'03A3 Heat treat ??

[ascast]

I have come into an '03A3 that went through a fire. It is complete but all wood is gone. The receiver should have several springs in it, and does. They are all as dead as Scotch tape. A normal steel file will grab right into the underside. So, who can properly re-heat treat this?, what is a ball park price? Is this a reasonable course of action? I have a '44 R barrel, new; and spare bolt, stock, and other smalls I can get.
What would you guys do?
Also have a Snyder .577 that was in same fire.

[30calflash]

Might be a paper weight, not sure many if any would touch it as a rebuildable receiver. I've not heard of a smith or shop that would touch one....

[ascast]

HW your prob'ly right. But what about case hardening? Would that be hard enough? just wondering

[pietro]

HW your prob'ly right. But what about case hardening? Would that be hard enough? just wondering


Only if you have paid-up full medical coverage................. and, great liability insurance.

Any fire hot enough to burn off the stock & take the temper from the springs - not to mention softening the receiver - will turn what looks like a viable restoration into a hand grenade with the pin out, just waiting for an opportune time to blow.

If I got my hands on it, I would cut it up, so some innocent doesn't fell prey to it, after it for whatever reason has left my hands.


.

[Steelshooter]

++++1^^^^

[Geezer in NH]

That gun is JUNK!!!!!

[gnoahhh]

Deep six it so some some fool doesn't ever use it.

[KenT7021]

03A3's were not case hardened.Most if not all were made from 8620 steel.I wouldn't use the receiver if it is soft.They're normally extremely hard.If you want a professional opinion contact Blanchard Metal Processing in Salt Lake City.If they're still in business they reheat treat Mauser receivers and bolts.

[NoAngel]

Turn it into a .45 ACP. Years ago I acquired a Spanish FR-8 that had been in a fire. I made a magazine adapter for a 1911 magazine and turned a receiver bushing to use a 16" Cobray barrel I picked up at Knob Creek. It made a heckuva little rifle in the end.

The bolt head needs no mod. Not sure about the 03a3 but it should be pretty much the same. Dealing with the ejector was the trickiest part but I copied the Rhineland kits and it worked out.

[Texas by God]

Give it and the Snider a proper burial. So you won't need one. My .02.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk

[Blackwater]

I'm with Pietro. A conversion to .45 ACP would work, probably, but then, who's to say who'd get ahold of it later, and chamber it for something that would make it a grenade? That would worry me WAY too much to not go the safest/best route, and cut it up. Might make some good paper wts. for the shooting/reading room that way. Anyone who's ever had a gun blow up in his hands (I have!) does NOT want to EVER see that happen again, to himself or anyone else! That is guaranteed!

[Steelshooter]

It amazes me that some can't get it thru their heads the gun is toast. So lets spend a couple hundred dollars to change it to 45 auto and it still blows up in your face. Or the one with the low numbered 03 that will only shoot mild cast boolit loads in it, must think he going to live forever. Or the one with the demilled 03a3 spending hundreds to get it to shoot again. There comes a time to just give it up and possibly save a life maybe your own.
Rant over.

[NoAngel]

It amazes me that some people think they are responsible for other people's actions. If you live your life worrying about what someone else does down the line after you're gone you'll never get much done.

You could make a bolt action out of 1018 cold rolled and it would handle a 45 auto at normal pressures. The FR-8 I used had been in a two story house that burned to the ground. It was hot enough to burn the stock completely and turn all the springs to dead soft wire. The shop I was working in at the time; The guy that ran the mill next to mine asked about the same thing. I had already put several hundred (close to a thousand) rounds through it in the previous 6 months. I brought it to work and had one of the guys magnaflux the bolt. No cracks. The receiver tested about 11 Rockwell(c)

As with everything in life, everyone is on their own. What works for one might not work for you. Know what you're doing or don't do it.



Another cool project if you have the skill to do it: Thread a 45 or 50 caliber barrel for the receiver and thread the chamber end for 209 primer adapter and you could build a very unique muzzleloader.

[Steelshooter]

If a borrow another members line, play stupid games win stupid prizes. Just don't pass it on without telling the next person.

