Bolt Action Military Rifle Matches

[Monty]

My gun club has many shooting activities, some local matches, some state and some national. I wanted to do something that wouldn't cost too much so I got into military bolt action matches. I now own some 35 military bolt action rifles but my favorite for match shooting is the Swede Mauser. I have seven of them and they all shoot like a dream and are in 6.5mm Swede caliber. I use to do pretty well, winning some matches and our club came in second in the state competition and I only got beat by one shooter in the state who shot a perfect 300 with another Swede rifle. I sot a 298. My pet shooter is a Carl Gustaf model made in 1912. It is all original and all the parts have matching serial numbers. Two years ago my sight started to fail, mostly due to age and I can't shoot and be competative like I use to so now I just plink. I also collected M38 Russian Carbines and have several. I am cleaning out my gun safe and selling my guns off. I have two sons who are not really interested in collecting or match shooting so they are all for sale. Anyone interested in same might give me a PM and although this isn't an ad, we might make a deal? Monty

 

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[godisnum1]

I've been looking into bolt action rifles in common calibers lately. There's a couple websites of people selling or trading their guns locally. Many of them prefer face-to-face transactions to going through a gun dealer. I think this might be better because I really don't want to register any guns with the government for clearly obvious reasons....

I know I should be careful and make sure to have the serial numbers checked first.
What are your thoughts on this?

Bran <><

 

[Monty]

Bran there are numerous reliable retail and wholesale dealers in military bolt action rifles. I did have a collector's license and they could be shipped direct to me. Unless you buy direct from and individual you will have to go through the process of getting it shipped to a licensed dealer. I bought several becore I got my license and never had a problem. After I found out what dealers were reliable I did pretty good and got good guns, but I got a few clunkers too. I would prefer to see the rifle before I bought it if at all possible. Stay away from Ebay as that's where my clunkers came from. Oh, and what do you mean by popular calibers? If they are in American calibers they are probably altered so beware. Your best bet will probably be a M38 Russian carbine as most all of the have been factory rebuilt. The are in 7.62X54 Russian caliber, comparable to the .308 Winchester. You can put a pistol scope on them and they make a perfect lightweight "scout" rifle. I have several and would sell one if interested. Jim

 

[godisnum1]

Huh, cool... good info! The ones I was looking at weren't military bolt actions, they were just run-of-the-mill bolt action rifles chambered in 30.06, .308, .223 Rem, and 7mm. Likely it won't be something I collect, but something I hope to actually learn to shoot with. I might even talk to my uncles when I go up to Alabama next month for Thanksgiving since they're all arms dealers. I'm not set on any particular rifle as of yet, but I do know that I want a bolt action. Rifles seem to be exactly like detectors when it comes to people's opinions of them. As far a pistol, I really like the Beretta PX4 Storm. With the wedding in about 7 months, I'm just weighing my options...

Bran <><

 

[Monty]

If you want just a bolt action rifle for deer size game, you can't beat Remington or Ruger for the money. If you want to spend more, you are looking at a Beretta, Saco, or one of the European made rifles. A good all around caliber is of course the .30-06. The .25-06 is a hot little number for antelope or deer and much less recoil, but not enough for elk or moose. I haven't seen many Moose in Florida though! Or is it Mooses? Always confused me! The .308 is a fine caliber also. I have killed a deer with most of my military rifles. My favorite is my M96 Swede in 6.5 mm. I own six of those rifles! They were all made before 1920 and still will make one hole with 5 shots at 100 yds. Probably the most accurate military rifle ever made. But anyway, stick with the advice of your kinfolk and you won't go wrong. Oh, and send me a wedding invitation. I probably won't be able to make it but you never know! Monty

 

[godisnum1]

You can say "Mooses" (which seems to be a little outdated & unused), or you can say "Meese" (which is just plain funny!!)
As for the rifle, I've had this particular one saved in one of my browser tabs... it's a Ruger M77 Mark II in 30.06 but the guy is WAY up in Jacksonville. I did talk to him and he said that he's only put 15 to 20 rounds through it and has kept it clean and in a nice case since he bought the gun. Seems like a fine rifle...
http://www.armslist.com/posts/53954...es-for-sale-ruger-m77-mark-ii-3006-with-scope
I'm not sure if he's sold it yet or not, but my (soon to be) Father-in-law just asked me to send him the link yesterday. Hannah said she thinks that he's wanting to try to get it for Christmas for me. I don't know that I really want such an expensive Christmas gift like that though. I think he's just in a gun buying mood... he just bought himself another pistol the other day, then turned around and bought Hannah a compact 9mm. lol
She's never even SHOT a gun before! But it would be nice for her to learn so she's capable of being armed as well.
Another rifle I was looking at, though it was a little more than I was wanting to spend was a Ruger .223 Semi-auto Mini-14 Ranch Rifle.
The guy is right over in Tampa too...
I'll find the right rifle when the time is right though.

Oh, and you will DEFINITELY be getting an invitation to the wedding!! And guess what? You might actually be able to make it... 'cause it's only gonna be a few hours from you... over in Springfield, Missouri!! We have to have it there because Hannah's grandparents are too old to travel down to Florida. I was kinda disappointed to begin with, because we both wanted it on the beach... but now I'm kinda happy it's up there because it's pretty central for most of my T-Net family!

Bran <><

 

[godisnum1]

OH!!!!!! I just got a pretty crazy idea!!! What if we got a bunch of T-Net people together and all of us had a little pre-wedding detecting hunt?!! Since I won't be having a bachelor party, I could have a hunt instead! And I happen to know a certain little Gypsy who "might" have a little land laden with Viking Treasures to detect on...

That would be stinkin' awesome to get the T-Net family together to do some detecting before the wedding if we could!!!
And the upside is that I won't be distracted with Hannah because she'll be too busy with wedding stuff!! lol

I need to contact a Gypsy now!

Bran <><

 

[cheese]

The '03-A3 springfield can be a match winning 30-'06 too. Not the easiest to mount a scope on, but can hit a grapefruit at 300 yards with iron sights. I put a scope on one but the mount has worn and is shifting.

 

[Monty]

Scopes aren't allowed in the Military Boltaction matches. It's strictly from the bench , 50 shots at 100 yards open sights in relays of 10 shots. A perfect score is 500. I shot a 498 in a state championship match and came in second. #1 was a perfect score of 500 shot by a 17 year old kid! The bullseye is only 4" in diameter! At 100 yds you can't even see the bullseye, and just have to sight in at the middle of the target. I had 49 bullseyes and only one shot slightly out and still didn't win! That was the best I ever shot.I saw several '03 Springfields at the matches and one guy in particular cast his own bullets for his '03 and beat me like a drum at several club matches. I started having a problem with my eyes and could only muster scores in the 480s and that wasn't even in the top ten most of the time. I used a model M96 Swede in 6.5mm Swede caliber, probably one of the most accurate rifles ever made for military use. I handloaded my own ammo with 120 gr Sierra match bullets. I had to have cataract surgery and never could get my vision back good enough to compete so I had to drop out. I still have my rifles and still like to shoot, and have even taken a few deer with my old military rifles. In the sport of target shooting, military boltaction is about the least expensive to get into and is a lot of fun. Monty