Let me start out by saying that I have a deep appreciation for old guns in their original condition and would never butcher one that I found that way.
OTOH, I agree with Gil, when you find a sporterized one they have a charm all their own. To my mind they bring back memories of the WW II Soldiers who had a seemingly endless supply of old military bolt guns and made them into quite serviceable, even desirable weapons.
Just a couple of examples that I have latched on to.
I have a 1903a3 which I picked up in a pawn shop for $140. It has a fajen straight grained walnut stock (which probably sold new for $29.95) and the finish is still parkerized (in fact the only other change is that it is drilled and tapped and has a low bolt handle and safety.
The barrel was dirty and I did not have a cleaning rod but I paid the money based on the knowledge that I had 3 new in the wrapper O3a3 barrels at the house. Well, you guessed it, when I did clean it there was a "ring" in the middle of the barrel. A patch skipped for about 1/2" when cleaning. I just knew this was going to be bad.
But I decided to shoot the gun first and tried it with a generic handload I shoot in my service grad Garands (150 Hornady BTFMJ)... I still have the group on my bulletin board - 1/2" at 100 yards!!!!! What a gun. I left it the way it was (it has a great 2-stage trigger BTW).
I have another "sporterized" 03a3. This one was blued, not tapped but had the barrel trimmed a bit. It had a nice looking Bishop stock with some figure and I paid $100 for it. I cut the barrel back even further to 21", mounted a LER scope (first a Burris now a Leupold) out on the barrel for a "Pseudo Scout". This one shoots around 1 MOA with selected loads. I would rather take it out to the boonies than any Remington ever made - I can fix it if it quits without a shop full of tools (well OK a Remington 30s would be nice
).
I have a #4 Enfield that was sporterized. I paid $35 for it. I drilled and tapped a side mount and put on a nice straight 4X scope. It shoots handloads into about 1.5 to 2 MOA (notthing to write home about but it will bag deer) - it has paid for itself many times over as a loaner. I really like the gun, Enfilelds are very underated.
I have a bunch more "sporterized" military guns. While I dearly love my pre-64 Winchesters, I am not sure I dont love these old things as much! They are functional in the field!
Riposte