Another Springfield 1903

[Spinner]

I inherited my dad's Springfield 1903 30.06 hunting rifle. I gather he bought it milsurp in the 50's or so and he sporterised it (built his own stock, added a receiver rear peep sight) and used it to hunt deer and pigs.

Dad's gone now and I never got a chance to shoot or hunt with him, but his rifle is still here. I thought it'd be kinda nice to take dad's old rifle out hunting and bag a deer or two. The thing is the barrel is pretty well shot out, the finish is pretty well gone, I'd feel a whole lot happier with a scope and the stock has a small crack in the butt and is sized for dad and it pretty much kicked like a mule when I tried shooting prone.

I started thinking about re-barreling it, dropping a Timney trigger into it, mounting a scope, restocking it, refinishing it ....... which pretty much only leaves the receiver and bolt untouched.

I've asked a couple of mates and they've all said "hang it on the wall and go buy a Win/Rem/Brown/Tikka/Sako/Whatever in whatever calibre you like and think of your old man when you drop its first deer." Probably good advice but the old girl's not the prettiest girl at the dance, it ain't original and although it might be impractical it would mean a lot to me to re-cycle dad's old rifle.

So what do y'all think?? Is it worth doing something with or should I relegate the old girl to being a wall hanger?

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[Animal]

Well, it's already modified right? Your dad built it to shoot. I would fix it up a little, and shoot it.
Thats what I would do, you should do whatever you are most comfortable with though. Good luck in whatever you do,
Jake

 

[Tag]

IMHO you should keep her running as long as possible. Get a new stock, or even an old/new military style stock. Give the barrel an attentive cleaning and go find some deer

 

[Buckskinner]

It's probably not shot out!

Take it to the range! If its "Minute of Deer" at 100 meters, you're good! Spend the money on a new camo rain jacket or binoculars and practice stalking. Get close enough and BAMMO. One dead deer....Mmmmm, I can taste those backstraps now....

Really though. Try some different ammo, or get the barrel recrowned and see if it'll do 3" or less. That's all you need for a hunting rifle.

If the stock is a goner, you can buy a synthetic stock at Cabela's. I've seen 'em, and they are more than fine for this rifle.

I've got 2 of these sporterized rifles. I'm thinking of rebarrelling to a larger caliber, based on that '06 action. Maybe a .35 Whelan...

Good luck!

 

[jrhead75]

If it were me, I'd restore it to as close to original as possible, rebarrel it, and take it hunting with me. If that's too expensive, since it's already sporterised, then slap on a new barrel and use it. I hate seeing those old war horses hanging on a wall.

BTW, if it's an early s/n (pre 800,000 or even less than 1,000,000) let me know...my grandfather was a Sergeant with the 5th US Marines at Belleau Wood, and I've got the s/ns that were assigned to his section written down in an old notebook of his.

Ya never know...

 

[Animal]

Wow!, wouldn't that be somethin' to find your grandads rifle! Sorry to hijack, but good luck finding that, I hope you do, let us know if you ever do....semper fi...

 

[Spinner]

Howdy

I'll check on the serial no. when I get home and post it. I know there were some issues with heat treating of receivers on some of these rifles and I know that this one is outside the range of serial no.s that were suspect.

I'm really tempted to try shooting the rifle again from a sitting position (I'm picking shooting prone didn't help with recoil management) and just seeing what the old girl can do in terms of accuracy. I'm guessing that if I can keep all the holes in a 6" circle out to 200 yards from sitting or kneeling then that would be accurate enough to punch a hole in the vital area of a deer ..... particularly if I kept shots to around 100 yards.

The stock is an issue .... it doesn't seem to fit me well and I don't want to start fliching or anything because of it, but an inexpensive replacement stock might be a good thing to check out.

I'm unsure of the actual model the rifle but I know it used to have a ladder-type rear sight attached to a sleeve that fitted around the breech end of the barrel. Is that characteristic enough to make an ID?

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[Buckskinner]

Jrhead!!

How about SA 812776?

 

[Houndawg]

Are you sure it's an '03 and not an '03A3? The '03A3 came with a receiver mounted peep sight.

 

[Lawyerman]

Based on your knowledge of the rear ladder type sight and collar at the end of the barrel it's definitely an 03 and not an 03a3.

Why do you think the barrel is shot? Unless it is pitted it should be ok, throat erosion is not something most people can see with the naked eye. As others have said I would give the barrel a good cleaning, use some copper solvent, check the crown. Try several different brands and weights of 06 ammo.

A scope wouldn't hurt, local gunsmiths charge $15 a hole to drill and tap, you may need to have your bolt bent also and a Timney safety to replace the military unit. You might try it off the bench, after all you are trying at this point to establish the rifle's accuracy potential which is easiest if you eliminate as many variables as possible.

