03 Springfield Cone Breech

[roysha]

Just out of curiosity, is the cone breech actually necessary for reliable feeding in the 03 Springfield? Since it is pretty much a direct copy of the M-98 with as many bad features as the American engineers could either design or copy from some inferior arms design added, it seems to me that a flat breech face would work as well as the cone.

I am rebarreling an 03A3 and will use the cone breech because that is how it is, but as I said at the outset, just curious.

Oh yeah, square threads suck!

[KCSO]

Short answer..yes.

[divinemarquis]

The only reason the cone breach is present on the American rifles is because the Germans cried patent infringement on the original design. Once the effectiveness of the Mauser was established, everybody wanted one. So, to still have more-or-less the same rifle without too much of a design change, the breach was machined as a cone instead of flat and the bolt was modified accordingly.

[divinemarquis]

And yes, square threads DO in fact suck.