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Looking for a little advice here. A couple of years ago I inherited my Dad’s old 03-A3. It has been sporterized at some point in its life, but I’m pretty sure it’s not one of the factory sporter versions. It has U.S. Remington Model 03-A3 stamped on top of the receiver along with serial # 3848461. Still chambered for 30-06. I would call the condition fair. The wood is in pretty decent shape but the metal has issues. It has some surface rust that could be rubbed out on the barrel and the bottom plate. The magazine well has some serious pits on the outside of it, which is hidden and appears to have been there since before it has been worked on. It is drilled and tapped for a scope and sports a Lyman rear peep. The bore shines like a mirror. Now for a few years my Dad owned a gun shop and literally had hundreds of guns pass through his hands and this is the one center fire rifle he kept after he liquidated. I would like to make this more usable so it doesn’t just sit in the safe and get pulled out to be oiled every three months or so. So I have a series of questions for y’all: 1) Does this firearm hold any significant value as is? 2) Would rebluing hurt the value? If the answer to #1 and #2 are no: 3) Would you consider rechambering this gun to a different caliber? 4) Are these good actions for a custom gun? If the answer to #4 is yes: 5) What barrel manufacturer would you use? 6) What about the factory triggers on these? This one is light but has a lot of creep. Can they be made right? 7) If I would rechamber, I would be looking at the following calibers: .338 Mag, .350 Rem Mag, 35 Whelen, or 6mm Rem. Would any or all of these work in this receiver or would work have to be done to it? 8) Could this be converted to a detachable mag? If you can answer any of the questions I would appreciate the info. I have about 67 more, but we’ll save them for now.  ]  Thanks, Rich Some people are a lot like Slinkies: They're not good for much but it's kind of fun to push them down a flight of stairs. | ||
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1) Since it's drilled & tapped, the rifle is not a collectible, but is a great shooter as the receiver is made of a strong alloy steel. 2) Rebluing is fine due to #1. 3) If the bore is shiny, the 30-06 is a fine hunting caliber & no metal work is required. 4) Yes 5) Numerous barrel options exist, but Shilen & Douglas are both good values for the money. 6) Can replace the trigger with an aftermarket Timney as it's a deep pulling double stage. 7)Magnum requires cutting the bolt face, extractor, feed rails, follower, throatimg, etc. 6mm Rem would work alot easier, may just require a magazine spacer in the rear, may work without it. 8) Anything is convertable, but would take a trigger guard modification consisting of alot of welding/milling to hold maybe a Browning BAR or Remington 700 DM, as I've never seen one made specifically for the '03. | |||
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#1 Just that it was one your Dad seemed to like. #2 No #3 No #4 They are okay #5 Any good quality barrel would be fine. #6 Timney #7 If you rebarrel, I would recommend keeping it an 06. Good all around caliber and you won't have to make any big modifications to the action. | |||
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If you have to switch it, a .35 Whelen. But the 30-06 was good enough for Dad, wasn't it? | |||
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Nice Rifle and setup. if you want to keep it basicly like Dad had it, Send it to Tip Burns, in Canyon Lake, Texas, and have him refresh the stock, repark the metal, and install both a trigger and a speedlock. if you want to rebarrel, in the big bore forum, there's recently been 3 built on big bores, 458 416 AR and 458 Winmag that all look great. 35 whelen would be the easist, then 338 win, then 358 norma, then 35rem. 338-06 would be the BEST and you can have that on rebored. not really on the detachable mag, but it COULD be done, if you converted the bottommetal to mauser 98 and used a "gibbs" detachable mag, available at sarco or on ebay. I just put a blackburn for a mauser on a springfield, myself. No big deal, and anyone with a drillpress can do the work... seriously. it would have to stay either a 30-06 based case, or 308, so 35whelen, 338-06, or 358 win. so, if it were mine, and I had to change the caliber, it would be a rebore to 338-06, trigger, speedlock spring, bedded, metal and stock refreshed, and go hunting. jeffe opinions vary band of bubbas and STC hunting Club Information on Ammoguide about the416AR, 458AR, 470AR, 500AR What is an AR round? Case Drawings 416-458-470AR and 500AR. 476AR, http://www.weaponsmith.com | |||
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It's a very nice gun as it is.....polish, reblue, new trigger if you wish but I wouldn't mess with it much at all. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." Winston Churchill | |||
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...Me too. I think it's a real purty gun and would leave it just as dad left it. Hard to find a more useable cartridge than the '06 IMHO. ------------------------------------ Originally posted by BART185 I've had another member on this board post an aireal photograph of my neighborhood,post my wifes name,dig up old ads on GunsAmerica,call me out on everything that I posted. Hell,obmuteR told me to FIST MYSELF. But you are the biggest jackass that I've seen yet, on this board! -------------------------------------- -Ratboy | |||
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on the detachable, should be less than 100 for parts http://cgi.ebay.com/M98-Mauser-detachable-3-round-magaz...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem opinions vary band of bubbas and STC hunting Club Information on Ammoguide about the416AR, 458AR, 470AR, 500AR What is an AR round? Case Drawings 416-458-470AR and 500AR. 476AR, http://www.weaponsmith.com | |||
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I would send it to someone and get it restored as Jeff said. Redo the stock and get the metal refinished. That checkering can be recut pretty cheap. If you mount a scope keep that peep. If it where mine only changes I would make would be function. Trigger, springs ect... If I were to make it a full blown build. I would sit down with Dad and build it the way would do it. My 2 cents. | |||
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Thanks for the input guys.  Rich  Some people are a lot like Slinkies: They're not good for much but it's kind of fun to push them down a flight of stairs. | |||
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To me, a rifle like this is a family heirloom. If you want to hunt with it, maybe replace the trigger, if the barrel is gone, replace it with the same caliber and as close to original as possible. My reasoning - fast forward some years in the future when you say the following words to your son(or daughter)- "This was your grandfather's rifle, he gave it to me and now I'm handing it down to you." Keeping it the way your father chose to have it may tell them more about their grandfather. I'm in the same boat - with almost an identical rifle in 30-06 - when it comes to me I though I would rebarrel it to a 338-06, but after a while I realized it means more to me to keep it as he originally sporterized it. When it is mine, I'll never change it, I'll just hunt with it and keep it in the family. Lance Lance Larson Studio lancelarsonstudio.com | |||
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Very well put, Riodot. Listen to what he is saying very closely. If you change it, it will never be the same. You may not care about that now, but 20 years from now it may be extremely important to you that you have something that was purely "Dad's". If you want a custom, fine, but maybe not this one. It is a dandy as it is. I recently bought an 03A3 thru CMP, and I wish it could talk to me. What stories would it tell, how many close calls did it's owner survive, or maybe not survive? Guns have history, and your Dad's gun is the history of your Dad. It was obviously special TO HIM. Just my opinion and with it and $0.80 you can still get a coffee at McDonalds... MKane160 You can always make more money, you can never make more time...........LLYWD. Have you signed your donor card yet? | |||
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And if you're lucky and spill that cup of coffee on you, there's a good chance you can retire! | |||
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