03A3 finally gets to the range.

Am currently going through the collection looking for something to shoot at an upcoming informal WW1/2 commemorative get-together. Wanted to get away from the Lee Enfields for a while so tested two 30-06's- Model 1917 and this '43 03A3. Did a thread on this one a while back and concensus was it's a rifle that was re-furbed after very little use- 4 groove bore is like a mirror and wood is excellent. Bought it 25 years ago and it has been in the safe since. Found the peep sight excellent with the tall, thin front blade working well on the targets I was using. Trigger pull is different from what I'm used to shooting lately but I would call it very good with a 2 stage pull and crisp break. Didn't need to waste a lot of the Federal American Eagle I have on hand- a couple of shots to adjust windage and got the 100 yard 5 shot group in the photo. Center to center 2.6 inch with 4 in a little under 2 inch (crude bench with left hand supported lightly by sandbag). For fun I then dragged my target out to the max distance on this range (230 yards) and quickly shot a single 5 shot group (the yellow dots). 4 of these are 5 inch center to center with the 5th ruining things. The range calibration for this ammo seems to be a bit off (although perfect at 100) but I was holding the tip of the blade on the central red dot and if I moved it down to just below the black it wouldn't be too bad. All in all I was shocked by how well this rifle worked but I guess it should be expected out of a gun in this condition. The Model 1917 didn't do quite as well and will need some tuning. The 03A3 will likely be the gun I use at this shoot where the max range will be 400m (430 yards). Can anyone suggest some commercial FMJ 30-06 that might be closer to the range calibration of these sights?

Ridolpho

We don't have much in the 30 cal FMJ choices here in Canada. Federal is just about all there is. I'd be loading for it...with Hornady FMJs.

Handloading will bring out the best in the rifle. I load for mine a lot and find any of the 168gr match bullets to be a good starting point with IMR4064. The 155gr Sierra and Nosler match bullets are also a good choice. The 150gr Hornady FMJ is about the most accurate of the non-match grade FMJ bullets. You can also experiment with IMR 4895, Varget, H4895 or IMR 4320, all of which do very well in the .30-06.

switch to a letter A front sight, use a 6:00 hold on the target

Thanks for the comments guys. Unfortunately I don't have time to reload for this one right now. Chuck- do you know of a current source of "A" front sight blades?

Ridolpho