Back when I was a little kid, my Dad had an old Winchester 75 target model. He bought it at an auction with a ringed bore out near the muzzle, no sights, and drilled and tapped for one of the old stamped steel Weaver side-mount deals. At least it had a 1" scope on it. We killed the hell out of stuff with that rifle. Shot my first squirrels with it. My brother did too, probably.
When I was about 12 or 13, he traded it towards something, an NEF handi-rifle package with .22 Hornet and 20g barrels, a scope and mounts, IIRC. I've always kept an eye out for it and for a Ruger MKI target model he traded for an engine, I believe. Since I've been working, I've kept a little saved back so I could buy them if they turned up. It's been a while, but every lead on both is a dead end.
A couple years back I put together my own 513T, and my Dad really enjoys shooting it. I had everything for it except the aperture sights, which I'd probably never use, but want so that I have the whole "Barbie Playset".
At a small local show a couple weeks back, I ran across another 513T, much earlier than my late 50s/early 60s rifle. Straight bolt handle; magazine catch is attached to the rifle, not the stock; commercial production with a polished blued finished and no military markings. Aperture sights (Lyman 90MJT rear, Redfield globe front). Beautiful color-case hardening on the bolt after all of these years. The serial number is in the 8xx range.
A quick call to my brother and my sister, and it was decided. I was going to do the work, we were going to split the cost three ways and give it to him at our Father's Day get-together.
The one flaw is the someone had drilled and tapped the side of the receiver for one of the Weaver stamped-steel mounts, like my Dads old 75 had. So, the collector value was straight out the window. Which, as cool as the rifle is, makes it perfect for what I was looking for. A shooter for Pops, not a collector. Frankly, he wouldn't get the pleasure out of a set of Aperture Sights that he'd get from a scope. So I didn't feel a bit bad about D&Ting it for a set of real Weaver bases, as any collector value was shot in the ass by the gaping holes left by the Weaver Side-Mount.
To determine if it was worth messing with or not, we shot it fresh from the show with the aperture sights, from a sandbagged rest, at a range of a little over 20 yards, just to see if there was any kind of "mechanical accuracy". Turns out there was. Three of us shot it for groups on the same target, holding for the same POA. Five or six groups were shot, and the result was a nice, tight group a little larger than a quarter, but about 3" above the bull, which makes sense if it was zeroed for a longer range.
When I got it-
The stock didn't look like anything special, just the dark coloration that a lot of these rifles have, probably from gathering oil, grease and dirt from being handled for 50-75 years. It was in the plan to refinish it, but I didn't realize the nice piece of wood I'd be working on until I got the old stuff stripped off of it.....
Stripped of the old finish, hit with a wet rag to show the grain-
When I was about 12 or 13, he traded it towards something, an NEF handi-rifle package with .22 Hornet and 20g barrels, a scope and mounts, IIRC. I've always kept an eye out for it and for a Ruger MKI target model he traded for an engine, I believe. Since I've been working, I've kept a little saved back so I could buy them if they turned up. It's been a while, but every lead on both is a dead end.
A couple years back I put together my own 513T, and my Dad really enjoys shooting it. I had everything for it except the aperture sights, which I'd probably never use, but want so that I have the whole "Barbie Playset".
At a small local show a couple weeks back, I ran across another 513T, much earlier than my late 50s/early 60s rifle. Straight bolt handle; magazine catch is attached to the rifle, not the stock; commercial production with a polished blued finished and no military markings. Aperture sights (Lyman 90MJT rear, Redfield globe front). Beautiful color-case hardening on the bolt after all of these years. The serial number is in the 8xx range.
A quick call to my brother and my sister, and it was decided. I was going to do the work, we were going to split the cost three ways and give it to him at our Father's Day get-together.
The one flaw is the someone had drilled and tapped the side of the receiver for one of the Weaver stamped-steel mounts, like my Dads old 75 had. So, the collector value was straight out the window. Which, as cool as the rifle is, makes it perfect for what I was looking for. A shooter for Pops, not a collector. Frankly, he wouldn't get the pleasure out of a set of Aperture Sights that he'd get from a scope. So I didn't feel a bit bad about D&Ting it for a set of real Weaver bases, as any collector value was shot in the ass by the gaping holes left by the Weaver Side-Mount.
To determine if it was worth messing with or not, we shot it fresh from the show with the aperture sights, from a sandbagged rest, at a range of a little over 20 yards, just to see if there was any kind of "mechanical accuracy". Turns out there was. Three of us shot it for groups on the same target, holding for the same POA. Five or six groups were shot, and the result was a nice, tight group a little larger than a quarter, but about 3" above the bull, which makes sense if it was zeroed for a longer range.
When I got it-
The stock didn't look like anything special, just the dark coloration that a lot of these rifles have, probably from gathering oil, grease and dirt from being handled for 50-75 years. It was in the plan to refinish it, but I didn't realize the nice piece of wood I'd be working on until I got the old stuff stripped off of it.....
Stripped of the old finish, hit with a wet rag to show the grain-
