Hello everyone, brand new JSAR owner and new member. Here is the story of how me and my rifle got here...
I went to visit my grandpa last week, and before I came back home, he gifted me his JSAR. His memory is still pretty sharp, and he told me he bought the rifle through the hardware store in Elmore City, OK when he was 11 or 13 years old, sometime in the 1950s. He used the rifle to hunt with, and harvested a his first whitetail with it in Southeast Oklahoma. He also said he took the rifle to Colorado to hunt mule deer. At some point in it's life, my great grandpa and great uncle fired a bunch of tracer rounds through the rifle, and did a poor job of cleaning the barrel, so the bore has some pitting. Grandpa said he hasn't ever loaded or fired it since he got it back from them.
As far as originality goes, this one has had some alterations. The bottom/toe of the rear stock has been reprofiled, as well as the pistol grip. It also wears a Pachmyer recoil pad. Judging by photos I've seen of Sporter vs military stocks, I believe this began as a Sporter stock before the alterations, as the military stocks don't appear to have had enough wood to have accommodated the reprofiling. There is also no second hole under the butt pad as I've seen in some photos of military stocks.
The receiver has had a folding rear sight blade dovetailed in ahead of the original sight, which is present and complete. It also appears that someone took a grinding wheel to the upper rail/channels on both sides, presumably to relieve material in order to clamp scope rings onto the receiver. I'll have to ask grandpa about those things.
Last night I disassembled the rifle and gave it a good cleaning and new lube. The bolt hold open catch is missing, and the mainspring measures about 11.5" long. If anyone has a spring they can part with I'd certainly appreciate it. I believe Numerich has the bolt catch.
I've lurked/learned on the forum the last few days, so I know this is the part some of you have been waiting for, here are my serial numbers. I don't expect these to have been seen before, as the rifle has been in the family for 70 years...
Receiver: 8042, Barrel: 4986, Forward Bolt: B8438, Rear Bolt: 9654, Extractor: 5930, Magazine: A1121, Hammer: 7274, Fire Control Block: 9056.
One thing I noticed on the forward bolt is the bottom is stamped 123 with the numbers oriented in line with the bolt body. Is that significant in any way?
I don't have any pictures of the rifle to upload right now, but I'll add some to this thread later on.
