Show me your Musgrave

[Pirate]

Hey Hopefull, our rifles are twins.

Does yours also have "ze German" proof stamp on the front receiver ring (see Hopefull's second pic)

Nice pics Hopefull, thanks!

:- P

[Pirate]

Guys, this leads into a question I've had for a long time: Is there anyone that can give us a thorough description of the different Musgrave actions? As far as I know there has been the following:

RSA Single shot
Vrystaat
Model 80
Model 90
Model 2000
K98-based
Santa-Barbara

:- P

Bump... for those that may know some details about the different actions, please share with us! :-)

:- P

[ActionAnt]

Well here's one of mine.
Just one for now. Lemme know if you want more. It's a 7x57 mod 90 with a Bushnell 4x40 on top. Looking at upgrading the scope in the next year or so.
7x57.jpg

[pdh]

I will post some pics tonight of my musgrave RSA action .308.

In the meantime, what bipod would you suggest for the rifle. It has the standard musgrave stock on it.

Thanks in advance

[Skaaphaas]

Does yours also have "ze German" proof stamp on the front receiver ring (see Hopefull's second pic)

Twins, but not identical twins, no. His has quite a few more markings on it than mine, but the calibre, action and stock is the same. I wish the history of these guns were better documented.

[ActionAnt]

I wish the history of these guns were better documented.

ditto!
I think my rifle is about 28 years old, based on when I think my late father bought it, but would love to know for sure. It is a dream to shoot!

[Daan]

The card arrived, and I could finally collect my vintage 9.3X62 Musgrave the weekend!
Ben Musgrave sr. (1900-1987) was a blacksmith for SA Harbours & Railways most of his working life, employed in the Bloemfontein workshops. For 27 years he run a gunsmith workshop in his spare time, but early 1953 the barrel boring machinery he bought from WD Lain in the UK arrived, with his son Trevor. The previous few months Trevor did an apprenticeship with Lain in barrel boring. Only then Ben Musgrave applied himself full time to his gun making business, in partnership with his son Trevor. At first they made only .303 barrels for the Bisley shooters market, but soon added other popular calibers.
This rifle's date is engraved on the barrel; 1956. It must be of the earliest hunting rifles built by Musgrave & Sons. They were bought out by Krygkor in 1971, after which the name changed to just Musgrave if I'm not mistaken.
This rifle was built on a Gewehr 98 action (Waffenfabrik Mauser A-G Oberndorf A/N 1916) The original military stock was used (can still see where the original sling mount holes were covered up, etc.) I wish they did less to "sportize" it!! You can see in the photographs the pistol grip was rounded much more at the bottom, but in the process the bottom of the butt was cut out quite a bit. Likewize the comb was lowered to give it a sharp angle where it meets the pistol grip. Deep checkering was also added. Well, it does not look like a military stock any more, but to me it looks a bit unbalanced! The butt is too small and narrow just behind the pistol grip. Compare the butt to the factory Remington 722 on the photo. I will have to add a much thicker recoil pad, as it is about 20mm too short for me, but I have made peace with the stock, not going to fit a new one. The old gentleman for whom it was custom made was a great uncle of my father, and a colleague, friend and hunting partner of Musgrave sr. He was a born hunter of the old school, and Africa was still open those years. This rifle saw a lot of use. Amongst other I managed to get 8mm film footage of one of his hunts in Rhodesia in the '50's with some of my uncles. I vaguely remember the old man, my father visited him often, but he died when I was 5 years old. So I don't want to discard the stock. It has a few dings, and the barrel has teeth marks near the muzzle end (!!) but inside it is still mint.

Langgeweer.jpg
MS56.jpg
Kolwe.jpg

[Daan]

Pirate, I don't think it is exactly the info you are looking for, but here's the early history of Musgrave. I found it on the net about two years ago. The link is not active any more. It does not state who the origial author is. Credit to him.

Musgrave, the former state owned South African sporting rifle manufacturer had its origins in private enterprise. The founder was the well-known late target champion, a resident of Bloemfontein - Benjamin (Ben) Musgrave (1900 - 1987).
Ben Musgrave (snr) started participating seriously in large calibre target shooting during 1933. His then service rifle was the Lee Enfield in 303 British calibre. ‘Uncle Ben’, as he was generally known, in due course started experimenting with the accuracy of his rifle as a hobby. These experiments were very successful and the South African target shooting fraternity flocked around Ben Musgrave to re-accurize their rifles in his spare time. This situation continued for approximately 27 years until 1950 when the demand for Musgrave’s services become so great that he could not handle it alone anymore. He canvassed the assistance of his son Trevor, which at that stage was an apprentice at Escom in Vereeniging.
During 1952 Musgrave was awarded Springbok (then RSA National) colours and then made the South African target shooting team chosen to participate in International competitions in the United Kingdom. During the competition he was introduced by Arthur Ilsley of Birmingham to the barrel manufacturer WD Lain who was about to retire. Lain agreed to train Trevor in the United Kingdom for Musgrave in the use of the rifling machine he used, with the intention of selling the machine thereafter to the Musgraves.
Trevor completed his training and in early 1953 the machine was brought to South Africa. Musgrave moved to Douglas Valley and resigned from the South African Railways and Harbours were he had been employed until then. The building on the property was modified to become the workshop and barrel manufacturing started in all seriousness. Musgrave’s success in the field of target shooting rifles continued and after six years another son, Benny Musgrave jnr. also joined his father and brother.
During 1969 Armscor approached the Musgraves with the idea to establish an infra structure for the manufacturing of commercial hunting rifles. The reason prompting the steps was the increasing international isolation of South Africa which eventually led to the United Nations arm embargo. The instructions to Musgrave was to develop, manufacture and market a production rifle.
Musgrave became a subsidiary of Armscor during 1971 and the first rifles appeared on the shelves in 1972. At the same time a start was made with the building of a manufacturing facility on the Jagersfontein Road just outside Bloemfontein.
The company did well during the sanction years and manufactured around 6,000 hunting rifles per year to meet the demands of the South African hunting public. It was eventually run for the state by a man named Abie Koch, who clashed with many personalities in Musgrave’s client base. Koch was never held in high regard by the hunting public and many were greatly disappointed with his firearm knowledge.
After the democratization of South Africa and the lifting of the arms embargo, Koch’s management of Musgrave failed to achieve the adaptions necessary to face the competition of an influx of competitors from the United States, Czechoslovakia and a number of other countries. Musgrave was closed down, some of its tooling moved to Vektor, the state owned military small arms manufacturers, and the rest of its stock and assets sold off on public auction.

[Hopefull]

Skaaphaas, non-identical twins I would agree.

I agree with your sentiments regarding the stock on your rifle Daan, but I also would be loath to change a piece of personal history.

I was originally looking for a 30-06 with a view to putting a silencer on, but cannot bring myself to do so on the Musgrave I have, but then perhaps I am too sentimental.

J

[Hopefull]

Guys,
what scope mounts do you use?
Have been advised to use steel mounts only such as Lynx etc.

Thanks
J