My "New" Springfield Sporter

[XTrooper]

I made my first proper examination of the bore today and I am happy to report it is bright with strong rifling. According to my Fisher muzzle gauge, the muzzle diameter stands at .3010. Not bad for an 89-year-old rifle barrel!

[browningautorifle]

Neat gauge...

[XTrooper]

Neat gauge...

Thanks, Jim. I got it on eBay for $20, "guntools" is the seller's name.

[XTrooper]

Link To Range Report: https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=64245

[RC20]

That truly is one beautifully done rifle, well done and I am severely jealous.

The gauge you need is the Steven Mathews that measure Throat Erosion (TE). Not super precision, very very good indicator though. He lists it as a hobbyist tool, I would put it more as a collectors useful extremely useful if not critical tool as it does both in the same gauge and with more than good enough accuracy to give you what you really want to and need to know.

I have my Step Dads 1903 from the 20s, originally setup for a scope (the long ones). Muzzle Wear (MW) is very good. TE is about 5, clearly shot a lot as target then sold off, probably as accuracy dropped off from loaded rounds. I have shot it a bit but not worked on how accurate I can or could get it with longer loaded bullets.

While this gun clearly would not have been used as a ceremonial rifle (blnaks) those can look beautiful and have a TE past 8 (reject)

Ego, you most indicative measurement of the barrel condition of how much shot used and wrecked is the TE.

[XTrooper]

That truly is one beautifully done rifle, well done and I am severely jealous.

The gauge you need is the Steven Mathews that measure Throat Erosion (TE). Not super precision, very very good indicator though. He lists it as a hobbyist tool, I would put it more as a collectors useful extremely useful if not critical tool as it does both in the same gauge and with more than good enough accuracy to give you what you really want to and need to know.

I have my Step Dads 1903 from the 20s, originally setup for a scope (the long ones). Muzzle Wear (MW) is very good. TE is about 5, clearly shot a lot as target then sold off, probably as accuracy dropped off from loaded rounds. I have shot it a bit but not worked on how accurate I can or could get it with longer loaded bullets.

While this gun clearly would not have been used as a ceremonial rifle (blnaks) those can look beautiful and have a TE past 8 (reject)

Ego, you most indicative measurement of the barrel condition of how much shot used and wrecked is the TE.

Thanks for the compliment and the information, RC20. I would like to pick up a throat erosion gauge sometime in the future to satisfy my curiosity. Do you have contact information for the Steven Mathews gauge?

Regarding the rifle's accuracy, it isn't bad at all. It's averaging ~1 1/2" groups @ 100 yards using 150gr American Eagle FMJ ammo. I suspect I could get 1 MOA or smaller groups from it with match ammo. I'll find out this summer.

[Cosine26]

Back in the day, it was possible to order all parts for a "Sporter" and have the parts shipped to a custom gun shop for final delivery with their stock. Could have been Stoger or Griffin and Howe.
FWIW.

[browningautorifle]

Could have been Stoger or Griffin and Howe.

Thanks...

[Cosine26]

Here is a Stoeger Ad from the August 1929 American Rifleman

https://i.imgur.com/acjdLxg.jpg

Here is a R.F. Sedgley Ad from September 1929. According to Roy Dunlap[ , Sedgley made a practice of re-heating SHT receivers. Roy also said that this amounted to simple annealing which made the rifles softer. He further indicated , that for sporting rifles, this worked out fairly well because they were not fired very often. Some of the pundents (Townsend Whelen for example) recommend this for M1922 .22 caliber rifles even though they were originally fabricated from rejected M1903 receivers.
I shall not open the old SHT argument again- that dead horse has been beaten too many times. Sedgley managed to acquire a number of SHT actions and used these for most of his sporting rifles. I do not know where he obtained them for the SHT had not been removed from service or been designated for "limited' service at this time

https://i.imgur.com/YUk4OXo.jpg

Here is a P.J. O'Hare ad fro the same era

https://i.imgur.com/qFJfH4C.jpg

Enjoy!

[rcathey]

Beautiful ads! Thanks for sharing.
That, very beautiful, sporter would only be $952 in today’s inflated age.
Pretty good chunk of change! What was the market equivalent going for at the time? Winchester surely had a 30-06 bolt action to compare with.