M44 . . . Mossbergs

[Faulkner]

Have any of you guys purchased the M44 Mossberg military training rifles from the CMP? These are super shooting .22's that are a bargain at $75.00. I've got three (one for me and one each for my sons), and they came from the CMP in excellent condition.

They were made for the US Army from 1943 to 1946 as military training rifles. They have lead lapped barrels, which are only found in the most expensive rifles these days, and are very accurate.

http://www.picturefuse.com/images/0202/2434.jpg

[REDSTAR]

Those are pretty cool. I need to get into this CMP deal and get a Garand too.

[srv656s]

lead lapped?

anyone know what this means?

Shawn

[Faulkner]

Originally posted by srv656s
lead lapped?

anyone know what this means?

Shawn

The barrel is "lead-lapped" which is a process (as explained to me) that fills in the micro-cracks in the metal producing a very smooth surface with very little variance or imperfections. It is also very labor intensive and, as a result, expensive. The process is only applied to the most expensive target rifles these days.

I bought mine as an inexpensive plinking rifle. Then I got my hands on it! Even though they are over 50 years old, they tend to be in very good shape and are very accurate.

[wlynn5]

Lead lapped is when a lead plug is oushed down a bore so that it conformes to the bore and rifling. Then it is coated with a fine lapping compound and repeatedly pushed through the bore to polish it.

[Richard Simmons]

Where did you find the magazines for them and did you have to replace any of the trigger guards? I was looking at those in the new CMP catalog and thought I might get one. The Kimber looked pretty nice too considering they are unused. $600 though is more than I want to fork over for a .22:)

[Speedfish]

I was wondering the same thing that Richard asked. The possibility of cracked trigger guards and lack of available magazines scared me off two years ago.
Speedfish

[Faulkner]

Magazines and trigger guards are most plentyful. You can get both from either Havlin's (www.havlinsales.com who specializes in Mossberg parts) and Brownell's, and I've seen magazines at gunshows recently.

There is a current production exact duplicate plastic trigger guard with finger grooves, seems like I paid $14.00 for it from Havlins. There are some newly designed milled aluminum trigger guards without the fingergrooves that I like better, I think they run $25.00 (Brownells), but are practically indistructible and fit a gloved hand better. In my picture, the middle rifle has the new plastic triggerguard, the other two have new aluminum. Other than wipe 'em down and replace the trigger guards they are as they came out of the shipping box.

[Richard Simmons]

Well there's another $75.00 gone from the next paycheck. Thanks a lot Faulkner.:D