Robert Skidmore and his friend Rick Reich of Las Vegas both received M48 Snipers from Century Arms around the same time as me. Very much like mine, but with standard M48 bolts. His friends rifle has something unusual though. Robert was kind enough to provide pictures of his friend's rifle. Very unique in that it has pictures of David Haselhoff of Baywatch fame varnished on the stock. Out of curiosity I did some digging to see if I could come up with a reason for this. Turns out David Haselhoff was a very popular rock star in Austria in the late 1980s. In Germany and Austria and much of Europe, Night Rider was one of the most popular TV shows during that same time, but not his music in Germany. There was a problem with the German Party there concerning his music contract but I don't know what it was. The show was much more popular in Austria than in the USA and
his music was not really known here in the US even though he was considered a very popular rock star in Europe. I do know the production of the "banner" marked mounts on these rifles started in 1980 and the marking on my rifle was used by the Muslims during the 1992-95 war. David's huge popularity in the region falls right in the middle of those dates. He also fulfilled several "Make a Wish" for terminally ill children in Yugoslavia and surrounding countries. So really not so unusual for someone to have placed this on his/her rifle I suppose. In both the Falkland's War and the Lebanese Civil War, soldiers glued religious pictures to their rifle stocks. In WW II, soldiers on both sides with time on their hands, and access to Plexiglas from crashed aircraft, made custom see-through grips for pistols and knife handles. Inside they would have photos of their wives/girl friends or movie stars. Heck, in the same time frame as the use of this M48 , I had decorated the tailgate of my Hot Rod Black Chevy Stepside pickup with the title "Back in Black". A song title from one of my favorite rock groups of the late 1980s. That truck was my life then, I bet this rifle was someone's life too and that David Haselhoff was their favorite Rock Star. I suppose it could also be possible that this rifle was used by a Woman. Female snipers were not unusual during the Bosnian civil war. Now these would not have been precision military produced rifles, but rather field expedient sniper rifles taken up or created by Muslim milita during the Bosnia Civil War. Thank You to Robert Skidmore for taking and providing the pictures and to Rick Reich for sharing his Haselhoff Sniper rifle with us, and to "Lee" who posted the information on Tuco's forum about other wartime soldier decorating of firearms.

When where these pictures published?

I was curious when the pictures on Rich's rifle were published. I was
wondering if the pictures would date pre Bosnia War placed by someone perhaps in the TO or Territorial Defense, or if from the 1992-95 Bosnia war time placed by a soldier or civilian sniper who used the rifle during the war there, or if post Civil War placed perhaps by a student. M48s are still used today in Bosnian schools where all students are trained in they're use. I found the David Haselhoff fan club on the net and asked members there to date the pictures for me. And a big thank you to them.

The result was interesting. One of the pictures due to David Haselhoff's hair style and jacket is from 1991-92. The other is from the episode "River of No Return" copyright 1992. Easily dates the use of this rifle right there at or just after the start of the Yugo/Bosnian War that ran from 1992-95. Probably placed on the rifle by the Sniper that used it. This would also date my rifle's use (pictured on the main page) as they were both from the same imported shipment of rifles.

Perhaps this song called Looking for Freedom from David Haselhoff's 1990 "Freedom Tour" had something to do with why the soldier pasted David's pictures to the rifle.

I've been lookin' for freedom
I've been lookin' so long
I've been lookin' for freedom
still the search goes on
I've been lookin' for freedom
since I left my home town
I've been lookin' for freedom
still can't be found