I have an old Springfield and was thinking about making it into a 416 Ruger. Is this a stupid idea? What costs would I be looking at?

Answers to your questions would depend upon your answers to questions about the action:

Is it an 03 or an 03A3?

If it's an 03, what's the serial # & arsenal?

Does it have the issue milled TG & FP?

Has it been altered in any way?

I like 03s, have built several in the past and am building 2 right now. I can give you some tentative answers in a general way but you'll have to decide some things for yourself.

If it's an 03A3 then your labor cost goes up since the rear bridge must be reshaped. If it's an 03 with a 'low number' then forget about it IMO. Bottom metal options for the Springfield are limited, that's why I asked about the milled TG. I have done several bench-fabbed hinged-FP jobbies and it's somewhat more difficult than a Mauser but can be done. Someone on this forum asked about custom bottom metal but I don't recall the details of the response. Safety options are limited mainly to aftermarket triggers with side safeties or the Buehler or Jantz type of 2-position. I've used the M70-type 3-position bolt sleeve (no longer made, I believe) and the left-side Jaeger 2-position (also no longer made) and greatly prefer either one of them to any of the others mentioned. Of course it's fairly simple to fab & install a sliding tang safety but that locks only the trigger.

The A3s and the high-# 03s are plenty strong & suitable enough for the cartridge IMO. I much prefer to make mine resemble the older products of G&H, Hoffman, Owen and similar, with straight combs and classic styling. You may be interested to look at some of the posts on the doublegunshop.com site, down at the bottom of the Forum page in the Single-Barrel section. Michael Petrov and others have posted some fine photos of some truly spectacular 1903s built by some of the most famous makers of all time. LOTS of eye candy here!
Regards, Joe

if it's a suitable action, then the build is no more trouble than a mauser. I have a 416 AR (rum case, shortned) on an 1903a3.

J.D. Steele,

Thank you, I looked at the pictures on doublegunshop.com and want to do this coversion even more the before.

The rifle is an O3A3 that was sporterized and rechambered into 308 Norma Mag. I used this rifle for years and love it but have other rifles like my 300 win mag that I shoot more and was looking for something in a .416.

This is why I would like to keep the old O3 and have a .416. I know nothing about gunsmithing and needed info on steps to take to make this conversion happen.

It's already a 30/338 ? Should be easy enough.. might have to time it to allow for loaded round extraction
DO consider the 416 ruger, if only for a moment .. you can load it down to taylor, but its a commerical round

I have a springfield 1903 which has been extensively customized over the years and love it a lot. That being said, I could have bought a very good rifle for a great deal less than I have and am in the process of spending and kept the springfield in original condition. My bottom metal was made by Ted Blackburn.

The Sporterized Springfield I've always wanted to build is
one in 35Whelen.

My brother already has a Springfield in 358Norma.

Frankly If I wanted a 416 in a springfield I'd go with the 416Rem chambering.

Just out of curiosity do you know who built the rifle as a 308Norma originally?

I have yet to see a springfield in a Norma chambering that wasn't built by J.W. Van Patten.



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Thanks for responding;

Bryan, I know what you are saying about the cost of custom work vs just buying anothe rifle but if you know and love the fit of the rifle you have, why not pay to have what you want?

Allan, I do not know who did the custom work that made it a 308 Norma Mag, but I think it was a local guy.