Rem 03A3 I got in trade

[shuvelrider]

Did a horse trade at the (LGS) local gun store, he had a personally owned A3 sitting in the back room. Decided to let it go cause it's not correct, a previous bubba had touched it. It had been fitted with a scope at one time which means the receiver was tapped at the chamber, the rear sight dovetail was ground off . Plus the rear hand guard was "scalloped" to make room for the front bell of the scope tube, must have been a large sporting scope. The gunshop guy removed the scope and installed a Lyman micrometer peep sight over the rear bridge, and plugged the tap holes, used it as a shooter. It was made in 42 and has a MarkII bolt, the bolt handle seems more sleek and fits into a cutout in the stock. Almost like a custom handle but there is no sign of braze or weld, might have been heated and bent and some extra metal machined off. The rest of the rifle is good and all there, I'm gonna get a replacement handguard and receiver ring and use it as a shooter for the range and woods. I traded a Ruger New Model Single Six pistol I bought new in 1979, more then a few thousand .22's through that gun over the years. Not a lot of bluing left on it from the leather holster I kept it in . I have to do some pics and get them posted.

 

[RickMD]

It isn't a "Mark II" bolt. What you have is an aftermarket safety which allows for a low mounted scope. Additionally, the bolt handle has been bent for the same reason (to clear a scope).

 

[shuvelrider]

The safety was explained on another forum, guess the 'mark II" was a marketing gimmick. I did find that the bolt handle appears to have been a cut and weld job, a nice job though. Looks like they were going for the Mannlicher look, I like it.

 

[Malamute]

I haven't seen that many holes on the front receiver ring before, theres usually two holes up front, and one or tweo in the rear receiver ring. The rear ring has been seriously machined, I can't figure out why, it doesnt look like it was done for scope mounting.

The upper handguard and ring isn't difficult to find replacements for. That will help it quite a bit. Original bolts aren't that hard to find either, but then it wouldnt match the groove cut in your stock for the bolt handle that's been modified for scope use. Probably best just to leave the bolt as is. An original safety may be worth having, the scope type stick up in the air without a scope, sort of asking to be pushed off accidently is my thought.

Should be a fun shooter, the ones I've had have shot very well.

 

[highpower]

Personally, I think that while it isn't "correct", it will make an excellent match rifle or maybe a 03-A4 clone.

Shoot it, enjoy the experience and don't worry about whether it is original or not.

 

[Hummer70]

Since you are set up for competition so to speak you might consider get a "C" stock from the CMP. The are 173.90 delivered as I just got one three weeks ago. I suspect when the current stock is gone they probably won't be getting any more as they are out of Springfield rifles.

The "C" stock is far more pleasant to shoot than the straight ones and the perceived recoil will be much less. You could probably recoup much of the cost of a new "C" stock by advertising the removed stock on ebay.

You will probably find the rear aperture sight hole is too big for range shooting but will be OK for woods and the smaller match apertures are not good for woods so get one with a small hole and you have the best of both worlds.

I can't tell from pics if the front of the stock has been sporterized or not but I suspect it has since all the other work has been done.

Doubt you will ever have any problems with the bolt but beware as the Springfield has a long history of going and going and going and going. Just keep changing out the barrel as you won't wear out the receiver.

You might get a couple extra firing pin springs from Wolff Springs. They generally have a "factory" energy and two heavier. I would get the middle one at a minimum.

Some springs take a "set" and they get weaker. Left long enough you will get misfires but way before you get misfires you will get erratic ignition which will show up on long range targets as vertical stringing. You can't hit a primer too hard but you can hit it too slow or too soft and give you problems.

Beware of changing calibers as some 03s will tolerate being changed to 308 and others will not and you won't know till the deed is done. I would stay with 30.06 but if rebarreling go with a 12 twist barrel 26" long and perhaps a No 5A contour which will make it a medium varmint barrel.

