What to do with a bubba'd Mark 1

[ilcop22]

Afternoon folks,

I'm fishing for ideas on what to do with a severely bubba'd, poorly maintained Springfield 1903 Mark 1. See this thread for initial concerns with the receiver:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=90121

I decided to part it down to see what kinda "work" was done to the barrel. The barrel is a new-ish USGI 1903a3 barrel, with a cut to fit the rear sight collar on a 1903. I removed the collar and the front sight band and found some "work" had been done to remove the parker where the rear collar went. The collar itself has a crack in it, presumably from it being forced onto the a3 barrel.

So here's what I have:

A perfectly good 03a3 bbl, only slightly cosmetically damaged
A severely externally pitted Mark 1 receiver
A severely externally pitted trigger guard
Mint stock set
Good condition stock metal, bands and plate
Good condition front and rear sight set

I paid $300 for the rifle, admittedly without a thorough inspection pre-purchase because I bought it from an estate sale held by a trusted family. What would you do with this gun? Keep 'er bubba'd? Refurbish to mil-spec standards? Turn into a wallhanger? Sky's the limit; I'd love to hear your thoughts. :coffeecom

[stubshaft]

Draw filing the reciever will remove too much material so you can bead blast it then reblue. I'd just refinish it and make a shooter out of it.

[beagle]

Yeah, me too. I'd keep the old fellow shooting and get it as close to issue as possible and enjoy it./beagle

[flounderman]

airbrushing with lauers weapon paint will cover a lot of roughness.

[uscra112]

If you can get the barrel off, I'd suggest degreasing in boiling water with TSP in it, then applying the electrolytic rust removal technique that restorers use. It's easy, just a tank, distilled water, washing soda, an anode of some kind, and a 12v battery. That will eliminate the rust down to the molecular level, and you won't have to worry about it ever again. Reblue, and make a shooter out of it.

[ilcop22]

Thus far (I knew I should have mentioned this in the OP) I have removed all of the rust, and repaired the pitting on the trigger guard. I do a lot of cold blueing, perhaps I'll give the receiver a good blasting and refinish. The bbl is in good order, it appears that it was the last thing done to the gun, presumably because the original barrel rusted off.

[gnoahhh]

That pitting on the receiver gave me pause when I saw it! Wow! The bulk of it is below the wood line but enough remains above it to be an eyesore. Not being one to give up on any '03, if it were mine I would look into maybe having the pits above the wood line filled with epoxy and then have the whole thing coated with one or the other of the proprietary coatings that look like Parkerizing. Just a thought, as I never went that route. Drop it all in a stock and see how it shoots before proceeding. If it's a dog in that respect, well...