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With the edge of Hurricane Helene keeping me inside for the last few days, I decided to tackle a stock repair project that I have been saving for just such an eventuality.
The story begins with a high number '03 Springfield that I have had for a number of years Bought at a gun show for a cheap price, it showed the effects of years of use. Most of the original metal finish is worn and the stock, while sound, has seen better days. The bore, while lightly pitted has very strong rifling and it is one of my most accurate Springfield's.
Both the receiver and barrel date from 1934, which is right in the middle of the time frame when Springfield wasn't making any new '03's except for National Match rifles, which this old girl certainly isn't. What they were doing is building rifles out of parts that they refurbished and ,replacing low number receivers with new nickel steel receiver and replacing barrels as needed. This rifle shows a typical-for-the time period, mixture of early parts along with a high number receiver and new barrel.
I recently won a pre-war "C" stock from Ebay for a very reasonable price, the catch is that it had been cut off a few inches ahead of the upper band. This makes it salvageable if you have another stock you can cannibalize for the forward section. Fortunately, I had such an animal, a beat up WWII era replacement scant stock. In the scheme of things, a genuine pre-war "C" stock is worth a bunch of money and a beat down scant stock is nearly worthless.
C stock pictures from the ebay ad. I know it doesn't look like much, but trust me on this, these pre-war Springfield made C stocks are hard to find and expensive when you do come across one for sale. Think in excess of $500 for a nice one. I got this for less than $100:
The scant stock was a real POS, but the part of it I wanted was still good. The light colored area on the butt is where it was badly gouged by something like a piece of metal being dropped on it:
So let the cutting begin!
First I cut the forend from the scant stock, then removed the remaining forend stub from the C stock. One thing you have to remember to do is account for the kerf of the saw you use. If you don't, the end you splice on will be the width of the kerf too short.
Forend removed and drilled and tapped to 10-32 for locating pins. I cut longitudinal grooves in the screws so when I fill the holes with Acraglass, the epoxy won't hydro lock in the bottom of the hole:
Stock cut and corresponding holes drilled oversize so the epoxy will flow easily around them:
Glued together with the action and upper handguard in place to ensure proper alignment:
Skipping forward past the cleanup phase, the finished product. Instead of a garden variety M1903, it is now a M1903-A1:
When cleaning up the stock I found a few rebuild cartouches lurking under the hand mung and dirt. the most obvious is the AA-S Augusta Arsenal stamp. Next is a less visible SA rebuild stamp and nearly invisible is the remnants of another stamp, most likely a SA/SPG stamp from when it passed final inspection the first time. There are three firing proofs under the pistol grip, one from when it was first manufactured and the other two from the rebuilds. To say the least, this old stock has been around.
There was also a surprise in this area as I found a crack in the wrist when I cleaned off the gunk. You can see the round mark where I stabilized the crack with another 10-32 screw and epoxy. It is probably stronger now than before the break, but I sure wish it wasn't there. Still, I have a fraction of the amount I would have had in a nice stock and the overall look of it perfectly matches the condition of the rest of the rifle.
Drawing numbers typically found on pre-war C stocks as used on National Match rifles. C stocks were first approved for use in 1929, but were almost always used only on NM rifles. Later on, when war was looming on the horizon, they were used on standard service rifles. Technically, for a '03 Springfield to be a "real" M1903-A1, it has to have a serial number later than 1929 and a corresponding barrel date that matches the date of the receiver, both of which this rifle has.
Interestingly enough, the hand guard that was on the rifle when I bought it, also has a drawing number:
So that's it, a nice little project that I think came out fairly decent. I still have the original S stock that came on the rifle and it could be returned to the as-purchased condition in a matter of minutes although I have no intention of changing it back.
The story begins with a high number '03 Springfield that I have had for a number of years Bought at a gun show for a cheap price, it showed the effects of years of use. Most of the original metal finish is worn and the stock, while sound, has seen better days. The bore, while lightly pitted has very strong rifling and it is one of my most accurate Springfield's.
Both the receiver and barrel date from 1934, which is right in the middle of the time frame when Springfield wasn't making any new '03's except for National Match rifles, which this old girl certainly isn't. What they were doing is building rifles out of parts that they refurbished and ,replacing low number receivers with new nickel steel receiver and replacing barrels as needed. This rifle shows a typical-for-the time period, mixture of early parts along with a high number receiver and new barrel.
I recently won a pre-war "C" stock from Ebay for a very reasonable price, the catch is that it had been cut off a few inches ahead of the upper band. This makes it salvageable if you have another stock you can cannibalize for the forward section. Fortunately, I had such an animal, a beat up WWII era replacement scant stock. In the scheme of things, a genuine pre-war "C" stock is worth a bunch of money and a beat down scant stock is nearly worthless.
C stock pictures from the ebay ad. I know it doesn't look like much, but trust me on this, these pre-war Springfield made C stocks are hard to find and expensive when you do come across one for sale. Think in excess of $500 for a nice one. I got this for less than $100:
The scant stock was a real POS, but the part of it I wanted was still good. The light colored area on the butt is where it was badly gouged by something like a piece of metal being dropped on it:
So let the cutting begin!
First I cut the forend from the scant stock, then removed the remaining forend stub from the C stock. One thing you have to remember to do is account for the kerf of the saw you use. If you don't, the end you splice on will be the width of the kerf too short.
Forend removed and drilled and tapped to 10-32 for locating pins. I cut longitudinal grooves in the screws so when I fill the holes with Acraglass, the epoxy won't hydro lock in the bottom of the hole:
Stock cut and corresponding holes drilled oversize so the epoxy will flow easily around them:
Glued together with the action and upper handguard in place to ensure proper alignment:
Skipping forward past the cleanup phase, the finished product. Instead of a garden variety M1903, it is now a M1903-A1:
When cleaning up the stock I found a few rebuild cartouches lurking under the hand mung and dirt. the most obvious is the AA-S Augusta Arsenal stamp. Next is a less visible SA rebuild stamp and nearly invisible is the remnants of another stamp, most likely a SA/SPG stamp from when it passed final inspection the first time. There are three firing proofs under the pistol grip, one from when it was first manufactured and the other two from the rebuilds. To say the least, this old stock has been around.
There was also a surprise in this area as I found a crack in the wrist when I cleaned off the gunk. You can see the round mark where I stabilized the crack with another 10-32 screw and epoxy. It is probably stronger now than before the break, but I sure wish it wasn't there. Still, I have a fraction of the amount I would have had in a nice stock and the overall look of it perfectly matches the condition of the rest of the rifle.
Drawing numbers typically found on pre-war C stocks as used on National Match rifles. C stocks were first approved for use in 1929, but were almost always used only on NM rifles. Later on, when war was looming on the horizon, they were used on standard service rifles. Technically, for a '03 Springfield to be a "real" M1903-A1, it has to have a serial number later than 1929 and a corresponding barrel date that matches the date of the receiver, both of which this rifle has.
Interestingly enough, the hand guard that was on the rifle when I bought it, also has a drawing number:
So that's it, a nice little project that I think came out fairly decent. I still have the original S stock that came on the rifle and it could be returned to the as-purchased condition in a matter of minutes although I have no intention of changing it back.
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