the cheapest gun you have ever seen

maarten221 · 03-31-2005, 01:58 PM

Lee Enfield .303 rifles that Commando members could purchase from the SADF for R50 - about 10 years ago - that's about $15. Still wrapped in oroginal packaging.
I had one. Buddy had one too - shot his first "bosvark" with it from the hip....lucky he hit it - otherwise he would have gotte gored.

bluesman1318 · 04-03-2005, 02:30 PM

Though I am probably showing my age here's the real cheap story of my life.

My mom, recently divorced and broke, wanted me to have a deer rifle for my 12th birthday. She found a dozen Moisin-Nagant rifles that had been damaged in a gun shop fire. The whole kit and kaboodle went for ten bucks.

I took them apart, down to the springs, and built four functional rifles. Test fired them with a string tied to the trigger and the rifle tied to a rain barrel. Afvter ten rounjds of military ammo I decided that they were not going to come apart due to the loss of temper or other metallurgical damage due to the fire.

I kept one and sold the other three for $20.00 apiece and repaid my mom four times over. After reassembling two more I had enough money to buy a Fajen stock and a box of soft points for reloading. I pulled the FMJ bullets, weighed them, and, using a bench vice as my "bullet seater, seated the soft points - dangerous, but I was 12 and needed deer ammo.

The Fajen stock was "sorta-inletted" and I finished the "inletting" with a pocket knife, an old wood chisel, and lotsa sand paper wrapped around a wooden dowel.

With the iron sights and wrong weight bullets the rifle shot about 8 inches high at 100 yards. I knocked out the front sight, filed down the head of a horse shoe nail to fit the front sight base, and drove it into place with a hunk of soft brass. At the range I fired one round then filed the nail down, shooting, then filing, and testing zero, until the rifle was shooting 2 inches high and then thinned it out by more filing. That rifle killed three deer, a buck and two doe ( I had three doe tags.) and fed the family all winter and into the spring.

Today I own a couple of hundred guns and have been blessed to hunt in many places, but I'd pay a bunch for that old ham-handed conversion of the Moisin-Nagant if I could find it.

rebel727 · 04-15-2005, 10:17 PM

[quote=Maurice]Bought new at White Front store for $5.97 in Sacramento, California, about 1964. I still have it It has shot one box of 22 shorts but I don't think it will survive another box. Shooting double action, it spits lead out one side. Cylinder does not completely line up with the barrel. Made in Germany.QUOTE]

That wouldn't be a Burgo by any chance would it? If so I have one. You'd have to tie a five dollar bill to it and throw it in the river to say you threw something away. LOL

04-03-2005, 02:30 PM	#22
bluesman1318 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Pittsburgh, Pa Posts: 11	Cheapest Guns I ever had Though I am probably showing my age here's the real cheap story of my life. My mom, recently divorced and broke, wanted me to have a deer rifle for my 12th birthday. She found a dozen Moisin-Nagant rifles that had been damaged in a gun shop fire. The whole kit and kaboodle went for ten bucks. I took them apart, down to the springs, and built four functional rifles. Test fired them with a string tied to the trigger and the rifle tied to a rain barrel. Afvter ten rounjds of military ammo I decided that they were not going to come apart due to the loss of temper or other metallurgical damage due to the fire. I kept one and sold the other three for $20.00 apiece and repaid my mom four times over. After reassembling two more I had enough money to buy a Fajen stock and a box of soft points for reloading. I pulled the FMJ bullets, weighed them, and, using a bench vice as my "bullet seater, seated the soft points - dangerous, but I was 12 and needed deer ammo. The Fajen stock was "sorta-inletted" and I finished the "inletting" with a pocket knife, an old wood chisel, and lotsa sand paper wrapped around a wooden dowel. With the iron sights and wrong weight bullets the rifle shot about 8 inches high at 100 yards. I knocked out the front sight, filed down the head of a horse shoe nail to fit the front sight base, and drove it into place with a hunk of soft brass. At the range I fired one round then filed the nail down, shooting, then filing, and testing zero, until the rifle was shooting 2 inches high and then thinned it out by more filing. That rifle killed three deer, a buck and two doe ( I had three doe tags.) and fed the family all winter and into the spring. Today I own a couple of hundred guns and have been blessed to hunt in many places, but I'd pay a bunch for that old ham-handed conversion of the Moisin-Nagant if I could find it.

04-15-2005, 10:17 PM	#23
rebel727 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Heidelberg, Mississippi Posts: 1,642	[quote=Maurice]Bought new at White Front store for $5.97 in Sacramento, California, about 1964. I still have it It has shot one box of 22 shorts but I don't think it will survive another box. Shooting double action, it spits lead out one side. Cylinder does not completely line up with the barrel. Made in Germany.QUOTE] That wouldn't be a Burgo by any chance would it? If so I have one. You'd have to tie a five dollar bill to it and throw it in the river to say you threw something away. LOL __________________ North-1 South-0 HALFTIME!

03-31-2005, 01:58 PM	#21
maarten221 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 218	Lee Enfield .303 rifles that Commando members could purchase from the SADF for R50 - about 10 years ago - that's about $15. Still wrapped in oroginal packaging. I had one. Buddy had one too - shot his first "bosvark" with it from the hip....lucky he hit it - otherwise he would have gotte gored.