Making a $450 sporter out of a milsurp

[Bill H]

No, we were not fools. At that time, sporterizing an 03 made sense. My first one, purchased in 1959, soon had a sporter stock, bent bolt, and weaver K2.5 installed.

It was inexpensive and I still have it. It still shoots 1 inch groups.

Times have changed, labor has skyrocketed, and new guns are available at reasoable prices.

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[kcw]

No, we were not fools. At that time, sporterizing an 03 made sense. My first one, purchased in 1959, soon had a sporter stock, bent bolt, and weaver K2.5 installed.

It was inexpensive and I still have it. It still shoots 1 inch groups.

Times have changed, labor has skyrocketed, and new guns are available at reasoable prices.

At the time the "Fair Trade" rules then in effect caused rifles, and many other goods for that matter, to be sold only at the manufacturers' Suggested List Price; thus new guns were comparitively expensive. Also demand was high, what with all those WWII vets and their kids getting into the shooting sports.
On the other hand, surplus arms were relatively cheap, as were the parts and labor to sporterize them. In the end an efficiently sported 98 or 03 served the novice just as well afield as did the much more expensive Model 70. And that's the way it was.