Low numbered Springfield 1903

[Slamfire]

1) Most modern factory ammo is not loaded with MILSPEC "hard" primers. You run the risk of slam fires or doubling if shooting standard factory ammo out of an M1. Make sure you are using ammo loaded using MILSPEC primers

Absolutely! I blew the reciever heel off a Garand receiver with my reloads and Federal primers! I had reamed the pockets to depth and seated all the primers with a Lee hand tool and verified that they were well within the pocket.

2) .30-06 ammo loaded with the slower powders (e.g., one of the 4350's) will carry too much pressure to the end of the barrel where the gas port is located. You run the risk of bending the operating rod if you shoot an M1 with ammo loaded with "slower" powder. You need to use one of the faster powders (Varget for example). The peak pressures are about the same between a round loaded with Varget vs 4350, but the pressure falls off much quicker with the fast burning powder resulting in a safe pressure for the op rod once the bullet moves past the gas port

You can rebend the operating rod but you can’t fix this hard recoil issue: The bolt rebounds off the receiver heel. Too many hard knocks and guess what happens:


Receiver from Gunbroker, no explaination












Receiver cracked after firing HXP 69

 

[mjackson]

Good discussion guys with good info. Thanks.

 

[kragluver]

Interesting pics of the M1 receiver. I had never seen one like that. I didn't realize you could actually crack the heal like that.To my knowledge, this sort of failure is not documented anywhere by Hatcher.