ArtR

SN 7249 SLMG seen on GB 4/6/2024

Unknown SN claiming to be a Chilean 7mm Tried to query seller, but negative response.

SN 9605 another Winfield Sporter on GB SN B3222 seen on GunsInternational

Boy, that's a new on on me.

SN B1940 Winfield Sporter

SN A5212 Seen 4/17/2024 on GunBroker wild claim” built specifically for the USMC” SN B7948 Seen 4/17/2024 on GunBroker

As with other years, when Spring comes, even very early Spring, maple trees wake up and spread their wealth. Starting February 10th, I have been trekking back and forth between my home and my nephews, as he does part of his 'job' producing one of Vermont's favorite products: 100% Pure Vermont Maple Syrup. Some of you may not know it, but Vermont Maple Syrup is Special! All other maple syrup, produced in any US state or Canada, is boiled to 66BRIX or 66% sugar content. Vermont Maple Syrup, by state regulation, must be boiled to 66.9BRIX or 66.9% sugar content. That makes Vermont Maple nearly 1% sweeter than any other. That takes more time and money, but due to outside pressures, we end up selling our product for about the same as others. Anyway, we boiled for the first time this year on February 12th, and then we had a cold spell, and now the trees are awake again and we boiled again yesterday. However, as some of you are aware, the seasons have been unusual and unpredictable, and this year is no exception. Besides being early, it has been very warm. I understand February has been 2% warmer than any previous one. Temps in the 60's is totally unheard of. And, starting tomorrow, March may be similar. We here have day time temps forecast to be in the 50's for the next 5 days, with overnight lows not dropping below freezing. This is not conducive to making syrup. We need warm daytime temps 35-45 and overnight lows well below freezing. The freezing and thawing is what makes the sap flow for a long time, allowing a good production year. Long term high temps causes the trees to push buds in preparation to leaf out. That changes the sap, the flavor of the syrup changes, and ends the season. Right now, we are hoping for the best. Cheers and enjoy Real Maple Syrup on you pancakes, waffles, drizzled over ice cream or pie, and in your coffee. ArtR

Hi guys. One other note. For those familiar with heating with 'fire wood', and the work involved, we burned just slightly over 10 cords of "hard wood" during those 62 days, (I.E., no soft wood), to make the nearly 2100 gallons.

TerentiusJ: The fact that the parts do not match any of the factory list is not of concern at all, as this is a "sporter" rifle that was assembled by one of the iterations of Winfield. The fact that you have all parts for a "full military" except for the butt stock is to your benefit. If you should ever locate either a butt stock or full stock set, that would allow you to basically transition to a full military rifle. Regardless, you should be very happy with your purchase as it currently exists. If you are unsure, possibly have a competent gunsmith look the rifle over. However, if your chosen gunsmith knows little to nothing of JSAR's, I would be a bit cautious. Checking headspace would be the one major concern. Other than that, others may chime in, I would think you would be good to go for a test firing.

Hi RWWJ You are correct. That is a "huge" hole. The spiral nail is not very big or thick. I will try and get some measurements from that 'old broken' piece that I have, so that it might help, if you find someway or someone to assist in getting/making a part. ArtR

So, a final note (?) to the 2024 Maple Syrup season. On April 12th, my nephew, and skeleton crew, hauled another 3000 gallons of barely 1% questionable sap and processed it through the RO. He boiled in the late afternoon, using that sap in an effort to push the last remaining good syrup from the evaporator pans. He re-opened the 48th barrel and completed filling it with 35 gallons of 'syrup', which he is sure will be purchased by the packing house. It was definitely commercial grade. However, that put his official total for the year at 2095 gallons, a record production year for him. Some other records: 113950 gallons of sap hauled by 116 truck loads/trips. This season of 62 days (first to last boil) tied with the 2018 year. Also, the 24 boil days tied years 2011, 2016, and 2020. This yield also was nearly .55 gal syrup from each tap, a record for him. He then let the fire go out, and left the evaporator full with the remaining sap. Now some magic begins. This sap will sit for a several weeks, and in that process, the natural sugars and yeasts will ferment, creating natural acids to help clean the pans naturally, instead of using harsh commercial acids. When the fermenting is done, he will drain the evaporator and power wash the interior, and then he will prepare for next years season. This years spouts need to be pulled, all 3813 of them. Over the course of the summer, there is wood to be cut, split, stacked, and dried. Over the next several months, he will have to revisit the woods frequently to remove any branches, limbs, trees, downed either by weather or age, from the lines and make repairs if he finds them. Until next season....some cleaning photos from the 2021 season

Richard. The piece(s) in question, which allows securing the front cross pin tab to the stock , on most diagrams does not seem to have either a 'description' or a replacement source. However, one of the 'original' JSAR parts lists does list two parts that quite well may be the pieces in question. Many years ago, I was able to find one complete piece with spiral screw to replace the broken piece on my rifle. I saved the old piece, and include 2 photos of that piece, along with the original spiral nail with which it was attached to the stock. I have circled in the photo the part where it was broken off from mine. It broke at the widest part of the part. I believe that is was made out of some thin spring steel or the like. to replace the 'broken' The cross pins show as two separate parts on some parts lists, however, I believe maybe Joe Scott said, dimensionally, they are identical. You could probably test this theory.

