1903A3 Rescue

[DMark]

Some may recall the thread I posted about a 1903 Springfield that I found at a local gun store and the results of getting it back into action.....

http://www.tngunowne...__fromsearch__1

Well, l continue to be on the lookout for other bits of history that needs a rescue.

A couple of months ago I was searching one of the online auction sites and this popped up.

What caught my attention in this pic was the front sight. The sight was still in its original military configuration. So often these sporterized rifles have had their barrels shorten, but here was a 1903A3 that didn't have a cut barrel. I could also see that it had a Redfield base, always a good thing.

So, I asked the seller for a bolt side pic of the rifle.

For a brief second or two my heart skipped a beat when I had the idea that this might be an actual 03A4 sniper, but looking at the pic I could see that the serial number wasn't positioned in the correct location and the bolt, while close just wasn't the right shape. But that is A-OK because I'm always looking for shooters and not safe queens. Best of all this rifle had all of the stuff already done to it (bent bolt, D&T, correct base) to turn it into a 03A4 sniper clone.

I won the auction and with the help of some "spare" parts that I had lying around, it now looks like this.

While not a true and correct clone of an 03A4 sniper, it has all of main characteristics of the type as it might of been found after the post WWII rebuilds.

Best of all its a great shooter - - - firing report to follow.

[peejman]

Sweet!

[MacGyver]

That's nice!

[NRA]

AWSOME I love a good rescue story!

Edited February 28, 2012 by NRA

[R1100R]

DMARK, what scope did you stick on it? It looks great.

I still have that 8X Unertl with your name on it!! LOL

[pcrc11]

Here's picture of my work in progress 03A3 drill rifle restoration. Am still lacking few parts to complete it.

[Guest VolDaddy]

very nice.

[DMark]

DMARK, what scope did you stick on it? It looks great. I still have that 8X Unertl with your name on it!! LOL

Its a post-war Weaver K2.5. Its about as close as I could get to a Lyman "Alaskan" 2.5 without spending the big bucks. Its of the old style Weaver where the crosshairs move within the field of view. I had a set of Redfield one inch vertical split rings that mounted right up with the base.

And you're right....., I need to look at that Unertl you have for another project that I'm saving up parts for.

Edited March 2, 2012 by DMark

[DMark]

Sighting in this rifle with the old style Weaver was alot like working with a Russian scope, you have to adjust the base first.

Since the crosshairs move within the field of view, trying to keep them as centered as possible can be alot of work. In order to do this you have to use the rear base adjustments for laternal left & right corrections and shim the front of the base for elevation. On the workbench I centered the crosshairs in the scope's field of view and then used a boresight kit to get me in the ballpark before heading to the range. I found that even with the elevation adjusted all the way up, the scope was at it max limits just above the boresight. I used two .020 shims under the front of the base to correct this. I needed that much thickest because the K2.5 scope has limited elevation adjustments and this rifle could see use in vintage sniper matches which shoot out to 600 yards, so I would need alot or "come-up" at that range. For the laternal boresight all I did was center the crosshair using the base adjustments.

Then it was off to the range - - - Where I found out that it was a good thing that I always tend to have more ammo on me than needed.

Elevation was just about spot on at 100 yards, but the laternal settings with just a boresight had me about 12 inches off to the right. So I started cranking on the rear base screws and soon found myself in a wild chase of 3-5 inch left and right movements of bullet impacts. Without any "clicks" to count my adjustments on the base screws I came to realize that I wasn't doing a good job of recalling how much correction I was putting in on the base screws while not using the scope's adjustments until I was near center of the target.

Did I mention that it was a good thing that I had alot of 30.06 with me.

What I finally did was draw a sketch of the left/right screws and note the adjustments using a clock method. That finally got the impacts near my Point of Aim, but it took alot of wasted rounds before I could do the final fine sighting in using the scope's internal adjustments. But it was worth it because I was able to keep the crosshairs centered in the scope.

Here are the final results..., and best news of all is that the rifle is just about shooting MOA using CMP surplus Greek HXP M2 ball 1970 production ammo.

The two shots within the red circle are before my final adjustment on the scope. The three shots in the yellow circle are the final shots.

Happy with that final adjusted three shots (and just about being out of ammo), I took three shots at 200 yards.

Not bad for 42 year old non-match, issued ammo being fired out of a 68 year old barrel.

Edited March 4, 2012 by DMark

[peejman]

Sounds like a lot of work, but the results are quite good. You might consider bringing a caliper/depth mic next time for better accuracy when moving the base.

[DMark]

.... You might consider bringing a caliper/depth mic next time for better accuracy when moving the base....

Yea I hear ya. That idea cross my mind about 20 rounds into the deal.

The funny thing is I have an original National Match Sight Micrometer that I always take with me when sighting in any vintage rifle with a ladder sight, so having some sort of tool to mic a sight is my norm. I reckon I need to figure out something like that if I continue to shoot these old vintage scopes. What threw me at first with this scope was how far off the windage laternal was based on the boresight. I usally see a good group near my POA right at the start. Perhaps the D&T on the base wasn't centered lined as well as it could have been.

Edited March 4, 2012 by DMark

[Guest last1is4me]

Nice.

[Caster]

Somebody buy Mark a beer That's just incredible. I love to see the old warhorses revived and restored to former glory.

[DMark]

Got an email asking me how I did the cut for the bolt handle.

Answer: Slow & Careful

I used only handtools - - - round wood rasp, small round and flat files, and the super secret trick tool - - - lipstick. Yup, lipstick. You coat the bottom of the handle with lipstick and press it down on the wood. Where the lipstick marks the wood you rasp and file the wood. You repeat this several times until you get the handle to lock the bolt into battery. You also will need to remove the receiver and barrel in and out of the stock several times to make the cut. Again, the key is to go Slow & Careful. Remove just the amount of wood that the lipstick has marked. You have to get the angle of the handle correct or the depth and width of the cut will be all wrong.

What made this cut a bit of a challenge was an existing scrape in the wood right where the handle needed to go. Had to be careful not to splitter it out.

Edited March 18, 2012 by DMark