I have a Remington made 1903 A3 that I was just given by a family member. The exterior all looks great, no rust, the wood looks great. I'd say as good as 80% to 90%. The bore.... You couldn't even see the lands and grooves! So I started cleaning. I used a chamber plug and soaked the bore in kroil for several day. Pored that out, run a few patches through and soaked the bore again. This time when I went to run the patches through the bore, my cleaning rode "wobbled" with the rifling. Looking down the bore, one of the (I guess it would be the Lands) looks to be taller that the others from one end to the other.

The gun has been shot obviously, so I'm going to go see what kind of group it will print next. But with the way the cleaning rod went down the bore, my hopes aren't very high.

I have thought things like lapping, just shooting the fire out of it with a good cleaning every few rounds, to doing nothing and just putting the gun up (which would be a shame).

So here I am to pick everyone's brain. Any thoughts or ideas?

I am not trying to start a Fire lapping, hand lapping, no lapping debate.. It was just a thought I had to maybe smooth out that bore some.

Thanks.

Years ago, I acquired my Remington 1903A1 (anno 1942) in near pristine condition. So much so that it either slept in an arsenal for decades without ever seeing service or else was completely refinished + new bbl. and stock. It shoots beautifully, BTW.

Mine is stamped A3. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the difference is in the sights. Correct?
My A3 has the rear sights behind the bolt opening.

I'm not an expert on 1903's but I do remember the A3's I saw had the same C stock as mine but a rear placed peep sight instead of the usual tangent ladder sight.

That's right.. I just wish I knew what was going on in the bore.. I have cleaned a lot of guns, and I have never had a cleaning rod wobble like that!! It was like riding a bike with a bent rim..

I suspect deep pitting caused by corrosion (military rifles having seen service often suffered from lack of proper maintenance after firing corrosive primers) . A bore scope should remove all doubt.

I haven't had time to shoot it but plan to this week and slug the bore.. I wish I had a bore scope..

In addition to the Kroil, I'd go at the barrel with an aggressive copper remover.

The problem with any cleaning method (as you noticed) is that a brush or patch will wobble down the bore following the high and low spots.
Fire lapping (NECO products) has cured or greatly improved many mistreated military rifles for me. 6.5, 7mm, 30, 8mm. The key is to use the bullet with the longest contact area in the bore as it will wobble less. In the 30-06 I always use the 220 gr Hornady as it is inexpensive and has a lot of bearing area.
One rifle was so bad that it ended up being rethroated to shoot .311 bullets. It would put 5 174 gr .311s in 2" @ 100.You may never get it as new but probably good enough to hold 3" groups with long jacketed bullets and moderate loads.
Option 2 is to rebarrel as 03A3 barrels in top shape are not hard to find.

The idea of shooting a sand covered bullet down my bore gives me the willies. I don't understand what you mean by the high and low spots in the bore. Where did they come from?

A couple of things. Almost all fine barrels are lapped and have been for 200 years. The conventional method using a lead plug and abrasive on a rod will "bell" the barrel a bit at each end as the plug is pushed/pulled out of the bore to add abrasive. So this technique requires a bit to be cut off of each end of the barrel before threading, crowning etc.
Fire lapping does it with the barrel in place and the only caution is if you use lead bullets rather than jacketed your throat will get a bit longer (not always a bad thing).
The highs and low spots are simply the product of where the rust was deeper or shallower. Thus the bore diameter even while appearing somewhat clean is not the same end to end. The long bullet cuts more on the high spots and will even out the bore diameter to better than what it now is.
You are not shooting sand down the bore. You are using the same grits used to hand polish the finest barrels on the outside for rust bluing.
The stuff that folks like Purdy, Holland and Holland and Rigby use.
From what you describe, you can't really hurt the barrel, so worst case you fire lap it, it still is a POS and you either rebarrel it or hang it on the wall as is.

quote:

Originally posted by James260:
I haven't had time to shoot it but plan to this week and slug the bore.. I wish I had a bore scope..

Where in Alabama do you live? If you are anywhere near Anniston you should run up to the CMP and have their gunsmiths look at it (the have a custom shop these days).

http://thecmp.org/cmp_sales/custom-gunsmithing/

I would just go at your barrel with a slightly oversized bronze brush (8mm versus .308) and lots of good bore solvent. Then use a good copper solvent. Sometimes it takes time.

What is the manufacturer and date stamped on the barrel, BTW?

Ask questions here:
http://forums.thecmp.org/forumdisplay.php?f=79

1903 info here:
http://www.vishooter.net/m1903.html

No matter how much time you spend with solvents and brushes you will never have an even smooth barrel. Fire lapping with long bullets will do the best job of evening things out. If that fails you have endless options:
1. Rebarrel it
2. Rebore/rerifle to 338/06, 35 Whelen or 9.3x62
3. Hang it on the wall

Many suggestions you might want to move on.

Another thing.

I had a 1903 (not A3) with the original 1932 barrel. LOTS of variation in resistance when pushing a patch or brush through the barrel. A well worn and used rifle.

It would still "hold the black" on a standard 100 yard bullseye (about 6 inch diameter. Not much to complain about. Even hunting Whitetail, it would have done the trick. Let us know the results of the range report!

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
T...the high and low spots in the bore. Where did they come from?

inconsistent corrosion, inconsistent cleaning, barrel machining, are several possible causes.

Worst case scenario is you purchase a new criterion barrel from the cmp. Best case is that it isn't real damage to the bore and just lots of long time embedded crap that will take a lot of work to get out and right. Then there is everything in between. Have you gauged the muzzle and the throat?

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
The idea of shooting a sand covered bullet down my bore gives me the willies. I don't understand what you mean by the high and low spots in the bore. Where did they come from?

I agree. Bullets and grit fired down the bore is tantamount running sand paper down the bore and to me just about as haphazard.

Today's manufacturing involved computer lapping machines that map the bore the adjust the lapping device as it passes through the bore.

But Hey! It's your rifle and your money. You ought to be able to do what you want to do. Even if it is "Smoke and Mirrors" to me!

quote:

The idea of shooting a sand covered bullet down my bore gives me the willies.

Me too brother, me too!

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