1903A3 rear tang spacer

[uhjohnson]

I made a rear tang spacer from a 1/16 inch Chevrolet starter shim and drilled the hole where the bushing would pass through, should the hole be just big enough for the trigger guard screw to pass

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[ssgross]

should the hole be just big enough for the trigger guard screw to pass

This is inconsequential. the bushing is not holding the screw horizontally at all. it is setting the correct vertical gap between trigger guard and tang so as not to crush the wood fibers under the tang.
Trim the bushing so that it sits ~1/16 or so below the woodline. The USGI bushing looks like a roll pin, so that it compresses as it's tapped into place, preventing it from falling out easily. If your's easily falls through the stock you can use a dab of wood glue, wrap a piece of masking tape around it to keep it snug. Store your rifle with the screws loosened to preserve accuracy. Tighten them to no more that 30 inch lbs after seating the recoil lug to the rear when you go to shoot. Make sure there is ~1/16 gap behind the tang to prevent the stock from splitting under recoil.

[John Beard]

I made a rear tang spacer from a 1/16 inch Chevrolet starter shim and drilled the hole where the bushing would pass through, should the hole be just big enough for the trigger guard screw to pass

The hole in the spacer should be big enough for the bushing to pass through. The purpose of the rear tang spacer you made is to set the upward pressure of the stock fore end tip against the bottom of the barrel. That upward pressure should be 5-10 pounds at the fore end tip. The rear tang stock bushing sets the spacing between the magazine and receiver bottom. The stock bushing length should NOT be trimmed. When properly bedded, the rear receiver tang should be firmly compressed against both your spacer and the rear tang stock bushing with a resulting 5-10 pounds of upward pressure against the bottom of the barrel.

[uhjohnson]

Before I started without any spacers the muzzle was not touching the fore end bedding with the screws tightened to 15 inch pounds and the action set home to the back. After placing the 1/6 inch tang spacer in place there was at least 10 pounds of downward pressure but the hand guard ring was pulling down too much were I couldn’t get the hand guard in place, if the hand guard was in place before tightening the front screw it was lifted at the muzzle and could not be pulled from the ring. I placed a piece of card stock cut from a match book on top of the recoil block and removed a little wood from the hand guard mortise allowing it to fit better in the ring, now the downward pressure is around (guessing) five pounds. I don’t know if it matters but now the wing section of the tang sits higher than the stock and I have placed two .025 shims under the scope mount of the 03A4

[uhjohnson]

It’s 6:30AM, loading truck, range opens at 8