[Mad Reloader]

Now, since the M-1917, and its immediate antecedent, the Pattern 1914 in .303...were the ancestral designs to the Remington Model 30 & 30S, a number of folks just after WW2 decided to rework their surplus arms into "reverse-engineered" :roll: Model 30 wannabees. (This usually involved cutting off the rear sight ears for starters)

Also--and especially in the New England to upper Midatlantic states, the M-1903 action was highly prized for making into a sporter, anywhere from a custom jobber to a minimalist chop job, so there went a number of the others!

That practice pert near died off somewhere between 1969-1979 or thereabouts, as the stocks of surplus M-1903's stateside dried up, likewise M-1917's.

Since numerous 1893 and 1895 Mauser rifles qualified under the GCA-68 provision for "pre-1898" manufacture, depredations there went unabated until stockpiles of those finally vanished in the 1990's.

Another one that was popular for conversion work during the timespan of about 1975-1985 was the "Siamese Mauser" in either 8x52R or 8x50R. A loophole in GCA-68 allowed these post-1898 arms to be sold sans FFL due to the fact that ammunition was completely unavailable for years. Twas very popular during that aforementioned approx 10-year stretch to rebarrel the things to .45-70, as the 8x52R bolt face was already pretty close to the .45-70 dimensionally, then all one needed to do was to get a sporter stock made for it (original mil stocks could not accommodate the .45-70 barrels being sold, from what I saw of them), discard the tang coming off the trigger guard, and have sights installed...Strangely, unmodified Siamese Mausers are scarce, and no-one seems to be willing to part with their .45-70 conversions, as I've only seen ONE offered for sale from the mid-1980's to the present day!

SMLE rifles tended to be a bit more immune to the basement bomber treatment, as the 2-piece arrangement for the stocks tended to be baffling to the amateur gunsmith crowd. A cutdown forend, discarded handguards, was about as far as they went. "Factory" sporterized Enfield halfstocks , such as was made for a number of years by Springfield Sporters of Penn Run, PA may also account for a number of those.

Seems a couple of Arsenals have in recent years decided to "cut to the chase" and produce a sporterized version of a mil rifle straight from the factory. Charles Daly is bringing in Zastava arsenal M-1948 Mauser sporters with Timney-type triggers already fitted from Serbia-Montenegro, calibres ranging from .22 Hornet on up -- and good old Ishapore in "Mother India" some SMLE-based sporters, like the "Quest II" in .308 Win stocked a lot like a #5 Mk. 1 "Jungle Carbine", or for the true masochists: a .45-70 SMLE sporter rifle of similar configuration!

{I would have gone with .444 Marlin, as the SMLE bolt head was already configuired for same, but from what I've picked up from HC's India hands (Lynx and Rustam Bana) and also from some South Asian emigres I've met stateside, QC issues about "Ishapore" marked arms..especially those with typos!*...may have influenced the lower-pressured chambering choice.}

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*If you encounter what's supposed to be an India arsenal weapon and there are numerous typographical errors, odds are you have a Kohat Pass or Darra Adam Khel made Pathan Gunsmith knockoff from Northern Pakistan! A number of Martini-Enfields have just shown up that are probably of this ilk. Fair warning.