You Never Know !

[quicksylver]

So to make a long story short, I called a long time shooting buddy and asked him if he had any spare Lyman 48 sights he would be willing to part with.

His reply seemed a little strange, he said yes but I would also have to buy the extra parts as well.

OK, sounds reasonable.

We agreed to meet at my shop and do a little horse trading.

Horse trading we did not do, after passing over $1200.00 bucks ( can not deal with this guy ),he left with me holding;
1. A 1903 MK 1 with a scant stock, Lyman 48 rear sight, 17a Globe front sight, new 2 groove Remington barrel, Dated 3-44 ( 40 jacketed rounds through it, I know because I watched after the rebarrel, the original barrel (9-16) with sights,wood and oiler (very important).
BTW there is nothing wrong with the original barrel.

2. A Griffin and Howe type high end sporter , with a Lyman 48 rear and a STAR GAUGED barrel. dated 9-16,
The barrel is minty mint.

3. The flaw in all this, a high number Rock Island 03 that had been tapped for a scope, actually came with a decent scope and a minty High Standard barrel dated 3-44.

4. Misc o3 parts.

So after having been taken so badly I retired to my basement , took out the bore foam and proceeded to remove all traces of copper in the three riffles. Not a big chore since they were not fired that much.

Yes ,the next step was to load up some rounds using all of my Ben knowledge.
I chose the more or less stock 03 MK 1 as my fist test rifle.

As I said I knew it had 40 rnds of jacketed through it and after cleaning I seasoned the bore with 40 rnds
of cast.

How did it shoot @ 100, well had to adjust sights first but then it started to show promise as the pictures show.

On to the next!

 

[quicksylver]

MK 1Sporter Rock Island

 

[KHornet]

What kind of a mask did you wear?

 

[quicksylver]

A smiling face with cross bones below

 

[quicksylver]

I just found out that the 1903 sporter was originally a NRA sporter with a star gauge barrel converted to a sporting rifle,hopefully by G&H.

 

[Ian]

Shame he insisted you to buy all those spare parts.

 

[RicinYakima]

quicksylver, I have collected NRA Sporters from Springfield for 25 years, if you need any help, please fell free to contact me.

This is how they looked when they were sold by Springfield Armory. Ric

 

[quicksylver]

Ric Those are one sweet guns and I can understand their attraction.

It is my understanding that they were purchased by various high end gun makers to make sporting rifles.

That is what happened to mine, it ended up becoming a beautiful sporting rifle.

I gathered up my courage and took it apart to see what the internals had to say.

The bolt is marked with the last three digits of the serial number, as is the trigger housing and stock.

The bottom of the barrel has the serial number stamped in it.

The trigger assembly parts are all stamped with their own serial numbers .

The stricker is stamped with the serial number.

The bolt is turned down like yours but the underneath of the knob has been flattened and checkered.

The barrel date must be 36 as I can see the six on one side of the front sight.
date of manufacture places it square on at 1936.

An SRS could not come up with the serial number so I do not know where it went from CMP.
However I do know that some on each side of it were 1903 National match rifles.

I will get some good picture to post.

P.S. Sorry I would just have to throw on a Lyman globe front sight on yours and take it to the range, hopefully no damage would be done.
I just love to hear those old dogs bark again.

Thanks Dan S.

 

[RicinYakima]

Dan S.,

Believe it or not, Springfield Armory would send a barreled action and all the parts in the white to Griffin and Howe, Hoffman Arms, etc., for NRA members to have a rifle finished. Some are indeed works of arts in assembly and finish. Yours very well could have been one of those, as SA never numbered anything but the action, and other than barrel date, the only number on the barrel is the star-gauge number, i.e. letter and 2 or three digits.

Oh, I have a Lyman globe on one 30-06 and on the one re-bored to 35 Whelan! Both are very good cast bullet shooters.

Ric