In defense of Bubba

[DukeIronHand]

A common theme here with any, what’s considered to be, a sub-standard or ill-advised repair or clean-up attempt is to call that owner “Bubba.” I get it and it’s easy to laugh.

Some of my gun pals got together today and were discussing - what else? Guns.
I’m not that old but I remember back in the pre-internet days when gun information, pictures, history, advice, schematics, and parts was not at your finger tips. Literally seconds away now.

If, heaven forbid, I was trying to fix up, say a K98 I picked up for $15 at a garage sale back in the “old days”, where in the world did I go for the above information? The local library on a dim chance they had a Mauser book? Ha! Parts? Guess I better hope the one LGS in a 50 mile radius was fully stocked with a plethora of Mauser parts and a distant relative of Paul Mauser behind the counter to give advice. Maybe I can wait for the once-a-year gun show at the local VFW Hall and get lucky on parts? The right parts? Hope so. All these fancy tools and chemicals? Use what?

In this day and age there really is no excuse for a bad job if you care enough but to some a old rifle is just an old rifle. But back in the pre-electronic days? I remember and would have a tough time laughing at some old codger in his kitchen trying to get an old gun to work. Or get the dang gum rust off it back in the “old days.”
Just food for thought after 3 cups of coffee. Bubba is not cool but a product of his times perhaps.

 

[DukeIronHand]

Hey Duke,
Could this be a little bit of a guilt complex starting to surface?

No. What are you referring too?

EDIT: Ahh. That I have stripped polyurethane off a K98 stock? Removed rust? Put linseed on splintering bone dry wood. Removed mold growing on interior wood? Replaced a mystery part with something that was at least a K98 part? No. Not in the least. If that earns me the title of “Bubba” then I will wear it proudly.

 

[Stan]

There was an industry for such conversions back in the day. You see some that were well done, and others that were quite poor. Too bad so many got "the treatment" regardless of quality of the work. Here is an old Williams ad for a guide to spoterizing the M98 Mauser...

 

[swjXE]

No. What are you referring too?

EDIT: Ahh. That I have stripped polyurethane off a K98 stock? Removed rust? Put linseed on splintering bone dry wood. Removed mold growing on interior wood? Replaced a mystery part with something that was at least a K98 part? No. Not in the least. If that earns me the title of “Bubba” then I will wear it proudly.

Just rattling your cage Duke! No offence meant!

 

[DukeIronHand]

Just rattling your cage Duke! No offence meant!

S!
The texted word, without inflection and nuance, can be tricky.

 

[swjXE]

S!
The texted word, without inflection and nuance, can be tricky.

Sorry, I obviously have kind of a twisted sense of humor and a tendency to crack myself up at everyone else's expense.

 

[R.W. Parker]

Here is an old Williams ad for a guide to spoterizing the M98 Mauser...

I well remember that ad, Stan!

When I was at school, Master Spann (who was well into his seventies) called me over. He had a barreled action that belonged to a good friend of his, one that Parker Ackley had rebarreled to .270 Ackley Improved. The rifle didn't shoot well and, me being Ben's star pupil, he asked if I'd fit a new barrel to the action and chamber it to plain old .270.

When he unwrapped the towel, I could've cried. The action was marked "G33/40", and it had been highly polished and hot blued.

"See that?" Master Spann asked, pointing at the G33/40 designation. "ELITE!" he said.

"Yeah, it was once" I answered. "Too bad someone wrecked it."

"BAH!" said Ben, with a dismissive wave of his hand.

You see, to those old guys, a Mauser wasn't worth beans until it had been properly converted into a sporting rifle. When Ben said "ELITE!", he was referring to the action's desirability for conversion to a lightweight mountain rifle. As you might imagine, lightweight .270s were pretty popular in Colorado and Wyoming.

Now Ben Spann wasn't a "bubba" by any stretch of the imagination. He retired from a long career as a Gage and Instrument maker, to become the school's Machine Shop instructor. He was also a certifued Master Watchmaker, and had quite a few patents under his belt. I've been privileged to know a few master craftsmen, but Ben was by far the best.

But in Ben's day, Mauser rifles were cheap and plentiful. Guys like Jack O'Conner regularly had the nation's top gunsmiths build them into beautifully crafted sporters. It wasn't until much later that we began to learn just how rare some of those rifles truly were...

