Reproduction Sniper rifles Yes or No

[shotgun sam]

What's wrong with shooting a mil-surp open sight ?

I have an 1917 SMLE with a non invasive scope mounted on it so my registered blind son can shoot it, I see nothing wrong with that

Sam

[Dark Skies]

I wouldn't do it with my current No.4 as at some point in it's life it's been seriously worked on with PH sights fore and aft, and stamped up "Fulton Regulated". Depending on who you talk to that's worth a few bob over the standard rifle.
BUT if I had a straight shooting but otherwise unremarkable No.4 and came upon a 4T scope and mount - or a good repro ... hell yeah it might not be an original but that doesn't mean to say it couldn't be made to shoot like one with some work and give me the fun of shooting something I couldn't otherwise afford easily.

Obviously selling one off as an original would be fraud. And that would be naughty.

[froggy]

I have an 1917 SMLE with a non invasive scope mounted on it so my registered blind son can shoot it, I see nothing wrong with that
I think your situation is unusual, the same way I fully appreciate older shooters with declining eyes-sight might want to use a scope. But what we are talking here is converting a rare or "getting rarer" gun with "historical" value. IMO a totally different proposal.

[breacher]

Its your rifle. Enjoy it any way you want. To many people trying to tell others how to live their lives.

As long as its a repro rather than a counterfeit..........

Happy shooting !

[breacher]

Or if you want to scope a ww2 era rifle but not make a repro ww2 sniper............

I wanted to enter NRA matches with a "pre 1955" criteria.

I have put a 1950s Pecar on a 1950s k98 ( in 30.06 so could never enter a match for ww2 rifles anyway )

So, I get to enjoy the rifle in the way I want without trying to pretend my rifle is anything more than a 1950s rifle with a 1950s scope !

[GeeRam]

Ultimately it's your rifle and you can do what you want with it, you'll never please everybody. I think the trouble lies when things are passed off as originals, so as long as you remain transparent then you're good to go.

However, if you want to shoot it and get a feel for what they were like without the cost of finding a genuine one then go for it. For me, it would depend on the scarcity of the piece and the value of the firearm.

^This.

The K98 sniper is the preverbial minefield, and yes I would wince at a nice genuine matching numbers (or mostly) K98 being sniper-ised, even if it wasn't being passed of as being a 'real' one.
Same with a untouched, original No.4 or SMLE etc.

But, if you have a bitza and your eyes are old and fubar then why not, again as long as it's not 'faked' to be something its not when sold (if sold)

I've got a minty, real 4T, but I'd like a scoped K98 to pair it off, and spent a while trying to find a Norwegian capture K98 that had gone through the re-barrel/re-stamp to 30-06 post war by the Norwegians, as they can never been claimed to be a real sniper, and it's been butchered already in it's post war service, but still has enough of its own history to be interesting.

One of our new club members has just bought a nice No.4 off a retiring from shooting member, and he was worried about this aspect, but the No.4 has already in its prior life been through Fultons, with new wood, a rebarrel, regulated and bedded etc and restamped, so I said, it's not really going to be devaluing it by fitting 4T style scope mounts, repro scope and cheek piece if thats what he wanted to do...and in fact will be enchancing its better shooting aspects with a scope, even a repro Mk1 No.32.

[snayperskaya]

Its your rifle. Enjoy it any way you want. To many people trying to tell others how to live their lives.

As long as its a repro rather than a counterfeit..........

Happy shooting !

I agree that ultimately people can, and will, do what they want with their own rifle and if someone wants to scope an old rifle then obviously that's their choice but I believe the OP has purchased a rather sought after Hungarian M91/30 Mosin and is contemplating fitting a reproduction scope to it to create a reproduction sniper.......Hungarian Mosin's of any favour are quite rare compared to those of other nations and nice clean examples (as I believe his is) will only increase in value but that value will decrease considerably if the receiver is permanently drilled in order to fit a scope mount.Mosin prices are climbing as stocks are drying up, especially with the sanctions against Russia that don't appear to be dropped anytime soon and nice original examples are becoming increasingly hard to find.

As I said it is obviously up to the individual as to what they do with their rifle and I don't think it is a case of trying to tell people how to live their lives, some people may not realise that the rifle they have is particularly rare or uncommon and best off being left in its original configuration.

[Sim G]

Have you seen the price of genuine military sniper rifles?!!!! Feck me! And the ones I’ve tried didn’t shoot that well neither!

Want to build a “repro”, fill your boots! Enjoy whatever you shoot.

[shotgun sam]

I have an 1917 SMLE with a non invasive scope mounted on it so my registered blind son can shoot it, I see nothing wrong with that
I think your situation is unusual, the same way I fully appreciate older shooters with declining eyes-sight might want to use a scope. But what we are talking here is converting a rare or "getting rarer" gun with "historical" value. IMO a totally different proposal.

He says it is his Historical inheritance and I am only allowed to fire 10 rounds a year just in case I wear the barrel out but he can fire as many as he wants.
We have a slot for another 303 and that I am told must be WW2 and be historically accurate to be fitted with an non invasive scope as well

[breacher]

Its your rifle. Enjoy it any way you want. To many people trying to tell others how to live their lives.

As long as its a repro rather than a counterfeit..........

Happy shooting !

I agree that ultimately people can, and will, do what they want with their own rifle and if someone wants to scope an old rifle then obviously that's their choice but I believe the OP has purchased a rather sought after Hungarian M91/30 Mosin and is contemplating fitting a reproduction scope to it to create a reproduction sniper.......Hungarian Mosin's of any favour are quite rare compared to those of other nations and nice clean examples (as I believe his is) will only increase in value but that value will decrease considerably if the receiver is permanently drilled in order to fit a scope mount.Mosin prices are climbing as stocks are drying up, especially with the sanctions against Russia that don't appear to be dropped anytime soon and nice original examples are becoming increasingly hard to find.

As I said it is obviously up to the individual as to what they do with their rifle and I don't think it is a case of trying to tell people how to live their lives, some people may not realise that the rifle they have is particularly rare or uncommon and best off being left in its original configuration.

Money is not the only thing with value.

Say the rifle doubles in value in the owners lifetime ? Or even triples. Or even quadruples !

He will leave a few hundred or a couple of thousand more in his estate.

Me, I would value 10 or 20 years of shooting at far more than that !

And if these original matching number rifles were so sought after, they would be snapped up by purists and would cost so much, nobody would even think of altering them. But they are not. Some are so cheap they end up next to the scrap in the deac market !