If you plan on a long life use of this rifle it will pay you to get a custom chamber reamer made that will reduce the amount of case expansion on firing which will increase your brass life many times. Manson reamers are good about doing these where some of the others don't want to do custom reamers.

By custom chamber reamer I mean the base dimension (measured .200" up from rim) on production barrels run .471-.473" diameter and I have seen much larger. New 30.06 brass comes in at .465" diameter measured at same place.

If you get a chamber reamer made with a .467" base dimension and it is headspaced to snug on a GO gage the fired cases will come out looking like they were never fired. Thusly when run into a FL die the shoulder is only bumped back .001 or .002" and the base may only be reduced to .466".

I used LC 30.06 Match brass and I really don't know how long it will last as I did a test run on one case and contiously fired it and FL sized it like every five rounds and it has been fired 157 times so far and doing fine.

I also ordered a smaller neck dimension on mine and my reamer cuts a .339" neck.

When your gunsmith rebarrels it he will have to cut about 3/4" off the muzzle before crowning it. Have him do it with saw and save the cut off piece.

Have him face off the cut side and run the reamer in the short piece until the shoulder goes in about 1/8". Then face off the front so there is just a ridge left in front of the chamber. This will do two things for you. Tell you exactly where your case neck stops in your chamber and also if any round you are about to fire is too large to go into the neck of your chamber.

If you have a case neck tool you can uniform your case necks by setting the tool to where only the thickest part of the neck is removed. I set my neck tool at .015" thusly a loaded round is no more than .338" diameter. .015 + .015 + .308 =.338" and you have a .339" neck.

I have one lot of 500 LC Match cases I have been shooting since 1983 and they are on their third barrel (all chambered with same reamer) and still doing quite nicely.

I believe you will also find if you use a Lee collet style die set you will be quite pleased with them as well.

You can still find LC 30.06 Match ammo and brass so my recommendation is to get it for many years of good shooting fun. Lay in all you can and dedicate 100 rounds to this rifle.

Also have your gunsmith take your removed barrel, cut out a 2 5/8" long section and turn it cylinder on outside to remove the taper. Run your custom reamer into it and chamber it. That way you have a case gage so if you run up on once fired match brass and you run it in your size die you can check it in the gage to make sure it is sized enough for your chamber thus you avoid sticking a case previously fired in larger chamber and your size die not takng the base dimension down to near original.

FL 30.06 dies I have seen generally size brass to .466 to .468. I have them marked so I know which die to use based on the chamber the brass was fired into to not overwork the brass. I also have one die I polished out to .470" for the big jumbo factory chamber rifles I run up on.

If you think ahead the cost of replacing your brass will justify the purchase of your custom chamber reamer several times over.

You will need a 6" caliper and a 1" micrometer so get good ones. You will use them often in reloading.

 

[Jim Watson]

Pictures don't show the receiver bridge under the peep sight very well, but it looks like a real mess to me. If it has been cut as much as it appears, you had better like shooting with the peep sight because mounting a scope isn't possible.
If so, I would not put the money and work into it that Hummer describes.

 

[shuvelrider]

Yes, Bubba did remove the bridge and dovetail for the original sight, was not the neatest work for the intent of a scope. But yet the bolt handle was done nicely. Yes, I will replace the handguard and the receiver ring, refinish the wood and enjoy it as is. The rest of the rifle has not been touched, which is surprising. Just one man's desire to put a scope on an army gun, I think he used a cantilever style rail that mounted to the receiver and then extended back over the bridge. At least to have used a riser block :banghead:, would have saved the bridge. I do enjoy micrometer peeps though, I can keep my nicer A3 at home and use this one at the range. See how it does for ringing steel.

 

[MartinS]

I don't like those holes closest to the barrel in the front receiver ring.
Looks like a "what's wrong with this picture" in gunsmithing 101.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

Watch out for that aftermarket safety. The need to be heat treated by the installer or the step will wear into a dangerous ramp. I did a couple and case hardened mine back in '93 or so. Inspect yours.

Mike