On the horns of a "semi-dilemma"...

by Hoot , Diversityville, Liberal-sota, Monday, February 16, 2015, 10:58 (3573 days ago)

Some time ago, I picked up a lovely piece of wood for a '98 Krag with the thought of building a classic sporter. Time passes and a suitable un-tampered with rifle gets added to the mix (e.g., no hole filled receiver). This particular rifle is cosmetically challenged to the point that all metal will need to be refinished no matter which way this turns out. My 'dilemma' is that, with correct military wood, it becomes a complete, correct rifle...although refinished. If one proceeds with the sporter plan, he would be either cutting the barrel (a shame for the mil-surp crowd) or building a sporting rifle with the original 30" tube.

I acknowledge that the 20-24" barrel with roughly half that length of forearm is an American convention but have seen some English rifles with long barrels. My tastes run towards English/European rifles from the early 1900's. Still, I wonder if 30" becomes way too long.

Any comments or opinions are appreciated.

Thanks!