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A couple years back I was digging through my dad's gun closet when I came up an unmarked plain jane grey box (dad's gun closet used to be grandpa's gun closet). I opened the box and there sat 3 rifles. 1 was an M1903 with a custom stock and a very old Leopold attached...basically an M1903 converted into a Deer rifle. Next in the box were 2 plain jane M1903's. In also in the box were a few bandolers of ammo in stripper clips.
My father and I pulled the 2 plain jane 1903's out to have a look see, we looked down the barrel and saw a redish/orange color in the barrel, my heart sank thinking it was rust. So we threw a patch down the barrel to make sure.... it wasn't rust....it was cosmoline! Firt thing to pop into my head was holy crap! dad verbalized my thought. We had uncovered 2 brand new in the box M1903's with cosmoline still in the barrel.
We cleaned one and took it to the range the next day. The sights would only click up to 800 meters but with a little hold over we were ringing the 1000 meter bell. Straight out of the box we didn't even need to zero it. We took it home, cleaned it, and put it back in the box with its twin...were they sit today. Its brother still has cosmoline in the barrel.
Next time I'm home I'll snap some photos.
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"This is the law: The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in defense. The sword is more important than the shield and skill is more important than either. The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental." - John Steinbeck, "The Law"
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