Tell me about Springfield stocks

[fourarmed]

I have an 03A1 and an 03A3. I shoot the A3 a lot offhand on silhouettes, and the straight grip stock is not ideal. The 03 has a type C stock, and doesn't get much use because of the sights. I decided to swap stocks. The 03 dropped right into the straight stock. The C stock took quite a bit of inletting for the Timney trigger and the bottom metal on the A3. It was tight everywhere, really, but I finally got it in.

When I shot it with a load it formerly liked, only about half the shots even hit the target. Something about the stock is not right. The 03 didn't do all that well in it either. Obviously more work needs to be done somewhere.

Have any of you dealt with this problem? I suspect that the C stock may not have been original to the 03, as it looks pretty new, and the rifle dates to 1933.

[gnoahhh]

Yeah, shoddy inletting will do that. Remember, 03A3's were the poor step-brothers of the finely made pre-war 03's and as such manufacturing tolerances on exterior surfaces were all over the map. 03A3 stocks were made a skinch sloppier to accommodate that, and to increase production without taking time to sweetly fit them.

You can do one of two things. Start from scratch and make the stock fit better (and pay close attention to how things fit out at the end in terms of wood/upper band/barrel fit). The other would be to snag a new repro C stock intended for the 03A3 and hope it doesn't require much effort to make work.

Are the bores in the two rifles up to snuff? Frankly if I encounter accuracy issues with a newly acquired Springfield that's the first thing I look to.

[fourarmed]

Thanks for the reply gnoahhh. The A3 has a great bore and always shot well in the original stock. The 03 was rougher, but shot well with long heavy bullets, terribly with 150's. I'm starting to think the stock was the cause of some of that. What little I've shot the 03 since the swap, it seems to do better in the A3 wood.

I did some relieving of tight spots in the barrel channel yesterday and will see what effect that had today.

[fourarmed]

TN, have you had it out of the stock? What kind of contact is there at the upper band?

After trying all sorts of things with no success today, I finally decided to glass bed the action so I could eliminate that as a source of problems.

[Gewehr-Guy]

Fourarmed, when I do any stock work, I try to get about 5 lbs barrel tension on the end of the stock. If you remove the handguard, bands and the bayonet lug, you should not have any gap between the barrel and the end of the stock, it should be touching with some pressure. I cut shims out of aluminum,beer cans or whatever, and place them between the stock and tang,tighten the front screw down first, then the rear tang screw, until I get enough tension on the front of barrel too fore end.

You could remove the handguard and fire some groups, adding or removing shims, until groups improve, then install the hand guard and bands. I have rebuilt several demilled drill rifles, and nearly all of them had the bedding damaged, when the action screws were tight, the barrel would rise out of the stock as much as 1/4 inch, and would shoot poorly, until they were shimmed to give more barrel tension.

[fourarmed]

Gewehr-Guy, my experience has been similar. I've seen too many free-floated barrels that wouldn't shoot worth a hoot until rebedded with upward pressure at the tip -- lightweight one especially. My experience doesn't extend to rifle with handguards, barrel bands, and bayonet lugs, so I'm groping in semi-darkness here. Thanks for your input.

[fourarmed]

Got it out of the Acra Glas and cleaned it up, then put it together with the barrel floated to the tip of the stock where I put a shim under it to put pressure upward. It shot marginally better with the light cast load, but still nothing like as well as it did in the old stock. I got out some 1956 GI ball and shot two 5-shot groups. Both were round and in two minutes. At my age I doubt that I can hold hold much better than that with those sights.

But I don't want to shoot ball. I want to shoot light cast boolit loads. May have to do some "fine tuning."

[fourarmed]

I have done about all the tricks I know, and the plainbase bullet just won't group. In disgust, I shot ten offhand at my 50 yard chicken swinger, and hit it 9 times. Most were well centered, and the miss was called. I'm starting to think that a couple of lucky groups back then may have led me to believe the load was better than it really was. Probably not the first time that happened.

I loaded some of my ram load (20/4759/Lyman 311644) and four 5-shot groups were all in two minutes or better. My son shot a 3-shot group in an honest minute. I think the stock is OK.

The plainbase is from a group buy mould. It was apparently designed by a committee to be a do-all bullet. It drops at nearly .320", and has one large lube groove and 4 or 5 tumble lube grooves. By the time I size it to .310" it doesn't hold a lot of lube, and leads the bore quickly. If I follow with 10 rounds of the 311644 most of the lead is cleared out, so I hadn't noticed that.

Anyway, the action is Acraglassed front and rear, and the barrel is floated all the way to the bayonet lug, where it is held tightly. In that state it shoots well with everything I've tried except that GB plainbase.

[waksupi]

Fourarmed, when I do any stock work, I try to get about 5 lbs barrel tension on the end of the stock. If you remove the handguard, bands and the bayonet lug, you should not have any gap between the barrel and the end of the stock, it should be touching with some pressure. I cut shims out of aluminum,beer cans or whatever, and place them between the stock and tang,tighten the front screw down first, then the rear tang screw, until I get enough tension on the front of barrel too fore end.

You could remove the handguard and fire some groups, adding or removing shims, until groups improve, then install the hand guard and bands. I have rebuilt several demilled drill rifles, and nearly all of them had the bedding damaged, when the action screws were tight, the barrel would rise out of the stock as much as 1/4 inch, and would shoot poorly, until they were shimmed to give more barrel tension.

When I would build a Mannlicher, I would put the stock in a vise upside down, heat the wood on the for end, hang a weight off of the end, and leave it overnight. Worked out well every time.

Stick with heavier bullets in a .30 bore. The bullets need lubed before being sized down.