I have decided to document my play with a rifle if picked up for restoration and education purposes. Before I begin, I want to mention Jeff Germain and Mike Watson have been longsuffering through this with advise on parts and more. Thanks guys.
The overall condition of the piece was fair, to be charitable. The hammer was broken, extractor did not. Suffice to say a previous owner must have owned a pipe wrench, pliers, and a chisel and gunsmithed with them liberally on this gun. How can this kind of thinking be OK?
A new hammer and extractors were found, fit , and installed. (Thanks Jeff and Mike.) The feed ramp and rear of the barrel needed to be ground and polished to make any ammo feed. The chisel-gunsmithing the area has received had buggered things up very badly. I made a action and barrel vise and removed the .303 barrel. The condition of the barrel has always been a real question. After an inspection, it seemed better than I first hoped, but worn, oversized or both.
With all of the stars aligning I function tested the rifle at the range yesterday. It feeds and functions, but every single .308 diameter bullet keyholed at 25 yards. The few .311 bullets I had printed into about 3-4" and did not seem to keyhole. I re-slugged the barrel, again, finding the grooves measure .316 diameter. Lands are difficult to measure but appear to be .308. This somewhat explains the behavior with .308 & .311 bullets.
I have contemplated replacing, reboring, the barrel, but frankly the value just isn't there unless I just want to piddle with it. Still, the barrel has rifling the full length and my gut tells me it might just shoot Ok, That is, if I can find bullets large enough to gain purchase in the bore yet still fit in the .303 cases. Unsized, foreformed cases appear to accept a .315-.316 slug, but dummy rounds, so loaded are difficult to chamber and extraction.
Other than .32 pistol bullet the options for appropriate bullets are slim. I have considered 32 pistol bullets, the .316 Stopring bullet for the 8.15x46R, re-sized, .318 bullets (8mm J), even paper patched .308 bullets. Ideas are welcome.
Regard the project as a whole and if I can address the accuracy problem, it is at least theoretically possible to refurbish the rifle to a functional status, appropriate for a rifle built in 1903. I am good with wood and perform rust bluing in my shop, so the finish could be fixed. It is also good that of the appropriate parts are still still there and are all serial numbered to the receiver. So the project should not replace anything, unless there was no other option.
Alternately, if I can not solve the accuracy and functional problems, this may become a parts gun.
As I said when I started this post, the purpose was to document the project and to thank the good Samaritans who have been helping me.