Hey RWWJ, having 4 parts match the receiver is pretty darn good. Only a few other owners have been able to claim more, with a very few having all the correct parts, which is extremely rare. Great job on your acquisition. As others have pointed out, there are a few minor issues. You should really acquire the front cross pin. While the locking tab would be nice, you might be able to get by maybe by fashioning one out of thin sheet metal. I will try and find a photo of a complete one for reference.

Hi TerentiusJ: I just looked again at the listing and photo, and seller has it listed as SN 4258 and I think I am inclined to believe that as the numeral 6 will normally have a 'tail' on the left side, even if the upper portion is cut off. See image As the SN probably is different, here is the corrected data for SN 4258 The following information is provided from the production logs: Receiver SN 4258, Received From: Cranston Arms, Date Received 1/8/1942, Stock No. none, Barrel No. 1934A, Hammer Block No. 5551, Hammer No. 7089, Bolt No. 8602, Locking Cam No. 5836, Firing Pin No. 5342, Extractor No. 4061, Magazine No. 7786, Disposition Date 1/19/1942, Transferred to J.A. Inc - N.P.C

Hi TerentiusJ and welcome to the forum. From your post, you seem to have done your homework and you seem to have obtained a decent sporter for a really decent price. Good job! From your early photos, it appears pretty much a 'military' rifle configuration with a really nice condition sporter stock. Many are not so lucky as to have a barrel with bayonet lug and proper front sight, or not have other expensive changes. While you could try to find an original or aftermarket military stock, I do not think that a major concern. Enjoy what you have. The following information is provided from the production logs: Receiver SN 4256, Received From: Cranston Arms, Date Received 1/8/1942, Stock No. none, Barrel No. 2814E, Hammer Block No. 3613, Hammer No. 7451, Bolt No. 8556, Locking Cam No. 4444, Firing Pin No. 9974, Extractor No. 2862, Magazine No. A1394, Disposition Date 1/12/1942, Transferred to J.A. Inc - N.P.C Without proper and reliable provenance, be very careful about claims of both ownership and usage. Also, if you would like forum members to comment about the condition of your rifle, please post high definition, quality photos showing all rifle views, and any suspected defects. Generally, photos taken with cell phones or quality cameras produce large files. If you crop the photos to the rifle in general, and scale the photos so the size is less than 2MB, uploading should work well, and the resulting photos will give reviewers enough detail to comment. ArtR

Hi guys. Camstuff reminded me that I need to do an update. Since I last reported, on 3/31, we have boiled 5 more times, (4/1,4/2,4/3,4/7,4.8) making another 55+60+45+83.5+45 gallons, from another 18,400 gallons of sap. This brings our year total to 2060 gallons of syrup, breaking our year 2016 record of 2025 gallons. There are 4 grades (colors/flavors) of maple syrup. All of ours fell in the middle two grades of Amber color/Rich flavor and Dark color/Robust flavor, with the majority Amber/Rich. Golden color/Delicate flavor is the top grade. In that case, when tested 76-100% of light will pass through the test sample. Amber/Rich, 51-75% of light will pass through a sample. Dark/Robust, 26-50% of light will pass through a sample. And Very Dark color/Strong flavor, only 0-25% of light will pass through a sample. There are two other tests that syrup must pass, including clarity (cloudiness/turbidity/sediment) , and aroma. When flavor exceeds a norm, we generally will downgrade the syrup to the next lower grade. I have two photos to share this time. Each day that we boil, we put a 'sample jar' in the window. I have not taken a current photo, but currently there are 23 jars in the window. While it is hard to imagine, all those jars graded in color as Amber color, but one was downgraded to Dark/Robust as the flavor was much stronger. That held true for of the last 7 boils/samples not seen in this photo. Also, after we fill a barrel with syrup, we must store it someplace, until it is sold and collected by a packing house. In this photo, there are 44 of 48 barrels made to date. Just imagine 4 more barrels in that room. Each barrel has a tare weight of 48 lbs. And maple syrup weighs roughly 11 lbs per gallon. So a full barrel will average 488 lbs. As of this morning, my nephew and I were discussing how to proceed. He has approximately 2000+ gallons of sap that extremely slowly flowed over the past 3 days. Also, the temps have been extremely warm (above 60F) and this same sap has sat collected at these above normal temperatures. In the air there are natural yeasts, and when they are in contact with warm moist sugars, they will grow and multiply. While my nephew has not visited the sap station today, he is expecting to smell yeasty or bread dough like aromas. That will spell the end of our season.

