I know we aren't talking about a G&H or and H&H but I see promise in this and at a price similar to most standard plastic stocked, run of the mill rifles these days. I bought it. And if nothing else I can use the loading dies and 400 rds of ammo I have sitting around from a past purchase. I wonder if the stock could be Jaeger?
I am likely to rig up a decent scope and cut the barrel a few inches and then invite a few whitetails to dinner.
https://www.gunbroker.com/Item/879964461

Why would you "rig up a decent scope" assuming you mean drilling some more holes, when you can just screw some Unertl bases onto the barrel and use a Unertl or Lyman Targetspot. What caliber and case is this gun actually chambered for?

In addition to Unertl or Lyman there are many other scopes that would also fit on blocks with that hole spacing. Some of them new-made.

I don't think the whitetails are going to like it very much

I am certainly willing to learn about scopes and such, and I would at least investigate existing set up prior to cutting, but I want a sporter not a varmint gun. The long tube, external adjust 10,15 or 24x unertl pieces I am familiar with are not my cup of tea. Can you show me other options ?

I am particularly fond of this very simple scope. New made by a premier sight maker. https://montanavintagearms.com/scopes/
5x is just about ideal for deer hunting. A vintage Unertl small game scope in the 3x, 4x and I think 6X can be found pretty easily. Why the call it "small game" I have no idea. It is very high quality, and ideal on a gun like that. Many vintage Feckers as well.

There are others. Vintage scopes and remakes of them are pretty cool tools.

Nice and no drill scope mounts

http://www.scopemounts.com/index.html?instapics.html

I would just go with conventional scope mounts and scope if you don't want to use the existing layout? It really does not look like a true target rifle nor collectable, but that round was generally associated with slow twist and may not like heavier deer type bullets? It might have been intended to be a long range varmint rifle, maybe leave the longer barrel for now and see what happens?

Flaigs was very large mail order / custom gunsmith shop gun looks pretty typically of one they built ground up but they also offered just barreling services.

I'm one that has both the MVA scope that Brent mentions and a few of the others. MVA optics are more up to date but at the price I paid, $660, you can buy a better scope for hunting.

I've also messed about with rebarreled 03A3s. Had a Mex that I put a similar barrel on, now regret trading it. First thing, measure the twist. If it's 1:10 or faster, it will stabilize heave bullets. And it's an 03A3 action with some milled parts added. Maybe an aftermarket trigger. That said, if the price was right, I'd consider it.

Seems like a 12 pound (without the scope) rifle is going to need more than a few inches off the barrel to become a hunting sporter unless you have a blind or stand.

craigd, I agree with you on the conventional scope and mounts. But it was the .244 Rem that had the slower 1:12 twist. Remington changed the name to 6 mm Rem and changed the twist to 1:9 to better compete with the .243 Win. The Douglas barrel on this gun is most likely 1:10 twist.

Judging by the contour, it doesn't look like a 12 pounder to me. But all the same, I think I'd probably check its' potential as a long range varmint gun before trying to turn it into a sporter weight deer rifle. I think the result would be as unsatisfactory as all those ill-conceived attempts to turn heavy 30" duck guns into an upland gun by chopping the tubes.

Another point... when I began deer hunting, the very first gun I carried was my Dad's 26" heavy barreled .244 Model 722 Remington, equipped with a 10x Weaver scope. It was not the ideal rifle for a 12 year old kid, but if I could lug that thing up our mountains, a grown man should have no problem. That .244 with the 1:12 twist stabilized 100 gr. Nosler partitions well, but it was outstanding with lighter Sierra varmint bullets. My Dad sold it when it started shooting dime sized groups at 100 yards, because he thought the barrel was shot out. I then bought a Model 700 6mm with my paper route money, which I used for several years until I switched to using a .50 cal. flintlock. The performance of those big slow lead balls turned me against small bore rifles for deer. When I finally used a centerfire rifle again a few years ago, it was a .45-70. Elmer Keith was right.

If I needed the perfect deer rifle I would have bought a Marlin 30-30, and it would have been a short thread.
I made an impulse buy, and I will play with it until something better comes along or it bores me. In my opinion is it not special enough to worry about cutting or drilling, ALTHOUGH I do always hesitate to do so. I bought a Rem 700 in 7mm TCU and intended to make it a small and short deer rifle for my kids, but the 26 inch barrel shoots SO DANG well I won't risk messing with it. I have shot about 18 of my last 20 whitetails with some version of a .50 caliber muzzleloader, and on top of that I don't think one has been more than 40 yards away. I wouldn't pick a 6mm or .243 as a first choice for anything, but I thought this was a neat rifle and I think I would like it more dressed like a sporter. What I really wondered was if anyone thought it was something more than a junky old conversion rifle. I think the stock looks VERY much like my Jaeger Savage 110. I think Flaigs and Jaeger were both in PA was there ever any known overlap there?

that was worth a good laugh! Thanks.

I like the external adjustable scopes for the same reason I like old rifles. the Winchester A5, Lyman 5A, and Unertl Small Game scopes would look right at home on that rifle, so long as the rear holes are far enough back that you can get the scope to where your eye needs it. Otherwise longer scopes will allow them to hang further back and an old Fecker would be my choice for that - possibly a Lyman Junior Targetspot. Are the holes set for 7.2" mount centers?

When you are tired of it, those scopes can be flipped for probably about what you paid for them - so you are really only putting down a deposit when you buy one.

I've hunted with what most people considered "heavy" rifles my whole hunting life. My first was a custom Pattern 17 Enfield with Douglas Premium barrel, and custom stocks, and it weighs about 8.5 lbs. Never really thought about the weight until somebody with a composite stock told me it was heavy.
And packing my old single shot rifles of 10-12 lbs. with external adjustment Lyman, Unertl, Fecker scopes and no slings made me really appreciate what heavy means! But I never had an issue using the old external scopes for hunting, but always used lower 8x-12x power scopes, as the higher power just aren't good choices for hunting for me.

Well it turns out it is a sweet rifle. It is much prettier than expected, really well crafted, I guess exactly what I hoped for though better than I expected. I have missed ( underbid) 5 or 6 unertyl / Lyman scope set ups at auction in the last few weeks. I am too cheap .