1903 Springfields that were re heat treated

[bailiff]

In a article I have read about low serial # 1903 Springfields I know that I read something about these weapons being turned in and the actions and bolts were heat treated again to make them usable. If this is true is there a stamped mark anywhere on the gun to show that this was done? I have one that has RIA just behind the front sight with a 1-19 under that and the serial # is 631000. I know that RIA is Rock Island Arms but not sure what the 1-19 means.

Information

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[enbloc8]

I don't believe the re-heat-treating of casehardened actions ever progressed beyond the workshop/laboratory level.

The reason re-heat-treating wasn't pursued in depth was because, while it did show some improvement in casehardened actions that had not been overheated during their original heat-treating, it did no good whatsoever with the "burned" receivers and bolts...the makeup of the metal had been irretrievably harmed, and those components essentially needed to be reduced back to a lump of raw material and "worked" all over again. Moreover, there was no way to tell which components had been "burned" during heat-treat and which ones were fine. In the end, it was simpler to just remove the questionable low-number rifles from service and put them into "war reserve" storage, while they figured out whether to either replace them with new Springfields, or (as happened) wait for the new semi-automatic rifle then under development.

The "RIA 1-19" you speak of sounds more like a rebuild or heavy repair date.

[yoopercollector]

The RIA should be who made the barrel and 1-19 is the date made Jan, 1919.

[Rick the Librarian]

Enbloc8 is correct. There was a test conducted on low-numbered receivers in the 1920s to try "re-processing" them. Although, from the description, it was a success, it was decided not to proceed further. I believe somewhere in the 100-500 range was the number worked on.

It is described briefly in William Brophy's 1991 book, "Arsenal of Freedom", which contains ordnance reports from Springfield Armory from 1890-1948. I can look the specific mention up, if anyone is interested.

[m1903rifle]

The 1-19 is the date the barrel was made. The receiver must be a Springfield since Rock Island serial numbers stopped in the 400K area.

[JGaynor]

A couple of significant points that bear repeating:

1. A small percentage of low numbered 03 receivers were "burned" during the forging process not much later when the nearly finished receiver was heat treated.

2. The 03 manufacturing process used at SA and RIA had been developed for production of the Krag rifle which operated at lower peak pressures. The .30 Govt cartridge used by the Krag also used a rimmed case which was fully supported at the rear of the chamber. On the other hand the last 1/10 of an inch of the rimless 30-06 cartridge is unsupported by the chamber. Since some of the WW1 rifle failures were attributable to poorly manufactured cartridges Ordnance made the decision to increase the strength of the 03 receiver so that it could survive even the most dubious ammunition. Hence the double heat treat receiver was born.

[Fred G.]

You never said if your receiver is a Springfield Armory or not, but as was explained by m1903rifle, that number would've been too late for a Rock Island receiver. Of course your rifle's receiver of 631000 tells us that your receiver was case hardened and isn't double heat treated.

By the way, R.I.A. stands for Rock Island Arsenal, not "Arms".

[Cosine26]

SHT/LN Info
Prior to and during WWII there seems to have been a lot of SHT/LN receivers available. Several manufactures ( Bannerman among them) advertised rifles built on LN receivers. Prior to the National Firearms Act of 1934, it was not a crime to remove a manufacturers marking and serial number. A large number of custom gunsmiths did this. Look at Capt. E.C. Crossman's sporterized M1903's. Many of the more unscrupulous dealers did this to hide the fact that the rifles were built on SHT/LN receivers. These receivers may or may not have been "re-heat treated" and the more unscrupulous dealers did not mark them for obvious reasons-they did not want you to know that they were SHT/LN receivers. I would believe that the Armory probably destroyed the receivers that they re-heat treated.
1. in the 1920's and 1930's NRA members could buy new M1903 barrels from SA and have them installed and head spaced for $1.25 .
2. The Armory would not install new barrels' on SHT/LN receivers. The Armory would replace the receiver with the latest model- either DHT or NS receiver.
3. On several occasions both F.C. Ness and Col Townsend Whelen (in answers to questions in the Dope Bag of the AMERICAN RIFLEMAN MAGAZINE) recommended , that to save the owners SHT/LN receiver, it should be sent to R.F. Sedgley for re heat-treating and barrel installation. They stated that re heat treating was the equivalent of the DHT adopted in 1918. The Armory did not agree with this assessment. Both Ness and Whelen agreed that a properly hedspaced SHT/LN receiver was perfectly safe with good ammo.
4. In one case Col Whelan recommended the choice of a Sedgley re-heat treated SHT/LN M1903 Sedgley sporter over the M54 Winchester.
5. In another case a writer had a M1922 Hoffer-Tompkins .22 Springfield that he wanted converted to a 30-06. Col Whelen recommended that he send it to Sedgley for re-heat treating and barrel installation as SA would not perform the required operation. It is my understanding that the Model 1903 Gallery Rifle .22's were built on rejected SHT/LN receivers.
6. In his book, ORDNANCE WENT UP FRONT, Roy Dunlap indicated that the Sedgley re-heat treating was merely an annealing process, resulting in a "soft" receiver whish under continuous firing would result in gradual increase in headspace.
To shoot or not shoot a SHT/LN rifle is the owners prerogative, keeping in mind that during peace time SHT/LN receivers were not to be issued. During war time they were. In his book ORDNANCE WENT UP FRONT, Dunlap reports that when his ordnance outfit was headed to the Philippine invasion in 1944, they were issued a number of SHT/LN M1903 rifles.
Please let us not beat this "dead horse" again.

[rayg]

SHT/LN Info
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Please let us not beat this "dead horse" again.

Thank you for that very informative info, but please don't forget that there are many collectors of 03's, both new as well as older ones, that this may be new info to them, Ray

[browningautorifle]

this may be new info to them

His point is that this info is already public here and can be found by a simple search.