Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Winchester Model 54 .30GOVT03

would like information on this rifle. It was a gift from my dad, he told me it was a 303, but it isnt, I cant find much information online. Hoping someone out there can help me out

From wikipedia, I have never seen a 54 marked 30gov03 but have seen many marked 30gov06 for the newer 30-06. The rifle came from the days when you could order about anything you wanted so I guesse it may be possible.


The .30-03 was a short-lived cartridge developed by the United States in 1903, to replace the .30-40 Krag in the new Springfield 1903 rifle. The .30-'03 was also called the .30-45, since it used a 45 grain (2.9 g (0.10 oz)) powder charge; the name was changed to .30-'03 to indicate the year of adoption.[1] It used a 220 grain (14 g (0.49 oz)) roundnose bullet. It was replaced after only three years of service by the .30-'06, firing a Spitzer bullet giving better ballistic performance.[2]
Contents

1 Initial development
2 Problems
3 See also
4 References

Initial development

The .30-03 was developed to replace the .30-40 Krag cartridge used in the Krag-J�rgensen rifle, which was the first bolt action rifle adopted by the US military, and the first that used smokeless powder. The Krag-J�rgensen rifle had some serious limitations compared to the new Mauser rifles being used by European armies; it was loaded one round at a time, rather than using a stripper clip, and the Krag-Jorgensen's single locking lug on the bolt made the action much weaker than the strong, two lug Mauser bolt, limiting the power of the round. A new rifle was designed, using the Mauser as a guide, and a new cartridge was designed for it. The new cartridge was more powerful, using a 45 grain (2.9 g) charge of smokeless powder, 5 grains (0.3 g) more than the .30-40. The bullet was the same, a .30 caliber, 220 grain (14 g) round nosed jacketed bullet, at a higher velocity of 2300 feet per second (700 m/s), compared to the 2000 feet per second (610 m/s) of the .30-40 Krag. The new rifle was also the first in a trend of shorter infantry rifles; the 24 in (610 mm) barrel was halfway between the standard rifle and the carbine used by the cavalry, and thus there was no carbine variant of the 1903 rifle. The .30-03 cartridge was also a rimless design, which allowed better feeding through the box magazine than the old .30-40 Krag case.[citation needed] In 1905 the Model 1895 Winchester lever action rifle became the first commercially produced sporting rifle offered in 30-03.
Problems

The 1903 rifle and the .30-03 cartridges suffered from a number of problems from the start. First, President Theodore Roosevelt disapproved of the model 1903 rifle's rod bayonet, calling it "... about as poor an invention as I ever saw." The sights were also an area of concern. The rod bayonet was switched to a knife type bayonet, and the sights were improved in the "Model of 1905" rifle, which was never produced in any quantity.[citation needed]

The .30-03 cartridge also caused severe erosion of the bore of the rifle, due to the high pressures and temperatures needed to push the heavy bullet to the desired velocity. The heavy bullet was also an issue; the 220 grain (14 g) bullet was aerodynamically inefficient and had a very curved trajectory (see external ballistics) so it was not well suited for long range shots. It was also unfashionable, since most countries were switching to a 7 or 8 mm cartridge firing a lighter, around 150 grains (9.7 g), spitzer pointed bullet at a higher velocity. This gave better energy retention and a flatter trajectory. The .30-03 was shortened slightly by 0.07 inches (1.8 mm) in the neck, the powder was reformulated to burn cooler, and the bullet was changed to a 150 grain (9.7 g) spitzer bullet, creating the .30-06 cartridge.[2]

Since the new .30-06 was shorter than the .30-03, it could fire in 1903 rifle, but with poor accuracy. The 1903 rifles were all recalled, fitted with the Model of 1905 sights and bayonet, and rechambered for the new .30-06 cartridge. This last procedure was done by unscrewing the barrels, milling off the end of each chamber, re-threading the barrels, rechambering them and screwing them back on the same actions.[1] This ended the short life of the .30-03; out of nearly 75,000 made, no more than a handful of original 1903 rifles escaped the conversion to .30-06 (estimates range from 50 to 100 rifles), becoming rare collectors items. Even the .30-03 cartridge is a rarity, found only in collections of rare cartridges. The .270 Winchester cartridge was based on reducing the neck diameter of a .30-03 cartridge case to retain a similar bullet-holding length with the same shoulder.

I seem to remember something about a faulty stamp that made the 6 look like a 3 on M70's. But a 54 should have been stamped 30 gov't 06 if it were an 06. A picture of the stamping would be helpful. Winchester changed the stamping to 30-06 in 1950.

I am having trouble posting a picture

Thank you for that information, thats awesome, so what kind of ammo would I need to use it? .30-45?

wasn't the 270 cartridge the same length as the 1903 Springfield?

from what I understand you can just neck up a 270 cartridge...

but wait until someone more knowledgeable pipes in..

I am passing on what I hear, but am interested as I have a 1917 Enfield I was thinking about necking up to a 1903 Springfield chamber... just because..

There was a thread a few months back re a pre 64 Model 70 that was chambered in 30Govt03 and so stamped on the barrel. IIRC the thread just died without any pics or evidence that the rifle existed.

I found this genuine 30-03 cartridge several years ago and it is the only one I have ever seen.

Here's a M1895 I have in the caliber in question:

Is it just me or does it look like the Model 54 stamping is stamped over Model 70?

Appears to be the outline of something, hard to tell... what would be the upper or top line of the 7 would be at the wrong angle

What do these guns go for?

IMO that's a faulty stamp that's missing the left side of the 6.

Also the 54 doesn't look "correct". Could be a modified M70 barrel which would explain that mistamp which is known on M70's.

The ugly side of Winchester collecting as all the dishonest $hit that's been done over the years to turn a buck.

The far right 3, looks different than the other 3???

I thought so. Bottom looks bigger like it should be a 6.

yeah, the numbers do look a little odd