What is it about the stock that is a problem? Length of pull? Any decent gunsmith can fit a good recoil pad, lengthening the pull. I have seen a few rifles with a slice of wood added to increase LOP length. Cracks are not too hard to repair, some acraglass and a brass pin will usually do the trick. If it were my dad's I would want to keep it as close to the way he had it as possible with the exception of adding a scope for more versatility. Good luck with your project.

 

[Khornet]

Nothing to lose

you can restore that rifle or fully sporterize it without a lot of special tools or skills. Parts are widely available...check out Gun Parts Corp. on the 'net. With a recoil pad I can shoot mine with just a t-shirt on in comfort. I usually wear pants and shoes, too, wise guys.

The only 'smith work you need is bolt bending and reciever drill& tap if you're scoping it.

Then you'll have a rifle chambered for one of the most useful and versatile cartridges ever.

 

[MuzzleBlast]

Anybody can go buy a Remington, or Savage, or whatever. Not everyone has an '03 inherited from their old man. Refurbish it and enjoy it.

 

[Houndawg]

Speaking of which, my dad has a Smith Corona 03A3 that's has been sporterized. It has a monte carlo stock. It been drilled and tapped, and has a Redfield mount and a Unertl Hawk scope on it. One of these days it'll be mine, though I'm not in any hurry to get it, if you know what I mean.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

I've got three 1903's that I inherited and I have different plans for each.

My dad gave me his Rock Island 1903 (sn303308) in the seventies. He bought it in 1945 and "sporterized" it by cutting down some of the wood. In the fifties he re-did the rifle, including shortened, turned down barrel, bird's-eye maple stock, new bluing etc. It really is a nice looking rifle, however, he used to buy 4831 by the 50 lb. keg so the first 6-7" of the barrel looks like a shotgun bore. I bought a barrel blank in .270 and am going to re-barrel it to .270 Ackley Improved and just leave the rest as is. His stock work is a little "amateurish" but I don't want to change it. BTW, my dad's still with us and approves of my plans for the rifle.

My mother in law gave me two 1903's that were her's and my late father-in-law's hunting rifles a few months ago. Now, my late father-in-law, bless his heart, was a true "bubba" when it came to his rifles. As long as they worked, he didn't care what they looked like. His is a high numbered Springfield that he hacked the extra wood off of and then hunted with it. He never even cleaned it, however he left the original finish and sights on it. I have bought new wood from Boyd's and rounded up some barrel bands to restore it. It should make a good shooter for CMP matches.

Her's, on the other hand, brought tears to my eyes when I saw it. It's a low numbered (unshootable) early Springfield that is complete. The wood is all matched and the finish is about 95%. HOWEVER, it wouldn't fit in my FIL's gun racks in the Scout, so he hacked two grooves about 1.5" wide across the stock and handguards. Not sure what I'll do with this one. Maybe sell it to someone who can restore it and give her the money.

 

[Spinner]

OK, had another look at the rifle last night. Its definitely a Model 1903.

On the receiver is Rock Island Arsenal Mod. 1903 and the serial no. 350492.

Lawyerman, you're right it is a 1903 however its had a receiver peep sight fitted (by dad I presume). The original ladder type rear sight was originally fitted because the stock was cut to fit around it.

Anyway, I checked out the bore and the rifling certainly didn't look pristine. I had a friend check it out and he pronounced that the barrel was "washed out" and it wouldn't shoot worth a damn unless it was re-barrelled .... so I'm guessing from what you guys are saying I should get someone who knows what they're doing to have a look huh? It may simply benefit from a cut and recrown.

The problem with the stock .... well it's actually been nicely made. It has a very upright pistol grip (similar to a target type stock) and quite a narrow butt with relatively short length of pull and no recoil pad. The crack in the butt is around the sling swivel screw and is probably not structurally important so a bit of glue and clamping should fix it.

I've only ever shot the rifle from prone and I'm picking the stock was made with a more upright body position in mind ..... you don't get too many opportunities to shoot NZ deer from a prone position. With no recoil pad, a narrow butt (the rifle's not mine ) and a slightly short length of pull, I felt the recoil was not insubstantial. I didn't come out black and blue or anything, but I was starting to wonder which end was the more dangerous. It certainly seemed to kick a LOT more than my .270 .... I was expecting a bit more but not a lot more.

Putting a recoil pad on it will help tame some of the recoil as will adding a scope (added weight). Getting over it and just shooting it is probably the best idea.

As far as scoping the rifle, what's the opinion on the "Insta-mount" scope mounts for military rifles. They apparently lock to specific actions (the 1903 is one action listed) without the need for smithing ........ presumably they lift the scope high enough to avoid the need for bolt bending.

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