Let's take a trip back in time. After WWI, a lot of Americans were starting to see the benefits of a quality bolt-action rifle. The levergun still reigned supreme as the hunting rifle of choice, but more and more hunters wanted to use higher-powered and more accurate bolt actions. The problem was, there wasn't much selection on the US market. US arms makers were slowly starting up production during the 20's and 30's, but for a shooter or hunter who wanted an affordable bolt action, the military surplus rifles were one of the best options. NO AMERICAN RIFLE MAKER was producing rifles on par with the Mauser 98's until 1936 when the Model 70 came out. So it made a lot of sense to strip down a Mauser to its action, take it to a smith and make your own bolt action rifle. And a lot of sporterized Mausers from this period are EXCELLENT rifles, with quality stocks and slick actions.
Flash forward to the period after WWII when the first great shipments of bulk bringbacks and arsenal selloffs hit our shores. This sparked a different era of sporterization, marked by inferior workmanship and garage hacking. "American Rifleman" and other rags printed dozens of articles trying to teach do-it-yourself gunsmiths how to sporterize that "junky" European rifle and make it valuable and useful. Of course what ended up happening most of the time was crude hacking off the end of the stock and barrel, slapping on some cruddy sights, and possibly re-chambering for some new or hybrid cartridge. This made some sense back in the day, since military rounds such as 7.62x54R or 8x57JS were very difficult to find.
Flash forward again to the end of the Cold War, when what's probably the last great wave of arsenal sell-offs hit the US. The 90's saw a massive growth in not only the collecting of military rifles in original condition, but in the doctrines of historical preservation in general. People started thinking about the rifles as being a part of history worth saving. Coupled with this, the value of US surplus arms in particular went through the roof, making a lot of folks rue the day they took out the hack saw.
So today we have two competing trends. The old doctrines of hacking and slashing are so firmly entrenched you still find otherwise intelligent shooters who will destroy a valuable military rifle and turn it into an unspeakable hobgoblin with almost no value. But slowly and surely the new doctrine is starting to hold sway. These days, unlike the 30's or even 50's, you can go out and buy a Savage bolt action that will shoot MOA for far less than the cost of a military rifle and your hacking equipment.
So what's the point? If it's a busted stock, you can order a new stock. There's no need to waste time and energy tryint to do more. The availability of no-drill scout-style mounts these days also makes the D&T option a waste of time.
A friend of mine has an old military surplus rifle with the stock totally broken and trashed. Essentially he has just the barreled action in good condition. There seem to be plenty of synthetic sporterizing stocks available by mail order. Anyone here who has sporterized an old Mosin Nagent (or K-31, or Enfield, etc) to turn it into a hunting rifle? Anything in particular to look out for (other than horrified collectors)?
