Excess Headspace in the 1903 and '03A3 Springfield

[Chuckindenver]

i dont buy barrel blanks..when i can get a sporter barrel threaded, contured, short chambered and ready to install for less then 200.00 at my door.
buying a blank really doesnt make since, when i charge 75.00 an hour plus set up..blank is 150.00 plus,, and at least that to thread, chamber, install headspace and testfire.. your total bill will be well over 300.00
however...
90% of the rifles i work on are in Military trim..and they come threaded, and chambered..even when new.
so..
heres how simple that its...
screw the barrel in, set the witness marks up, finish ream by hand..check headspace, test fire,,, its done...
it aint rocket science....really..
if you have a barrel thats worn out, shot out, ect...cutting back the shoulder is more work then its worth.. by the time you charge a customer to set the shoulder back..{no threading is needed} re install a rear sight base, and reeam the chamber again..he will still have a worn out barrel, but the bolt will not close on a no go gage..
for the same amount of money, you can find a new or like new barrel, screw it on and be done with it..
what alot of people dont know,, when you cut the shoulder back, you have to move the breech up as well...
the extractor cut is cake...done by hand..takes me 20, 30 mins tops...
really,...this aint that hard...

[Chuckindenver]

heres a good example of a guy that loves his lathe...turned the shoulder back,..great job of indexing..lol...just think what that breach looks like..

[locknloadnow]

interesting..
talk about re inventing the wheel..
these rifles were built simple for a reason..why make them complecated??
i agree, you can remove the coned breach, but why??
you loose some of the safety that a 1903 has over the K98 Mauser.
took the other longer to write that , then it would for me to rebarrel an 03.
a couple other reasons to finish ream a new chamber..first is to have the correct headspace, and the other is to smooth out a rough chamber..
liked the write up though..thanks for sharing..

old thread but worth reviving, if you look inside the breech of a 1903, and compare it to a Mauser, you'll see the Mauser is actually safer, because it exposes less of the brass shell case. The Mauser has a collar into which the bolt face goes into, and the barrel butts up against, and that collar surrounds most of the case head, that's what makes a Mauser so strong. The only sacrifice with a Mauser, if the cutout in the bolt face, for the controlled feed design to pick up the case head, allow it to get behind and be captured by the extractor hook, and carry the case forward into battery, as the bolt passes over the magazine. The 1903 has no collar in the receiver, just the barrel breach, and it's coned, and exposes a ring of the case head all around.

The 1903, or any other high powered rifle with a coned breech, is actually a pretty dangerous design, even if it used the finest steels or titanium- because the only thing holding the pressure in with a 1903, is the case head for about 1/8" of the case. And that's right where the brass cases start to exhibit shiny marks and stretch, and eventually break. A case head separation in a Springfield, regardless of low/high number, would be disastrous, and more dangerous than a Mauser.

That's why Remington 700 and Weatherby is so strong, they have no exposed case head in battery, and the bolt face is recessed, and surrounds the case head 360 degrees with steel, and bolt head is then countersunk into the barrel breach as well, and the barrel breach is surrounded by the receiver. It's called the "3 rings of steel" design.

although I have many controlled feed milsurp sporters and are quite fond of them, the push feed, recessed bolt face design is definitely stronger, and safer.

A real hot rod would be, take a Mauser, Springfield, Enfield, Arisaka, etc. and modify it to push feed, with a recessed bolt face. Then you'd be cookin' with gas !

and strange enough, that's about what a Mosin Nagant is

[Chuckindenver]

iv seen many a Remington 700 that has had a case head failure, it destroys the bolt, extractor, and gives the shooter a hot blast of gases in the face...the 1903 is one of the only rifles built to prevent injury from this, that cool little cocking knob thingy is actually built to deflect hot gasses from the shooter in the result of a case head failure,
i prefer a controle feed over a push feed action, makes shooting at the range much easier to just drop a round in rather then push it in the mag box first.
personally i like all of the rifles, be it Mauser, 1903, 1917 , 700 Remington, and even the Nagant, the worn out Nagant i picked up for 40.00 is one of my favorite shooters..
as for safety??you can blow any of them up, and not even have to try hard....its how they handle a failure.. apples and oranges if you ask me..