Most abused surplus arms encountered

[Gil Martin]

I know you good folks look over the used gun racks and am curious regarding your experiences. What are the most abused surplus arms you have ever seen? Several come to mind that really gagged me. The first was an absolutely mint FN1949 Eqyptian 8mm that sat in a local shop for months. The price was right, but since I had several I passed on it. Someone bought it and a month or two later it was back in the same shop. The previous owner ran a few hundred rounds of corrosive ammo through it and did not own a cleaning rod. The bore was black and badly pitted. Someone finally bought it.

Another case involved a nice 1898 Krag and an 1896 Swedish Mauser that had the barrels cut at 18 inches on a metal cutting band saw. I bought the Krag for next to nothing and salvaged the action. My twin brother had it rebarreled and uses it today. Another chap bought the Swede for the action.

Finally, there was a Model 99 Japanese 7.7mm rifle that had the stock tortured on a disc sander. The former owner wanted to test fire his "sporter" and bought a box of commercial 8mm Mauser ammo. He traded the rifle and a half box of 8mm ammo. Surprisingly, the Jap rifle fired the Mauser ammo without coming apart. All the best...
Gil