[Blackwater]

But that's exactly the problem, Steel. Who knows we won't get hit by a truck and killed, and nobody else will know to pass the info on. And in a court of law, one COULD legitimately be held legally responsible for someone's wrongful death due to negligence. An awful lot of ambulance chasing lawyers would LOVE to get a case like this! Sometimes, it really IS possible to be a little TOO cheap. And this is coming from a lifelong miser, too! I've had to ditch a gun before, and it smarts, but I knew it was the right thing to do. I don't want another's death or injury on my conscience, and then there's the legal thing to boot! But people do what people do, and there's got to be a Darwin Award winner somewhere just waiting for his turn for "fame and glory." (shrug) I've done a number of milsurp conversions, but in all cases, I fired the original rifle BEFORE rebarreling them. Every time! But then, I'm just not a very trusting soul when it comes to my personal safety, and like to prove things first that might hurt me. And guns have LOTS of pressure in them! Not good to tempt Mama Nature!!!

[bouncer50]

One of the first civil court case in the US was a rifle that one guy braze up. He sold it to another guy and the gun blown up and lose a eye. He won 20 dollars for a lost eye.

[Red Elk]

I have purchased many 03's and 03A3s for under $200, in perfect health.
To try to salvage something which will be a major safety concern, that you are intending to place next to your eyes and face, is sheer and utter stupidity. Sorry, but it is.
Place in a nice cut off saw, and cut said action, bolt, and barrel into pieces to be sold for scrap. Period.
Then go out and purchase a nice used Springfield 03 or 03A3 and go shoot that.
If someone offered you $300 for your life playing Russian Roulette, would you do it? Really?
That is what your suggesting. Forget it, and move on. Be smart. Not dead or severely maimed.
Nuff said.
re

[M-Tecs]

Used these guys in the past to reheat treat actions. http://www.bmproc.com/ Last one they did for me was $80 or $100. Sure its more now.

http://www.industrialheattreat.com/AboutUs.html

more info here

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?173921-building-a-rifle-need-to-heat-treat-action

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/9732623/all/The_Old_%22Mauser_98_action

Unless the actions has heavy scaling from the fire you should have no issues with reheat treating it. I have limited knowledge of the A3's but I believe the material is 4130 or 4140. 8620 requires case hardening and the couple of A3's that I drilled and tapped appeared to be through hardened.

[Steelpounder]

Why is it whenever anyone asks about re heat treating a fire arm that has been through a fire 99% of the replies are telling the poster to destroy the piece in question? fire arms started life as no more than chunks of soft steel which are then melted and poured into a mold or machined into an action. these pieces are then annealed and heat treated. after going through a fire a receiver is basically annealed unless it was hit with a stream of water from a fire hose in which case it will have hard spots or be completely hard. But I see no reason outside of physical damage,(cracks etc.) that this firearm could not be properly annealed and then rehardened and tempered back to manufactures specifications and be as safe as the same make and model that had never been shot. Additionally most if not all receivers made before sometime in the late 1800s were iron or mild steel which wont harden to any appreciable degree unless case hardened which only hardens a very thin shell. New cast machined receivers from 8620 have to be case hardened same as the old iron/mildsteel receivers. Or new receivers made from 4140 chrome molly or 416 stainless of which neither will harden to more than about 45-48 Rockwell.

[smokeywolf]

Just to make sure no one tries to use the receiver or bolt, send it to sleep with the fish.

[Any Cal.]

I would give it a shot, myself. If nothing else, have the hardness tested by a machine shop, see how soft it got. It could conceivably be close to proper hardness, and would be fine. If it hasn't slumped or warped due to heat, it seems fairly salvageable. Biggest concern would be that it may warp in the heat treat, which would waste the effort. Maybe find a knifemaker locally with a salt pot heat treat set-up, they may find it an interesting project.

[ulav8r]

Send it to a commercial heat treater that does actions. I think Blanchards in SLC (http://www.bmproc.com/) may still be doing this. Such a shop can test it before and after HT and will back up their work if they agree to do it. You want the assurance that someone who specializes in that type of work and insures their work thinks it will be safe for use after HT.