doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Mike Petrov, need your opine

Here is a 1903 Sporter I picked up. No marks indicating who did the work. Has the usual European fixings. Course checkering but deliberate. Note the touches at the forend tip. 30-06 with Springfield barrel. Hendsolt 4X in claw mounts. Double set triggers, 2 leaf rear sight, but not very good bluing, me thinks it was reblued at some point. 3XXXXXX serial number range.

Anyone have any ideas?



















I have a few more pics.
any ideas on who might have made this would be appreciated

Can't help but have a closeup of the forend detail you speak of?

After WWII both German and Austrian Gunsmiths were only allowed to work on guns owned by Allied personal. I believe that it was not until 1952 that they could own, manufacture and work on other guns. Your rifle is typical of this period in history with a high mounted scope, flat bolt and double set triggers. It’s hard to fit a set of DST’s into the Springfield triggerguard so they normally used a shotgun triggerguard but I see they managed with your rifle. These were made by any gunmaker who wanted to work in his trade. Workmanship ranges from crude to well done, yours is above average for the time. Post war West Germany with it’s ruined economy was a great place for a GI with a few dollars, large numbers of these were converted. So to answer your question your rifle was made by an unknown gunsmith in Germany post war trying to make a living as best he could. Rarely are these marked as to who did the work, some will be found marked Wiesbaden Rod & Gun Club which was run, I believe by the US Air Force. I've been there but don't remember a lot about the place.

Looks like the forearm treatment may compliment the oak leaf motif in the bottom of the grip panel, but its difficult to see in the photograph supplied.

Hand-assembled all the way.

It's a nice gun...but if you can't tell which side of the pond this gun was made on, just by looking at it...what is there to discuss?...even the bases where made on this side...not the scope and rings...but the bases...ask any experienced checkerer...look at the stock lines

I think MP nailed it down as good as can be.

The stock lines don't look American to me....other than the missing Schabel.....it might have took a dip in the pond and a Beaver chewed on the stock after it got here.

I had a similar Springfield. The stock on my gun was decidedly more Tuetonic i.e. Schnable forearm and Euro cheek. The length of pull was nearly 16"!!! The scope (in claw mounts) was Polish military.It also had double set triggers.The workmanship was average at best. No identifying marks.

Regards,
Ken