doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Depression era 03 Sporter

At least I think that is what Michael Petrov would have called it. It certainly is a little strange. Under the barrel band front sight is a July 1929 star gauge barrel. The matching receiver is listed in the DCM sales list as a sporter. The stock is a beautiful piece of Walnut with a horn forend tip and pistol grip cap. What makes it depression era is the lack of a cheek piece and the simple well done checkering pattern, although the forearm is a wrap around pattern. I had planned to put a pre-war Lyman Alaskan scope I have on it, but it is shooting so well with the 1950s era Weaver K-4, I think I'll leave it alone. The Pachmayr pad is certainly the most recentaddition. The strangest thing of all to me is the vestigial receiver sight. I am familiar with the blanks that replace the slide, but base also appears to be a blank.

Joel, the only thing depressing is that it is in your safe and not mine. Seriously, it looks like a nice rifle. I was a bit taken back by the high rings. But it looks like those were used to retain the stock safety. Without being able to place the objective ahead of the safety, that seems to be the way to go. Nice looking rifle and one that would fit well in any sporting rifle collection. BTW, just how well does it shoot? I ask, because there are so many of the younger generation that think they have to have the latest plastic stocked, CNC, MIM flavor of the month. It always amazes me how well 50-100 year old rifles shoot and most are far more capable than the average user. Today�s improvements in ammunition quality really help IMHO. Beautiful rifle, thanks for sharing. Close ups of the rear sight possible? Again thanks.
Thaine

The scope and bridge mount is a much later addition to this rifle. The stock and Lyman 48 receiver sight are made for each other and this rifle was originally not fitted with a scope.

Jerry Liles

I think to be considered a depression era gun it should have the original military stock that was reshaped and checkered. They did a lot of them using the NRA Sporter stocks and cut them down and used a M70 buttplate and sometimes reshaped the nose to a schnobel and other times added a horn nose cap.
The short horn tip almost looks like a Stoeger stock which came with and without cheek pieces.
Dan

I agree with DanLH.

I am aware that both the scope and mount are from the 50s.
The rings are much later. The only thing I find odd is the dummy Lyman sight base which was not intended for a functional slide. Did Stoger offer horn on their stocks? How about Townsend Whelen's company in DC?

The first try with my reloads that always shoot well in my still original DCM sporter grouped 1 1/2" to an 1 3/4" for 5 shots at 100's. I was very pleased with that. The old weaver K 4 is still sharp and clear even with my old eyes....or maybe because of them.

Dummy slides were available to replace the slide in the sight when a scope was mounted, usually in a sidemount, so the scope could be mounted lower. Whitey made up a few a couple of years ago to replace ones that had been lost over the last 80 years. The rifle Mr. Durren is making for me will have that arrangement with a trap butt plate to hold the staff or blank so it won't get separated from the rifle.

That is a very handsome rifle.

Jerry Liles

I can not tell from the pictures, but what is different about the base as to make it non-functional? Are there just parts missing, or is the base itself machined differently?

It does have a little look of a John Hutton, who was the stock maker at NT&S before the war. To me it looks like it was either refinished or maybe restocked later, possibly when the scope was added. Of course that is all just speculation. I do agree with the others, to me the depression guns used the armory stock to save money. A lot of very nice and expensive rifles were build on NRA sporter barreled actions.

Nice rifle whatever you want to call it.

John

It looks as if there are no elevation lines on the sight base.