Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles Springfield sporter

Here is a Springfield sporter I picked up don't know much about ,it is a tack driver

Love Springfields, I notice they took the mushroom off the cocking piece, always a mistake as in the case of a case rupture that curved forward edge directs gas away from your face. Beautiful rifle for sure.

The "mushroom" of the cocking piece has nothing to do with directing/deflecting gas.

the mushroom cocking piece is there so you can recock it in case of a misfire...

Exactly; it was to manually re-cock in case of a FTF.

I love Springfields this is a beauty. I’d like to get one that is nicely done & have JES reborn it to .338.

Leave it. Its a beaut!

Very nice..

Mushroom influence here? A touch of "silly siben"!

A decent high SN number 1903 Springfield, that's good! My old eyes and your pix, can't discern some features well, but that cocking piece appearing more 'mauser-like' than modified '03 striker. That would be weird! Looks/your narrative; such a good shooter & likely that decent commercial stock a considerably superior fit & comfort, especially for scope use as 'holes' suggest; such compared to the military stocks!

This rifle in the budget sporter category. Functional, as you note 'accurate' and decent stock, good shooting. Either use 'as is' or flush it out with metal redo. For me, it'd be OK just as is.

I'm also an admirer of the Springfield '03 & A3 genres. Great, rugged bolt rifles! Fortunately too, with an original & minty Springfield NRA Sporter, swooning a bit as occasionally speaking of it!

Thanks Trigger for bringing your rifle to the Forum & sharing!
Best & Stay Safe!
John

Nice sporter. I wouldn't do a thing to it except hunt the bejapers out of it!

More than one "old time" writer mentioned the utility of the cocking knobs on Springfields and Krags for defecting errant escaped gasses away from the shooter's eye. Dual purpose appendages I would say.

The reason headless cocking pieces gained a bit of a following "back in the day" was to speed up lock time. I've had them on both Krags and 03's and can't honestly tell a difference for it's saving a couple milliseconds of lock time - but they do look cool. (The Armory even provided headless cocking pieces on some Krag carbines, M1899's I think, with a knurled surface to give fingers a purchase. I have one laying on my desk beside this laptop as we speak. It'll go into one of my Krag sporters eventually.) What they found was it was too much of a good thing: primer piercings increased due to the added striker speed, and without the cocking knob there to do its thing... My theory is it was as much to do with crappy primers back then as anything else.

I've seen tons of them around here. Often rechambered to 308 Norma magnum or 30-338. Nice rifles that generally shoot very well. Prices on nice clean sporters are generally pretty good too..

I have a nice custom in 300 Apex.

After reading about RAR bolts coming apart and other misadventures with budget bolts, these conversions of real and steel soldier proof weapions seem the creme de la creme. 03's, P17.s and wouldn't mind finding a hacksawed Mr. C. Dundee Enfield in some gunstore's rust barrel.

I honestly can't speak to "modern" rifle actions (and you'll never see me do so in these hallowed pages), but I can definitely opine in agreement about your comment regarding the old "soldier proof" weapons (and those which were derived from same, including such things as Model 54 and 70 Winchesters, etc.).

My Remington-built custom 03-A3 6.5-06:












I have a Remington-built 03-A3 in 6-250 as well; two of my favorites!

👍👍👍

I'm a sucker for bubba sporterized 03 and 03a3's from the 50's and 60's. I'd never consider it for one all military. When they have been altered past restoreability then just shoot the hell out of them. The original parkerizing is a all weather durable finish .most of mine are still 30-06 but I do have 1 in 308 Norma mag and another in 300 win mag. With herter ,fajen or ec bishop wood I like them all. Have 03 bottom metal on all of them. Mb

Something out of the Weapon Shops of Isher, a strange and lovely elegance.

efw, that looks like some of the custom guns from Grice Gun Shop in Clearfield or a friend of mine made in his little back country shop.. Very nice..

I have a Springfield 1922 M2 that has been sporterized, it is the last rifle that I would ever sell. While it was a decent job when I bought it several years ago I have improved it by having the checkering recut and the metal rust blued. I also converted it to a blind magazine eliminating the hideous magazine bottom, it now has an '03 floorplate. while I was at it I gave the trigger guard a more pleasing sporting contour. It has a Griffin & Howe mount with Lyman Alaskan with LEE dot. It shoots as well as the day it left the arsenal. It will put 50 rounds of CCI Std. Velocity in one ragged hole @ 50 yds. Amazing for a rifle that is nearly 100 yrs. old.

"The right to own weapons is the right to be free."