Musgrave made firearms

[tarmac]

Good Day Everyone

Does anyone perhaps know where I could get a history/article on Musgrave made firearms. I have recently seen a number of Musgrave Firearms and they are starting to grow on me. So would like to find out more about them.

Many thanks to anyone who replies.

[Bosveld]

Hi Tarmac,

Attached find an article on the history of Musgrave rifles.

[tarmac]

Hin Bosveld

Thanks very much for the article. It is one of Pierre van deer Walt's articles and quite informative. I was also looking for an article with more detail on actions used etc, but thanks very much.

Warm regards
Tarmac

[Bosveld]

Musgrave rifles have their roots in target shooting and were designed and built for full bore target shooters, in an era where surplus war rifles such as the Lee-Enfield, Lee-Metford, P14 and others dominated on shooting ranges. The accuracy and performance of these rifles made them very popular and formed a great platform for the excellent Musgrave hunting rifles which followed. Due to the fact that Musgrave’s were manufactured in the RSA, were reliable, accurate and priced very competitively, many Musgraves are still carried by those roaming Southern African hunting areas. Lyttleton RSA actions are regularly encountered on shooting ranges.
Ben Musgrave & Sons was one of only a few commercial arms manufacturers in the period 1950 – 1989 in South Africa that could manufacture a firearm from scratch with parts manufactured within the boundaries of South Africa. In July 1970 the first ever self developed hunting rifle in South Africa was handed over to then Prime Minister B.J. Vorster. These firearms played an important role in both the sport world of shooting as well as hunting African game. Musgrave rifle are still very popular in South Africa amongst hunters the top 4 type of rifles used for hunting are the same for 2007 and 2005,namely: Musgrave (18%), Brno (13%), Sako (12%), and Mauser (7%) (van der Merwe, et.al, 2007) Although plentiful, the arms can never be replaced as Musgrave & Sons closed its doors for the last time in 1989. While I don’t collect for investment value, it is clear that one of the primary drives behind collection is to ensure that valuable or significant firearms are preserved and to ensure that the return at the end days of my collection is not less than the amount initially invested. Three models of Musgrave hunting rifles for which the RSA action served as platform were initially manufactured, namely the
"Veld Model"
"Vrystaat Model"
"Presidents Model"
There were various other models to follow. These include but is not limited to the
LP 1000
R- Santa B
Mod 80
Mod 90, Model 90 Light Rifle, Model 90 Varmint, Model 90 De Luxe Rifle
Mini Mod 90
Magnum Rifle
Mod 2000
Ambidex
K98
Custom rifles
Ben Musgrave and Sons developed, built and marketed locally manufactured rifles, including a first barrel with a 4 grooves on an original Enfield barrel which normally only had two and later a barrel with a right hand twist compared to all other manufactures with a left hand twist. In 1968 the brothers Trevor and Ben (jnr) developed a bolt action on the world renowned Mauser action which enabled them to produce a 100% locally manufactured rifle. The single shot Musgrave RSA action (sometimes marked "Lyttleton RSA") that serves as the platform for these rifles are based on Mauser's design, with positive (claw) extractor. The actions have a large flat bedding area underneath and a short case extraction port which contribute to its stiffness. The original Musgrave target rifles were fitted with 26.5" barrels and designated "7, 62" (.308 Win or 7,62X51). Initially barrels from Ferlach (Austria) were used and the top parts of the barrels on these rifles were covered (encased) by the stock, while Parker Hale 1/4 MOA rear sights were installed. Later models were stocked with significant bulkier fore ends to allow for an open barrel with effective cooling while it still reduced potential fliers due to contact between the free floated barrel and the shooter's fingers. Accurate Musgrave manufactured cut rifled barrels (parallel nox) usually matched with these stocks and M&S 1/2 MOA rear sights were used. Musgrave barrels manufactured later on were all button rifled and Musgrave triggers were designed to work reliably to around a minimum of 2 pounds of pressure. The completed RSA action are sometimes found with various bolt stop configurations and is extremely hard - it will damage machining tools carelessly applied. The abundance of Musgrave firearms in South Africa demonstrates the huge number of Musgrave that were originally produced in this country.
Musgrave rifles are still found from the Bisley range to the hunting areas of the Limpopo valley and the Western Cape Karoo areas. Originally designed from the German Mauser action to converting the barrel twist, the Musgrave family succeeded to build rifles that could compare with the best American and European built rifles. They are as much part of science and history as any other invention that is in common usage in South Africa today.


The only Musgrave rifles built on controlled feed actions were those built on surplus K98 actions, the older Lyttelton and RSA actions and a small number of Santa Barbara actions. The Santa Barbara actions were cast copies of the forged steel K98 actions. All actions made by the Musgrave factory itself (80,83,90) were push feeds.

The serial numbers of the rifles built on surplus K98 actions usually have 98 in the number somewhere and S98 denotes a standard style stock with no cheeck piece. L98 denotes a light stock and 22 inch barrel. The 98 light rifles were very pretty in their styling, similar to the old Lyttelton Musgrave rifles, while the Standard and De Luxe models were styled by a bunny hugger.

[shark_za]

A friend owns a Musgrave experimental pistol.

Things changed at the wrong time and it was never followed through with.

[Trommel]

Are the Vektor K98 rifles the same as a Musgrave. I am in the process of buying my first hunting rifle and can get a brand new Vektor K98 in 308 for R9500.00. This price is more than any of the new Zastava, mossberg, howa etc brigade. What advice can you chaps offer me.

[UltraMange]

A friend owns a Musgrave experimental pistol.

Things changed at the wrong time and it was never followed through with.

Hi, is it possible for you to obtain a picture of this gun and some information on how your friend obtained it?

I have never heard of a Musgrave pistol but am very interested in any further info.

[300H&H]

A friend owns a Musgrave experimental pistol.

Things changed at the wrong time and it was never followed through with.

as a matter of fact Musgrave should be credited with the Z88 pistol. they reversed engineered it from the Beretta. one or two new ones was actually made in Musgrave. so if you want to see a musgrave pistol just take a look at Z88.

when the hole process was done and Musgrave was ready to start production Denel realized that Musgrave did not have the production capacity to see to to the need of the then SADF and SAP. so they shifted the production to Lyttelton.

[UltraMange]

Interesting. Do you know of any written source of information regarding the Z88?

[HGSmith]

Hi I would like to know if it is possible to help me, I brought a musgrave 308 with a p14 action and would like to find out how old it is? Serial number: ERA 4010526. Thank you