A salute to Roy Mills.... NOT!
 

Who is Roy Mills? Beats me. Never met him, probably never will. I have no idea where Roy comes from, where he might be, or even if he's among the living. What I do know about ol' Roy, is that he signed his handy work.

Roy, apparently, was a previous owner of a certain rifle I just acquired. A very rare rifle, A rifle considered to be a crowning jewel of most Enfield rifle collections.

Why all this chatter about Roy? Simple. Roy, I must assume because not many would engrave their name on a rifle unless they were proud of their handy work, was the genius, the rocket scientist, the Apostle Paul of the dremel tool. The man who sporterized the 1924 Enfield Mk V Trials rifle I now own.

Roy apparently didn't know that only 20,000 were produced and many of those are long gone to use, war, bottom of the English channel, who knows. All I know is that an unmolested specimen in decent shape fetches around $2000 or so.

Roy has one saving grace. He wasn't foolish enough to cut down the barrel. He savaged the stock, but I can overcome that. He discarded the top wood. I can deal with that too. Not an easy part to make, but this rifle is worth the effort. The one part Roy fucked up that will be hard to correct, and would be the most expensive to replace, is the aperture of the rear sight. Apparently Roy didn't like peep sights, so Roy bastardized this one beyond the point of no return. There is a business in Britain that remakes that part true to original specs. The cost? Only about 650 pounds! That's about $800 US!

Oh well. We'll see. I intend to restore this war dog. I don't care how long it takes. It's mine now. Pics when I get a chance later this week.

Now THAT'S how you (Roy Mills) earn a dumbass card.

Good luck with that Dave.

I have a Type 99 Arisaka that 'Johnny' carved that name into the right side of the stock. Granted it will never be worth the value of that Enfield and probably never be worth a lot but I guess that he just couldn't help himself. He didn't even bother to carve his last name into it.:)

No pictures of Roy's rifle?

Roy Mills has gone by many names over the decades. He has defiled countless thousands of once-valuable & collectible vintage firearms. However I have always referred to him simply as...."Bubba".

Do I take it that you gentlemen consider 'all' sporterizing to be bad?
Back in the late '50s and early '60s there were ads in the back of gun magazines where you could send away for a sporterized 1917 or 03A3 complete with a mounted scope for $59.95. Back then, that was a krap-load of newspaper delivery and snowshoveling. I had already gotten my $49.95 Garand and my $39.95 SXS 16ga Fox w/ French Walnut stock, so coming up with another 60 bucks wasn't happening. And then life got in the way.
Today I have 6 sporterized longguns; 2 M/N that I did, after making sure they weren't 'special', a beautiful 03A3 S/C 30.06 w/ Herters 4X33 scope(Period to mid-60s), and a 1917 with adjustable diopter rear sight and a stock that looks like mahogany with some birdseyes(also period to mid-60s).
No one ever thought that a 1917 or an 03A3 would sell for $1200 or more. When the sporter models were selling for $60 back in the '60s the 'unmolested' ones were selling for $19.95.
When I come across these sporterized rifles, I always try to pick them up(as long as it's not a hacksaw special). I think they are a neat part of firearm history, that I couldn't afford back 'when it was the thing to do'.
cerberus

oh what the fuck..


i almost bought one last month - $1600.

http://www.dirtydozensbunker.com/pho...x372958283.jpg

http://www.dirtydozensbunker.com/pho...x435611744.jpg


This last one shows the ground down rear sight aperture. It would be one thing if it were ground into something useful, but this one ended up a partial half moon that ain't worth a shit. Totally useless. Sorry Roy, but that was one retarded move.
http://www.dirtydozensbunker.com/pho...x222373215.jpg

There's a special vat of burning shit in Hell for the desecrators of rare C&Rs.:angry8:
:grumble::wildmonkey:

Damn fine rifle RetVet that is a shame. But their may me hope? See if you can find some fine metal worker that can work a miracle and get the meat heads name off their.

I can deal with everything but the sight. The name was carved into the butt plate, an easy swap. I have access to a machine shop, but those guys are slower than molasses in making me parts. I'll try.

I don't have a huge problem with people sporterizing, I don't promote it by any stretch. I don't buy anything that's been butchered unless I know I can reverse the damage.

That is a neat find RetVet.

No, I don't consider sporterizing bad. Engraving a name I consider bad.

I bought a sporterized Enfield just like RetVet's at an auction here in the Big Ugly 23
years ago for $25.00.

Took it apart to clean it right away. The barreled action is still in my bedroom closet, I
believe the stocks are as well; the "works", barrel bands and other small item are still
in a plastic tray in the attic where I haven't set foot in maybe fourteen years.

Yeah, one day I'll gather the bits and bobs, odd and sods and other gubbin's, clean it all
up and sell it - will probably take something of a loss on it.