Tinsoldier: You have done your homework well. Joe Scott commented at the time on the barrel, and offered to help restore to full military, but there was no further discussion by him and the at time owner on the subject. Your observations on condition are good. As we keep telling people, "Buy the Rifle, Not the Story!"

SN B4367 seen 4/9/2024 on Proxibid - Cowan's Auctions SN B2797 seen again 4/9/2024 on Proxibid - RIA,l ast seen in RIA Premier Auction Cat #53 Sep 2011 Sold $5175 SN A3129 seen 4/9/2024 on Proxibid - RIA SN 5790 seen 4/9/2024 on Proxibid - RIA SN B7438 seen 4/9/2024 GunsInternational.com SN B3601 seen again 4/9/2024 GunsInternational.com SN A3088 seen again 4/9/2024 GunsInternational.com SN B5298 seen again 4/9/2024 GunsInternational.com SN B2182 seen again 4/9/2024 GunsInternational.com

kennethg: Not that I am aware of. ArtR

Interesting fact: From Jan 1, 2024 through Mar 31, 2024, I have tracked 17 JSAR's that have shown as sold on GunBroker. The Maximum price paid was $9850 and the minimum price paid was $3000, with the average price of $6523. Granted, a few were basically project guns, some were Winfield's, but the majority were decent complete guns. To this date, several way overpriced guns linger as unsold with no bids after several months. Yes. I believe that there are still affordable rifles. You just need to be patient.

We processed and boiled 6000 gallons sap on 3/31 and made 115 gallons syrup, bringing our year total to 1771. Again, we are noticing cloudiness in the sap, different flavor and odor, and we are getting heavier niter deposits in the pans. We are also finding the filter press is building pressure earlier, and we need to change filter papers sooner. We are humbly beginning to accept that the season is nearing an end. As there is an impending snow storm coming, I may travel home either today or tomorrow, and hope that the backup crew will respond as needed.

SN B8645 on GunBroker, somehow I missed this one

Below are two rifles not seen before: SN B3378 sold 1/15/2024 $9025.00 SN B1204 sold 1/16/2024 $7999

More sugaring info: Today, while cold and windy, we do have some sap at the 'quarry' sugarbush, which we needed to collect. I drove over with the 2017 Ford F550 dump with a RotoMold 1000 gal collection tank. This truck currently only has 9993 miles! At the quarry, formerly owned by Rock of Ages, of Barre, VT, we have two 20FT shipping containers. Each houses a 5'x5'x12' stainless steel 2000 gallon tank. Both tanks are connected by 2" piping to allow us to collect and hold 4000 gallons sap. When at the quarry, a 2" dia hose is connected to the truck tank, and an electric pump pumps sap at better than 110 gallons per minute into the truck tank. It takes about 9 minutes to fill the truck. Photo of the sap station control box. Here the sap flows in, via numerous main lines (black tubing on left of photo) from the woods, into a 10 gallon release tank ( seen as dim blue in photo), from which it is pumped into the 2 storage tanks. When we have at least 1000 gallons, we begin to collect, but we like to have a minimum of 3000 gallons to justify a boil. Once 3000 gallons of sap has been run through the RO to an 11% sugar content, it only takes about 2 hours to boil that down to 50 some odd gallons of syrup, so any less is hardly worth the time or energy (wood). Two photos of one tank nearly full. Sap is quite clear and has a blue-green tint. Photos taken roughly 1 minute apart to show how quickly the truck tank fills. Image 0010a the tank is at roughly 500 gallons, or about even with the dump body side rails. When loaded, the tank holds about 8000 lbs or 4 tons sap. Sap weighs just slightly more than water. As of these photos, this season we have hauled 89 full and partial loads for 87550 gallons sap.

My brother's wish was to be cremated in 'the arch', but since that is not allowed, it was done in the normal way. Yesterday, however, we got the call that the ashes were ready to be picked up, so my nephew and I went to get them. As we were going to boil, we only thought it appropriate that 'my brother' sit in a corner and watch over the boil. We, and others that visited, also felt that it was an appropriate tribute to him. We previously had 3 days of very cold, freezing weather, and that sort of did the trick, and when it warmed, the sap from the trees had sweetened some, and the syrup flavor and aromas improved drastically, back to normal, and the amount of niter was also drastically reduced.. We thanked my brother for his kind help. And, as we boiled, we reminisced about him and the good times we had with him both in and out of the sugarhouse. BTW, we made 95 gallons the day before, and another 55 gallons yesterday, taking us to 1656 gallons for the year.