What do you make of this? It is on a 1903 Springfield rifle.Attachment 110217Attachment 110216 What does the "M" stamp mean? Why was the muzzle crown "counter sunk"
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What do you make of this? It is on a 1903 Springfield rifle.Attachment 110217Attachment 110216 What does the "M" stamp mean? Why was the muzzle crown "counter sunk"
Looks to have the remnants of a star beside it too...
Isn't the star supposed to be below the bore? That's where it is on my NRA sporter.
Yes, six o'clock position.
Counter sinking was typically done to a rifle with a damaged/worn crown but the rest of the barrel is good. My impression is that it was a civilian repair. I remember seeing some 1917's for sale with counter boring almost an inch deep
I agree this looks civilian done. Is this one actually counter bored or just a counter sink (AKA) crown?Quote:
Originally Posted by jamie5070
Is that a replacement barrel? The muzzle looks very much like what is seen on replacement barrels like Sedgley and High Standard.
It looks like countersinking, not counterboring. The muzzle proobably had bad cord wear (i.e. one-sided abrasion) and the countersinking was done to even up the profile.
To me, I've seen better jobs too. To me it looks like a reamer of sorts applied with force, not a sharp chisel in a lathe.Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Chadwick
Please oblige us with a picture of the barrel markings behind the front sight. That may give us a clue to answer your question.
J.B.
If it helps, here is the crown of a 3.31million M1903 that I've been cleaning up this week.
It is a replacement barrel stamped S.A./escutcheon/5-42. From what I read, the square cut and chamfer crown are common in the replacement barrels as apposed to the rounded crown of regular production. Your's looks a bit deeper than mine.
Attachment 110647Attachment 110648
The replacement barrels are "Type 6" in Poyer, and he reports "original installation" years as 1942-1945. Replacements should have a front sight collar similar to the 1903a3 with a notch for a fixed stud key, but still with the dovetail base. Replacements will be marked HS (High Standard), JA (Johnson Automatics), circle S for Sedgley or SA Springfield Armory. Curiously, the reported original installation of SA replacements was only 1944-1945. However, I have seen many Remington receivers with SA 1942 replacement barrels - including mine. The ordnance escutcheon bomb on these is always of the earlier type (1919-12/1941), but they have the keyed base with dovetail instead of just the pin. I have a few theories about replacement barrels and dates.
I'm sure all the eagle eyes will spot it - I have already made note of the two dings in my crown.
Also, the star-gauge marking looks like a circle with 8 points around it.
I guess I should have said asterisk, that's more what the mark resembles.Quote:
Originally Posted by ssgross
Anyway, OP hasn't been here since "Last On 07-29-2020 @ 08:17 PM"...
I almost felt bad like I highjacked his thread. oh well - for posterity.
I just happened to have Poyer opened trying to figure out how my 5-42 barrel has the new front sight, the old escutcheon, but with the new dash between month and year. Dash is replacement, original SA barrels just had a space. replacement barrel SA escutcheon had a single large flame with lines in it, whereas original escutcheon has several fingers on the flame. My guess is there was weird things happening in the turnover from 1903 to modified to A3/A4 production - using up whatever supplies they could get hands on. This would, however, mean that Poyer's end date of type2 barrel production at Springfield is incorrectly listed (12/41). I'll start a new thread as I get my rifle put back together.
"My guess is there was weird things happening in the turnover from 1903 to modified to A3/A4 production - using up whatever supplies they could get hands on."
Nothing wierd at all. Just a production line using up what was in the parts bins. Collectors often seem to have the simplistic idea that on H-hour of D-day production changed from Version X to Version X+1, with all the X version parts being scrapped one second after H-hour.
Real factories don't work like that. Not if they want to carry on producing, especially in wartime. And often enough, the designation of versions is something academically defined by collectors decades after production.
I don't suppose anyone stamping up an '03 even looked to see if the flaming bomb had fingers or lines. He just used the stamp that was on the bench.
Exactly, and like the idea rifles went out in a cheat sequentially serialized, the receivers were assembled at a regular rate but not sequentially. These were just assembled with parts at hand.Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Chadwick
I wouldn't worry, it's been done far worse.Quote:
Originally Posted by ssgross