Sporterized M-1922

[Griff Murphey]

Just bought 8494 SA 8-26 from a friend’s estate. It was an attic find- he had paid very little for it maybe nothing as a widow wanted “ the guns out of the house…” The bolt has been turned down and it has a Beuhler type low safety as it is D&T’d with a Redfield base and a gigantic Bushnell 6-18 scope. The recessed area of the stock 49466494674946849469494704946649467494684946949470 for the rear sight on the stock has been filled with acraglass and looks sorta ok. The stock has has about 3/8” cut off and a recoil pad (on a .22 LR?!?) is crudely installed- not to the standard of the other gunsmithing which though highly regrettable is pretty good. Anyway I gave $1100 for it. I’ll shoot it if it’s fun I’ll keep it; I think it would be a very expensive restoration.

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Sorry for the messy post

[Kragrifle]

Was the receiver drilled and tapped for that scope ?

[Griff Murphey]

Yes.

[RCS]

You should be able to find another 1903 stock that was sporterized and I have seen used M2 stocks around
but they sometimes had things done to them. Some gunshops have sporter stocks around too

[Kragrifle]

Don?t try to restore this rifle, just enjoy shooting it.

[Griff Murphey]

My thought is: I will try it, may be a good old man?s 50 yard plate dinger. If it?s the kind of gun you can shoot a Turkey in the head with, I?ll keep it. Restoration would be virtually prohibitive, IMO.

[fjruple]

Too bad someone messed with it. It looks like a Model of 1922 M1 that was not updated to a (MII) M2. Is the M1 magazine missing or converted to single shot? Finding M1 parts are like looking for live dinosaur eggs if you should break any. One option is to upgraded to a M2 as those parts are still around.

[artd]

While I agree that the rifle has been too severely modified to properly restore, it is interesting. One question, is the rifle's serial number etched on the bottom of the bolt? SN 8494 is not found in the SRS listing and may very likely be a Model of 1922 MI issue rifle. If the MI bolt is serialized to the receiver, it is actually a pretty rare thing because most MI's would have been upgraded to the M2 configuration.

Art

[Griff Murphey]

It has a correct magazine. I’ll check to see about the sn possibly on the bolt.

[Griff Murphey]

49595Yes it is marked 8494 on the bottom of the bolt.

[artd]

IMHO, an original Model of 1922 MI, issue rifle in original condition is in the top 3 or 4 of hard to find 1922 variances. Most were returned to Springfield and upgraded to M2 configuration. Having the original M1 bolt serialized to the receiver means that at this rifle escaped being upgrades. Sad news is that if original without all the mods, it would be a $3K+ rifle.

Art

[Darreld Walton]

Mine was found in a similar condition, but with further modifications. It still uses an MI bolt assembly, along with an MI magazine, but the bolt handle has been modified for scope use. Mine came with a one piece base, using the original arsenal drilled holes in the forward ring, and the rear bridge drilled to accept the rear screw of the base. The barrel has been drilled and tapped for a scope base, I assume at the same time the forward ring was done.
Mine came in a maple stock, and I've since placed it into an M2 stock that I found that was inlet for a Lyman 48, which I installed after I removed the glass. Now that my vision is deteriorating, I'll probably have to go back to the glass. At some point, I'll likely have to upgrade to the MII bolt and magazine just to have some parts availability, as has been mentioned, the MI stuff is made of unobtainium these days, or at least beyond what I'm willing to spend.
Oh, one other thing, my rifle's barrel was apparently turned and shortened, and had a ramped and hooded front sight silver soldered. Very nicely done, but, well.... all things considered, the rifle is beyond being a cost effective restoration, and I'll just take it out and enjoy it along with my Model 52.49759

[Griff Murphey]

4979849799Finally got it to the ranges and shot a 6 shot group at 25 yards. I did not have a steady rest ir it might have been a one holer? Used PMC “match”.