Low number 1903 Springfield.

[gnoahhh]

I have in the past fired low numbered '03s, and will continue to do so in the future. All of my loading for them has been with relatively low pressure cast loads, with an occasional jacketed handload of around .300 Savage ballistics. (But that is how I shoot all of my .30/06's, even "new" ones.) Nary a problem. I don't, however, blithely recommend firing them across the board. I will admit there is an element of danger, but certainly no more so than the other old guns I play with. What I choose to do shouldn't be contrived as an all-encompassing testimonial but rather that I personally don't see the bugabear lurking in the shadows. I'll not turn my back on one of the slickest most accurate milsurps out there.

(As an aside, Michael Petrov, researcher of note, ground off the lone locking lug of a Krag bolt and continued firing it remotely by utilizing just the safety lug on the bolt. He got some surprising results, reaching some astonishingly high pressures with overloads of fast burning powder before everything finally came unglued. Even then the bolt stayed in the receiver. Admittedly not germane to the discussion of the low number '03's, just an interesting anecdote concerning the safety of a sample of one Krag rifle.)

[plain old dave]

Interesting the Krag is brought up. There is one reason a Krag is actually a safer rifle to shoot than a LN M1903 is with loads generating the same chamber pressure:

Cone breaching.

There really isn't a feeding ramp in any M1903 rifle; the breech face is actually a cone. Problem is the case head is supported by nothing other than brass. Look at a chambered .30-06 round in an 03 and you'll see what I mean. With new brass this isn't THAT big an issue. However, if you have the 1 in a million case made not quite up to snuff, you really don't want tens of thousands of PSI of hot gases going all over the place. Indifferent ww1 brass is a main contributing factor to many of the LN M1903 kabooms; case let go and sudden burst of gas shattered reciever.

[Buckshot]

The real question is:

was there any leading in the barrel???

..............The bore was like a mirror, amen! The chamber is swelled but the balance of the barrel is fine. Thinking of using a piece to go on a Ruger BH in 30 carb to replace the stupid 20" twist bbl it's hampered with

................Buckshot

[30CAL-TEXAN]

I won't offer any convincing info one way or another, I will only say that I have a 1908 mfg Rock Island with a 1944 barrel and I shoot it.

I don't shoot it quite as often as my 03A3 and M1917 but that has more to do with my preference for the sights. I have no problem taking the old gal out for a day at the range.

It is a personal choice.