock I have in hand.
BTW in Michaels book/post he had mentioned that the buttplate could be a clue to the maker. Sorry to report the buttplate is a dead end. An identical plate came up on eBay several months back, it is from a Belgium made sxs that could be bought through a mail order catalogue. It was named S. Holt, probably to sound like a S. Colt. There were others with names like Westly Rikards, Hollard & Hollard.

I am always amazed at how you guys see details like this It tells me I'm out of my depth, but then, I'm no serious collection. However, in this case, I was thinking there is/was only one Steven Meunier rifle known. And that was the one I bought from Amoskeague's auction of Michael's rifles. And it is the one that self-destructed on me. I don't have a picture of it handy other than the shrapnel parts. Amoskeague took Auction #104 down, so I can't link to those pictures, but it is in Michael's book. Anyhow, I just don't see the connection but I'll look at it them again. Maybe I can get the hang of this someday.

Michael's post on the Meunier.

Some similarities. My thanks to Dan and Fred both for sharing this.

Thaine

Thaine,
Can you rescue the photos from Michael's thread so we can see them?
Dan

Is this what you want to see

Thanks James, I'm in Nashville right now and have been out of pocket to load those.

Thaine

Yup, that was her.

I love that buttplate, wonder if it is a 1 off.

Which one? The one that Dan won off of gunbroker? If so, I think it is a one-off. The checkering looks like it was done by hand with a checkering file. On the other hand, the buttplate on the rifle Michael used to own, was probably purchased. I saw one similar to that on ebay a few months ago. I wish I would have bought it.

I've been asked to post this picture.

Obvious not a 1 off, still a neat buttplate.