Doug Bowser
member
GREAT SOUTHERN ARMS OF JAYESS, MISSISSIPPI
by Doug Bowser
In 1990, Powers Dunaway and I were attending Gun Shows and we decided to combine our wares and collectively purchase military firearms and ammunition. We opened a shop in Jayess and purchased $900 worth of .303 British and .30-06 ammunition made in Greece. We sold all of the ammo and bought more ASAP. We also bought Finnish Moisin Nagant Model 91 rifles. Century Arms had them for sale at $11.97 including shipping. The only problem was they had cracked hand guards. We eventually bought 200 of these rifles and among them were some really rare examples.
We bought German K98k rifles with bad bores and replaced the barrels with near new FN 8x57 barrels from Israel. We also bought Lee Enfield Rifles, Swedish Mauser 96 and 96/38 Rifles and ammunition for all of them. We eventually had over 450 military rifles and 100 military handguns in our shop. They were from almost every Country in the World. We also carried original ammo, slings and parts for repairs.
We set up a website and I photographed the rifles and described them on the site. We did a great mail order business to collectors all over the World.
I wrote books on the Swedish and Finnish Rifles and they sparked a lot of interest among American Collectors. They were the first books about these rifles written in English.
Unfortunately, Powers became critically ill and I had to retire due to health problems. We spilt the shop evenly and sold off a lot of the stock on the internet.
The years of running the shop gained a lot for me. I learned more by handling the rifles and having contact with hundreds of the finest collectors in the World.
I am going to show you a few of the rifles we had in our shop. There is no way to explain the quantity or quality of these items.
Swedish M96 Mausers
M39 Finn Rifles
M91 Finn Rifles
M39 Finn Rifles
by Doug Bowser
In 1990, Powers Dunaway and I were attending Gun Shows and we decided to combine our wares and collectively purchase military firearms and ammunition. We opened a shop in Jayess and purchased $900 worth of .303 British and .30-06 ammunition made in Greece. We sold all of the ammo and bought more ASAP. We also bought Finnish Moisin Nagant Model 91 rifles. Century Arms had them for sale at $11.97 including shipping. The only problem was they had cracked hand guards. We eventually bought 200 of these rifles and among them were some really rare examples.
We bought German K98k rifles with bad bores and replaced the barrels with near new FN 8x57 barrels from Israel. We also bought Lee Enfield Rifles, Swedish Mauser 96 and 96/38 Rifles and ammunition for all of them. We eventually had over 450 military rifles and 100 military handguns in our shop. They were from almost every Country in the World. We also carried original ammo, slings and parts for repairs.
We set up a website and I photographed the rifles and described them on the site. We did a great mail order business to collectors all over the World.
I wrote books on the Swedish and Finnish Rifles and they sparked a lot of interest among American Collectors. They were the first books about these rifles written in English.
Unfortunately, Powers became critically ill and I had to retire due to health problems. We spilt the shop evenly and sold off a lot of the stock on the internet.
The years of running the shop gained a lot for me. I learned more by handling the rifles and having contact with hundreds of the finest collectors in the World.
I am going to show you a few of the rifles we had in our shop. There is no way to explain the quantity or quality of these items.
Swedish M96 Mausers
M39 Finn Rifles
M91 Finn Rifles
M39 Finn Rifles
