I recently started a project gun.  It was a $59 1938 Turkish Mauser with a 29" barrel, military sights and trigger.  These are the guns that get advertised by the local shop-n-swap as "Mousers".  I did a mild sporterizing job on it.  I bobbed the barrel to 22", installed a   new front sight and a Mojo (brand name) rear sight.  I installed a Timney trigger and a recoil pad.  I glass bedded the action and the first 2 inches of the barrel. 

Mil surplus projects work for me because each additional parts can be purchased for about $30.  My wife and I have a rule:  I can buy a new toy without consulting with her if it is less than $100 and I have the money in my checking account.  MidwayUSA charges $9.00 to ship to my zipcode.  Let's see, 3 parts at $30 and $9 shipping...that is $99.

Signs from the Cosmos do not come any clearer than that. 
 
My "Mouser" is a near perfect Billy-Bob gun.  It looks like a beater mil-surp gun but is a joy to shoot.  A big part of the fun is to be able to shoot it often.  So I did the next logical thing.  I got into reloading.  Except for the press, everything comes in $12 and $20 bites.  Life is beautiful. 

My friend Ed heard that I was reloading.  Ed works at an auction house.  He picked up 5 large cardboard boxes of reloading supplies for a song and came over to drop them off. 

I asked him if he wanted to shoot the project gun. 

"You bet!"  He said. 

So we step out onto the deck. "Its a good thing you called because it gave me a chance to set up.  I generally sit in that chair and rest the gun across the rail.  Just aim at the nail in the center of the paper plate that is nailed to that 8" chunk of fire wood."  I point at a chunk of elm sitting in the middle of the yard, strategically positioned in front of a huge pile of dirt. 
 
"I don't need no stinking rest." Ed said.  He shoulders the gun, squints down the barrel and fires.  He racks up another and shoots again. 
 
"You should have used the rest, you missed both times."  I said. 

"No, I don't think I missed." Ed said. 

I point at the paper plate.  "I don't see any holes in the plate." I said. 

"I wasn't aiming at that plate.  That one was too close.  I was aiming at the second target."  Ed said. 
 
"What second target?  What are you talking about?" I ask.

"That one." he said, pointing at a pile of firewood my brother Jim had shredded with his 44 magnum.  I had dumped them next to the pasture fence.  Yup, sure enough, you could still see part of the paper plate nailed to one of them. 

Ed puts down the gun and we stroll over the the pile of dead elm. 

He missed the paper plate but did not miss the stock tank that was right behind it.  There were 2 holes in the front of the tank and the back was split from top-to-bottom. 

Proof that proper reloading components and technique can turn a Mouser into an anti-tank weapon.