Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles A cool Classic, 06

Your instincts were good--you got a much better rifle than is made these days and you paid much less than it's worth. I've owned several of these. They were competition for the M-70 FWT and other similar rifles, and they more than held their own. A few things to know about them:
1. They have chrome-lined bores, so they don't rust in wet weather.
2. They tend to be very accurate. I've heard that the barrels were made by High Standard, which may be the reason for the accuracy. You may need to bed/free-float it to get all of the accuracy your rifle is capable of producing, but it's there if you want it.
3. It's a commercial FN 98. Hole spacing is standard, so it will take any mount made for a commercial FN 98, which is pretty much everything.
4. Factory triggers are horrible. Most of them have the trigger built into the bottom metal, which is a real head-scratcher. Trigger pull changes as you adjust tension on the action screws--the tighter they are, the heavier it gets. Most folks use Timney, but several other companies have made good 98 triggers over the years. All of them should fit and work safely/properly. Even military triggers work if that's all you have, and they're usually better than factory triggers.
5. The real J.C. Higgins was an accountant who worked for Sears before WWII. He had nothing to do with of the products that bear his name and nobody is really sure how his name became attached to them, but here we are.

Good luck with it and keep us posted.


Okie John