That is a sweetheart of a rifle !
Is it still a 30,06 ?
...tj3006

How close to the scope does the bolt come when opened?

wow.....

Lovely. And I really like that stock treatment.

Nice! Is it a reworked Springfield Sporter stock, with a cheek piece glued on?

I would urge caution in shooting this action. Material from the Rifle Magazine, May-June 1985 “ About low number Springfields” , Hugh Douglas, and “Broken Springfields, Sedgleys and others” , Dave LeGate same issue. Mr LeGate interviewed a Sedgley employee and Sedgley just annealed these low number receivers, which would remove any heat treat and would cause receiver seat set back.

The employee’s story is more or less confirmed in this WW2 era Dope Bag:


American Rifleman Dope Bag Oct 1945

“All old Springfields Weak”

A long letter written by gunsmith, R.E Simmons to Mr Ness, the editor of the Dope Bag, describes a SHT Springfield that had blown. This section was about midway:

quote:

“I just received a letter from George Vitt of the A. F. Holden Company. This company is one of the foremost heat-treaters in the United States and he says that they will not even think of accepting one of these old actions for reheat-treating. To quote him:

“The old Springfield receivers were made of cheap, almost plain, carbon steel, that was merely carburized and quenched. The type of steel used would not readily lend itself to good results from the best heat-treating practices, even though there are one or two outfits in Pennsylvania and elsewhere (Note: Sedgley was in Philadelphia) who advertise the so called reheat-treated Springfields for sale I would no more trust these receivers without making a chemical analysis and without testing them on the Rockwell machine that I would jump off the Empire State Building.

From the references I have, the reheat-treatment of these receivers amounts to the same thing as the so called double heat treatment that was practiced at the Springfield Armory prior to 1929 In other works neither of the two is much good for the reason of low-grade material used in the receiver” (End of Mr. Vitt’s quote)”


Mr Simmons, in a bridging section in his letter, states he had worked in the Ordnance Department during WW2 and that he had tested SHT receivers after rebuild with proof loads and Mr Simmons had not seen any break, making him skeptical about these receivers being structurally deficient, but he states “it is best not to recommend these old actions for any of the more powerful loads”


“Incidentally, I noticed that you mention a well-known reheat job which is being done on these Springfield receivers by a well known firm. I wish to state that many of these old actions treated by this firm (which is like the one I sent you), are letting go in every direction. In fact, I personally believe these are about the worst in the bunch, because they simply softened the receivers, which would allow a very powerful proof load to be fired without any danger, but which allowed the bolt to gradually set back, increasing the head space dangerously.

Mr Ness, the editor of the Dope Bag adds a long section starting with this

quote:

“Comments: I agree with P.O. Ackley that the only good Springfield action is one made of nickel steel….

The attitude of the metallurgists is that the poor material in these Springfield actions makes any of the carbon steel variety undesirable, including those double reheat-treated at Springfield Armory in the series above 800,000. “

Therefore, I would say, be cautious about your rifle. Headspace the thing and headspace it after firing enough rounds to convince yourself that this is not an annealed low number receiver.

with a serial of 1,300,000 i'm not worried

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
with a serial of 1,300,000 i'm not worried

Agreed.

quote:

Originally posted by Snellstrom:

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
with a serial of 1,300,000 i'm not worried

Agreed.

Nice rifle.

Overall Kaboom!-potential is probably minimal. Still, I wouldn't try shooting any hot '06 "magnum" handloads in it. Treat it just like an old 30-40 Krag.

Just sayin'

Yes, I shoot as Krag as well....my father's sporter he bought around 1928 :-)

The breakdown on low number Springfields is as follows:

M1903s made by Springfield Armory below serial number 800,000 and Rock Island Armory with serial numbers under 285,507 are called low number 03 Springfields. These guns have a single heat treated receivers and should not be fired.

It has been stated that those above 800,000 by Springfield armory may be questionable. All I can say to that is the Springfields with 800,000 and over were almost impossible to blow up in some test I did with over loads and fired in a tractor tire and the trigger pulled with a string..
A case full of Bullseye did it, a packed case of old WW2 4831, 4350 Data ,milsurp powder would not even lock up the bolt..This was back when these guns were sold by the NRA to the public for $7.50 each and 1911 sold for $14.00 in the US mail..The good old days.