A 1903A3 with a new barrel on it that’s new to the customer, no history on this one. The customer could not chamber a round in 30-06. I casted the chamber and it appears to be a 30-06 about .070 short of what it should be. Is this about what it would be if it was re barreled and the chamber was not finished? I don’t do chambering but I am thinking of renting a pull through chamber reamer and doing it. The customer just wants to be able to shoot it and isn’t looking for perfection. Would a reamer like Brownell’s 184-300-306WB do the trick? Any advice or cautions please. It seems simple enough but then I haven’t gotten into this kind of thing yet. Randy Sherman
4D reamers: https://www.4-dproducts.com/ I think they give a discount to AGI/GCA members.
The .070 sounds like a single thread, though I thought they were at 10 threads per inch, so they should be .010 for a thread. Except I might be wrong. 🙂 Jeff
Answer
No way to know why there is .070 negative headspace……short chambered barrel, incorrectly or unfinished chambering job, who knows. Like the other post mentions, Fred Zeglin at 4D reamer rentals will take care of you. Great guy. Ken
Question Follow Up
Hey Ken. I talked to Fred and he said the pull through reamer won’t work. It has too far to go. He said to have someone finish chambering it. Is that something you would like to do if I ship it to you. Otherwise I have to find someone and hope it works out. Either way, how much would you charge and what do you think your turn around time would be? I really need to find someone local to farm this kind of thing out to. It’s hard to find a good gunsmith ya know. Randy
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I can do that for you. Not gonna quote prices here. Turn around on something like that would be in the 12 week range……and I do mean range. Be aware when a chamber is cut and not finished, as you have here, then another reamer is used you may end up with a step in the chamber. Doesn’t really hurt anything but the fired cases look funny and some customers don’t like it. Nothing to be done except set the barrel back to remove the old chamber…….most tapered barrels don’t have enough room for that. Or rebarrel with a new barrel. Ken
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I got in a Springfield 1903 2 years ago that had the shorter original chamber in the basic ’03 , before the 30-06 came into existence.
Does the barrel seem to be the same as the receiver in overall appearance and “patina”?
Also, I got a warning from an old-timer that the original ’03 standard chamber was made of softer armory steel, and that modern ammo should never be fired in it. I guess be very clear about exactly what you have.
I’m thinking wall hanger and don’t risk getting someone hurt.
I think the older Numrich catalogs have a short article on this issue with a list of serial numbers.
Roy in MN
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I would not alter an original 03 chambered in .30-03 as they are collector’s pieces. Leave as is just my humble opinion. Ken
Question Follow Up
This is a later 1903A3 that has a new barrel on it. It has been sporterized very nicely. Randy
Answer
No problem on that one. Ken
