I managed to pick up an 1891 Argentine long rifle at a gun show about ten years ago for $125. It is in excellent shape but the ejector seems to be broken, so it won't throw the empties clear of the receiver when the bolt is cycled. I have shot it, when I had ammo for it, and it shot pretty darn good.

Back around 1962, a similiar rifle was what got me turned onto milsurp rifles. Several of us teenage kids were thinking of taking big deer hunting trips that fall, but we needed rifles. So one of the kids grandpa suggested to us that we look into some of the old military surplus rifles that were in the barrels sitting out in front of the hardware and Sears catalog store every day. We had previously ingnored those greasy cosmoline coated things because they looked horrible and they were so messy with all that crud on them. But they were cheap, most of them that caught our eye had price tags of something in the range of $14.95 to $49.95 on them. So the next Saturday morning we all ganged up and went rifle shopping.

We scrounged thru all the barrels in town and two guys ended up with British No.1, Mk. 3 rifles and surplus ammo was available everywhere for them real cheaply. But my friend, Stan, spotted a beautiful 1891 Argentine Mauser that stood taller than the rest of the rifles in the barrel in front of the Sears Roebuck catalog store. That rifle cost him $24.95.

Unfortunately, I did not buy a rifle that day, as I could use my dad's sporterized 1903 Rock Island any time. Dad had the rifle sporterized before I was born by a well known gunsmith in the area at the time, and it was a good shooting rifle, and I still have it, and will never part with it, due to its family history.

But, back to the story, we packed our rifles home and started the long slow process of cleaning them up. Stan's grandpa bought us five gallons of diesel, which was less than a dollar back then, and gave us a bunch of rags and told us to have at it. By time that weekend was over, we had the rifles all cleaned up real nicely. Next came the shooting part, but that would be the following weekend.

The only ammo Stan could find for his Argentine Mauser was some very expensive stuff made by Norma and it cost nearly $20 for a 20 round box, so that rifle did not get fired much. But the next weekend, we drove out of town and went up in the woods where we knew there was a large clearcut where we could shoot all we wanted to without problems. We had lots of fun that day shooting at cans and such that we could find. In the trunk of the car was one of those old two gallon oil cans that contained non-detergent oil that you used to buy for a dollar or so at the grocery store. The can was empty and just begging to be made into a target.

So Stan took the can and started walking across the clear cut with it. We thought he was walking back to town, as he kept on going and going. When he finally found a tall stump to put the can on top of, he did and he paced it off back to where we were shooting from. It was about 500 paces, so we figured it must have been about 400 yards. After Stan caught his breath from the hike, he loaded up the Argentine and set the sight up to 400 yards and laid the rifle on top of an old pillow across the top of the car. Taking careful aim, he fired three rounds at the can. The can did not fall, so we figured he missed. He did not want to waste the expensive ammo, so he walked to the can to bring it back closer. Even at 400 yards, we could hear the whoop and hollar he let out when retrieving the can. The can had one bullet hole completely thru it dead center and one that clipped the very top of the can, taking away half of the metal handle.

Needless to say, that particular rifle became the rifle to compare all our others to as concerning accuracy. None of our other rifles could hold a candle to it in the accuracy department. I suspect the high quality Norma ammo had a lot to do with it, but it sure impressed us. It never got shot that much, due to the ammo situation back then, but it sure got fondled a lot while watching TV.

But most important, to me anyway, is that from that point on to this very day, my love of milsurp rifles was born and I still carry on the tradition.
Curt