I have a Smith/Corona 03/A3 receiver that I barrelled up with a #1 contour McGowan barrel in 7x57. I also have a real pretty piece of english that I had turned years ago by my friend Bobby Mitchell, classic style of course.
I am finally about to restart this project after a long hiatus and got to going through some of my books on custom guns and noticed a lack of Springfields! I am specifically looking for a picture on how they handled the magazine cut-off. I thought about machining a piece to fill it in, but wondered how the top makers handled this problem. Also, what is the most attractive two piece scope bases for the A3 or is machining the rear bridge to remove the dovetail an option and who does it? I really want this rifle to turn out slim and pretty, so any advice would be welcome! Thanks, Lee.

Lee,

I’ll leave the other questions alone because they involve personal preferences...but you can’t just remove the cutoff without providing something to function in its place as a bolt stop/release.

Personally, I would keep the cutoff and just have the silly “On†and “OFF†ground away and then have the faces decorated with something that you find pleasing to your eyes...checkering, serrations, inlays, engraving, or just polished and smooth.

Also, I have seen several custom 03’s that had the back portion of the receiver area that the cutoff pin goes through reshaped into a really nice looking bullet nose configuration...and you can pretty much shape the cutoff tab to any shape and profile you want to as long as you can still operate it when you need to remove the bolt.

If you want a slim, trim and polished 03A3 action you are going to be doing lots of metal removal/polising anyway so just make the cutoff part of your smoothing and polishing scheme and have a truly custom look.

I don't know anything about the smith-coronas, but I have/had a Rem. 03a3 that is part of a rifle being built for my stepfather. The boatail bullet is the right idea on the botl stop, make sure your gunsmith knows the springfields because if I remember right the way they cut the hole for the pin that holds the magazine cutoff switch sometimes ran it pretty deep and the front edge of that contoured boss might not have a lot of meat to be worked with before showing a hold there.

Here is a pic showing the mag. cutoff and what was done, this is a new cutoff switch as you can tell, at a more sleek angle. I really like the way it looks with the boatail shaped boss. The pin is new as well, completes the boatail shape.

You can have a custom rear base made or you can get a side mount, those are the best ways to get it low above the bore, the 03a3's usually have the scope sitting higher than your mod70's would. The side mount is going to run you less than custom integral rear base.



Integral base.




Have a good time making your custom rifle, what a blast doing it and seeing it come together.

Red

Dago who did the bolt handle? I like the way it was exacuted at the bolt root & that pear shaped knobe sets it off very nicely.

quote:

Originally posted by Dago Red:
I don't know anything about the smith-coronas, but I have/had a Rem. 03a3 that is part of a rifle being built for my stepfather. The boatail bullet is the right idea on the botl stop, make sure your gunsmith knows the springfields because if I remember right the way they cut the hole for the pin that holds the magazine cutoff switch sometimes ran it pretty deep and the front edge of that contoured boss might not have a lot of meat to be worked with before showing a hold there.

Here is a pic showing the mag. cutoff and what was done, this is a new cutoff switch as you can tell, at a more sleek angle. I really like the way it looks with the boatail shaped boss. The pin is new as well, completes the boatail shape.



Have a good time making your custom rifle, what a blast doing it and seeing it come together.

Red

I've seen several that had been given this "bullet-shape" treatment. It looks good!

Dago,

That is some beautiful metal work, my friend! Who did it for you?

Thanks for the replies all. Dago, please tell us who did the work, I like the way they machined the rear dovetail into a base, what kind of rings does it use and what did the front base look like? It looks like a standard Redfield style.I like side mounts for some rifles, but the A3 needs some work to beautify the rear and a nice looking mount will do it.

Only one person who does a bolt that looks that good ............ Tom Burgess

Dago Red, looks awesome.

quote:

Originally posted by Customstox:
Only one person who does a bolt that looks that good ............ Tom Burgess

Dago Red, looks awesome.

I emailed Tom once to comment on the fact that I have had three Tom Burgesses in my family. My maternal Grandfather, his son, my Uncle, and his son, my cousin . The grandad and uncle are both dead now but the cousin is still around someplace! They used to joke that they were so poor they could only afford one name for the men.

Gunsmith Tom has done some serious studying of his family tree and from what we gathered our families aren’t related unless it goes waaaaaaay back.

Thanks Chic, I think it is looking great.

This was the proverbial silk purse from a sow's ear. My first rifle was this 03a3 in 06, then 06AI. I thought that it was a good platform for my stepfather's rifle since he helped me pick the rifle out.

I didn't realize the problems that I had, what stood out was that the bolt had been overpolished and was sloppy. To make it function some bubba had stoned the safety lug entry point on the bridge to keep it from binding. I contacted Tom Burgess to see what he might have for parts and suggestions. He had an 03 bolt that was in good shape other than the bolt handle and already taken out to mag on the bolt face.

Since my action looked like it was from the better batch of steel that Rem. had used and the carburizing was done well I thought that with a good bolt and some other 03 parts it would turn out well. The decision was, "heck, why not take an action that has just about every bubba-ized problem common on these things"

Turned out even with the good bolt they had messed up the bridge enough that the fit was still loose. How about cutting the bridge, tightening up the bridge bolt bore and putting on a new bolt deck with integral base. This solved another problem (in part), the base holes were drilled by an italian inspired local smith, came out like the tower of Pisa.



If you look close you can see that one hole in the ring was crooked, the one in the bridge was crooked AND offcenter! The front holes have been dealt with as well.

There were reasons for the mag. cut-off changes beyond just the cosmetics, although it looks pretty enough to make you think that was the whole goal. I also picked up 03' triggerguard/magazine assembly with good floorplate from some collector's, got a couple so the best one could be chosen and the other set aside for an 03 receiver I have in the safe.

Red

That handsome streamlining of the cutoff was first done by Bob Owen in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Most smiths don't know about it, which is why these forums are good for spreading information.

Kind of surprised it goes that far back. It looks inspired by the '59 Cadillac to my eyes although as I type this I can see an Art Deco influence.

I think this one actually comes closest to a euro metric bullet, I think I have a pic of said bullet next to the action and you can see it. with the cutoff lever/switch I like to think of it as a shortened cruise missile.

Red

quote:

Originally posted by vigillinus:
That handsome streamlining of the cutoff was first done by Bob Owen in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Most smiths don't know about it, which is why these forums are good for spreading information.

A R.G. (Bob) Owen

what threads do these actions take?

1.040 OD Square 1 in 10.

same as any other common receivers out there, or must they be custom cut?

thanks again

quote:

Originally posted by delloro:
same as any other common receivers out there, or must they be custom cut?

thanks again

If you have an 03 and you just need to chase the threads to clean them up I will loan/sell you a thread chasing Tap. I had several made from the original arsenal blue prints shown in Brophy’s book on the 1903 Spingfields.

thank you for the very generous offer, but I am trying to decide what to do with an action I just picked up. I don't know what my barreling options are, but I'm trying to figure that out.

thanks again, though!