Richie

 

[Jakeman664]

Big companies were responsible for a lot of it. My grandfather showed me an ad in a gun magazine he got back in the day where they'd pay you $5 a luger that you would reblue. So I'm sure that convinced quite a few home "gunsmiths"

 

[sprat]

No you are looking at this through the prizm of the internet


there have always been collectors , accumulator's and BUBBA, that goes for dealer hack's and dealers who are collectors and experts

In the pre internet days, we had these things called books and magazines, plus we did not hide in mom's basement. We had this really cool magazine in those days, it was informative and explained right from wrong, it has since turned in to a fish wrapper IE: American Rifleman
In my case, collecting was in my blood my folks were expert antique collectors. Most of the collectors in those days belong to Collector clubs , in my case "Forks of the Delaware" My collector buddy ( who is now a well known expert on 1911/1911 a1's ) and I would latched on to the collectors we knew and the cool dealers. overtime you get a feel, we could do a 1000 table show and make split second decisions. I did it today at a small show

This is why I say GO to the shows, touch , look, smell, observe and if your gut says walk, you run!!!!!!!!!!!


lots of folks here still do not understand, this hobby and how it works. the principals are all the same whether its antique cars, coin, stamps, star trek memorabilia

 

[DaveDavis]

In the old days, these now prized collector guns, were dirt cheap junk to most people .... end of story .....

 

[M1903A3]

Something to keep in mind too is that this forum really centers on research of the production of these rifles and the changes that took place throughout production. This means that here the untouched, as issued/as manufactured rifles are generally looked at much more favorably than anything else. There is a heavy emphasis on details and on identifiable markings. Less value is placed in how well an example shoots, or on how beautiful a sporter is that someone made out of one.


Sent from my top secret official Bunker of the Order of the Def’s Hed.

 

[R.W. Parker]

Something to keep in mind too is that this forum really centers on research of the production of these rifles and the changes that took place throughout production. This means that here the untouched, as issued/as manufactured rifles are generally looked at much more favorably than anything else. There is a heavy emphasis on details and on identifiable markings. Less value is placed in how well an example shoots, or on how beautiful a sporter is that someone made out of one.

That's an excellent point. "Untouched, as-issued, as-originally manufactured" examples are practically worth their weight in gold for research and analysis purposes. Such attributes easily outweigh bore condition and remaining original finish when an example is viewed in that context alone.

On the other hand, bore condition and remaining original finish, along with "untouched, as-issued, as-originally manufactured", factor in to determining the monetary value of a piece.

Richie

 

[Bob in OHIO]

my fav stock.....

 

[joryfreeburg]

my fav stock.....

LOL!!! That is good stuff right there

 

[Warrior1354]

Just saw this one yesterday friend of mine picked it up at a small gun store. Picked it about 60 bucks. He's trying to restore it back to its original configuration.

It was a 1903 Danzig gewehr 98 and at one time it was all matching. Plus it never passed through a Depot it still had all of its factory original parts.

 

[M1903A3]

Just saw this one yesterday friend of mine picked it up at a small gun store. Picked it about 60 bucks. He's trying to restore it back to its original configuration.

It was a 1903 Danzig gewehr 98 and at one time it was all matching. Plus it never passed through a Depot it still had all of its factory original parts.

Holy crap. What kind of moron would weld on a M1 Carbine rear sight?? No way that’s going to be “on” at any useful range!! That hurts my brain.


Sent from my top secret official Bunker of the Order of the Def’s Hed.

 

[Stan]

my fav stock.....

I got one close to that!


Funny thing with many of the sporterized Mausers. Some folks selling them think that since it used to be a K98k that it's still worth at least $1500, instead of whatever a used sporting rifle sells for. Kind of like trying to have the cake and eat it too?

 

[yellowkid]

I use the term Bubba with endearment. Bubba was my father too. He was a navy vet from the war and this is a mag he bought in the early 60’s when there were pallets of milsurp rifles on the docks and no one had a clue what to do with them! He got an 03-A3 from the CMP about 3 weeks before I was born and this was his guide. He wanted a deer rifle and got to work. Luckily he put all the spare parts in a coffee can and never got to the scope work so it’s safe and sound with the paperwork. He was pretty good friends with Val Forget at Service Armaments (later Navy Arms) and used to take me all the time. I remember when they were selling unissued ZF-41 scopes as “pistol scopes” since they didn’t know what else to do with them. In the eyes of the folks back then these really weren’t good for much else.

 

[DukeIronHand]

Holy crap. What kind of moron would weld on a M1 Carbine rear sight?? No way that’s going to be “on” at any useful range!! That hurts my brain.


Sent from my top secret official Bunker of the Order of the Def’s Hed.

Oof. Yea. That’s a real bad one.
Have to give the old owner credit though: The idea of welding(!) and old American military sight(!) to a German K98 absolutely never ever would have occurred to me.

 

[yellowkid]

Here’s a fav of mine. C stock from a byf 45. Foreend shortened, recoil pad screwed on to the back.