I bought a sporterized Springfield 1903 the other day, mainly to have it rebarreled some time in the future. The rifle still has the original barrel on it. The rifle has a scope on it, and while I will get it rebarreled someday, I decided to make use of it while it is still a 30/06. I shot it a few times with WW factory loads, and I noticed on the case the bright shiney ring above the web that we all love to see. I have determined, after using the search deally, that the headspace is bad and that I need to stop shooting this rifle. The barrel is stamped 2-19, so I think this means it was made in 1919. No telling how many thousands of rounds it has had shot through it.
My question is, is there any way to fix the headspace on this rifle? Is the only option rebarreling it? I really didn't want to do that right now because of money reasons, but if that is the only way so be it.
Any suggestions or opinions are welcome.

Also, is it practical to rebarrel it to .284 Win? I was originaly thinking of a 35 Whelan, but I could change my mind to a .284.

The headspace is corrected by setting the barrel back one thread and rechambering.
Rebarreling to 284 is feasable but the 280 would be a better choice from the standpoint of function. Regards, Bill.

Is your gun a military original or sporterized? Military surplus new condition O3A3 barrels can still be had for very little dough. They usually screw on and headspace just fine but you'll need to have it checked.

After fireforming some empty commercial cases (they are softer) in your chamber, you might try neck-sizing them only and then run a load through them drawn from the "Starting" column of a current data manual. Doing this supposedly recreates a case which is reformed to the actual chamber dimensions of your rifle.

The bad side to this is, it is "safe" only with headspace which still is within the gross maximum. Headspace beyond that requires one of several attacks:
1. Rebarreling.
2. Removal of the old barrel, turning off a thread's-length from the base, reinstallation, finish-chambering to the preferred headspacing.
3. Alternatively, the bolt can be replaced on a try-and-fit basis to see if another surplus bolt will have random dimensions which accidently tighten the headspace.
4. Regardless of the above lines of attack, the engagement surfaces in the receiver for the bolt locking-lugs should be checked for setback. If setback has occurred, correction requires expert attention and perhaps too much expense, followed by more expense for re-heattreating. Personally, I don't think such a drastic project is worth the cost.

If your receiver and barrel are of the same vintage, it would be wise to check the serial number of the receiver against the charts which identify the kind of heat-treating the receivers received. A low-number receiver (which is possible) can be dangerous.

Good luck.

I guess the rifle is half sporterized, original barrel & action appears not to be altered, except for tapping for a scope. The bolt I think has been worked on, maybe for the scope. It is wearing a synthetic stock.
Where is the best place to get military surplus barrels? Will a 03A3 barrel work for a regular '03?
I guess I will have to think about that until I can get it rebarreled to what I want.

Chamber headspace is perhaps the most misunderstood concept in the entire shooting universe.

If your Springfield chamber is "tight" enough (short enough in bolt face-to-shoulder dimension) to hold the factory-loaded cartridge firmly enough against the bolt face for the firing pin to consistently set off the primer, and the primers show no signs of "backing out" then being shoved back in the primer pocket upon firing (this ususally shows up as a primer whose base is sread out against the head of the cartridge and exhibits a "flange" on its bottomside when deprimed from the case) then your gun is most likely safe to fire.

All that will happen will be that the case stretches upon firing to match the dimensions of the chamber. This can cause the "ring" approximately 1/4 inch ahead of the rim. This ring does represent a thinned spot in the cartridge head, but if there is no separation on firing, then the case likely still has sufficient integrity to be fired again.

The problem comes when the case is reloaded and the reloader sets the shoulder back substantially from its as-fired dimension in resizing. Upon firing again, the same case stretching as occured on the initial firing will happen again, and the already-thinned brass may split (separate) near the head. To avoid this problem, simply resized the brass only enough to allow it to adequately grip the bullet and to chamber without undue resistance in turning down the bolt handle.

Think of it this way: The chamber has excessive headspace only with factory-dimensioned cartridges. With cases fired once in it, the headspace is, by definition, perfect.

My guess is that the headspace of your Springfield is probably no different than when it left the armory. Military rifles usually have fairly generous chambers to allow them to work with dirty ammunition fouled with sand, grit, and other trash which may be picked up in battlefield conditions. If it doesn't split a factory load on the first firing, it's likely o.k.

One way to make absolutley sure that a rifle with excessive headspace can be fired safely is to load cartridges for the initial firing, or fireforming in this case, with the bullet seated out long so that it is pushed firmly against the lands of the barrel upon chambering the shell. This will, in effect, headspace your round on the bullet rather than the shoulder of the brass.
Use a slightly reduced load of powder since the chamber pressure will usually be increase somewhat with a bullet pressed against the lands. Upon firing, the case will stretch from the base forward, rather from the middle backward, and you will end up with no thin place near the critical web area of the case -- and with a case which fits your chamber like a glove.

When surplus Springfields were rather common, you would hear warnings about the weak receivers of "low numbered" Springfields. These "weak" receivers were actually too hard, having received a heat treatment that sometimes made them too brittle. They could, and did at times, crack. But the hard receiver of a low-numbered Springfield would never show set-back in the locking faces which would allow headspace to grow. A soft bolt, on the other had, could suffer locking lug set-back after many, many rounds (and perhaps wear-grinding from being operated dirty).

I'm just down the road in Georgetown. Drop me a line if I didn't explain myself well enough and you have questions.

If this is a temporary barrel and you just want to shoot it then I suggest you load some of your rounds with some bullseye, kleennex and cornmeal with a wax patch and firerform the cases to your chamber....then go ahead and load them and shoot up a storm...That'll solve the headspace problem....

I would also seek to find out why I had headspace to start with...

the cases you have fired may be safty suspect...

Just to expand on what Stonecreek said:

An alternative to seating your bullets way out is to neck up the cases a bit (say to .338) and neck them back down, but leave a little secondary shoulder at the base of the neck. Some trial-and-error will indicate how much shoulder you'll need to hold the case against the bolt face. The result is the same.

F.B. is dead on with his suggestion. It is actually much better than seating the bullets out to headspace on the riflings. I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it. If you could get hold of some .35 Whelan brass, it would work beautifully.

It is a lot cheaper to just fire form with bullseye and cornmeal than to shoot bullets IMHO...unless your learning to shoot.

------------------
Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

I have formed .280 Rem brass in both .270 & 30/06 that had headspace problems, just necked up or down and moved the shoulder back till they would chamber.MR