Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mauser barrel on 03-A3 action?

I have the chance to pick up a nicely sporterized 03-A3 for a very good price.

I also have what appears to be an untouched military Mauser barrel in 7x57.

Would it be simple to bring these together or will a host of complications arise?

I wouldn't say it's simple.

https://www.shootersforum.com/threads/rebarreling-a-1903-springfield.81280/

I've got this 454 Chevy and this nearly new 460 Ford crankshaft ...

Ugh....

Seriously, I believe the threads are entirely different and the idea is a no-go for any degree of practicality.

If you merely wish to replace a bad barrel on the 03, the simplest approach is to snag a Criterion barrel, either from the CMP or direct from the maker. They are very high quality, threaded/timed to fit an 03 receiver, short-chambered to allow final perfect headspacing, and are as good as a star-gauged pre-war government made match barrel - they shoot. (Which they should, being made by a division of Krieger barrel company.) Alternatively, original 03 barrels pop up on eBay frequently, for about the same money as a new Criterion barrel.

Springfield Armory before the war maintained excellent quality control. Tight tolerances were adhered to, and parts interchangeability (including barrels and bolts) was astonishingly good. Wartime 03A3 manufacturing by contractors (Springfield never personally made an 03A3) was theoretically as good, but there was a war on and QC standards were relaxed a bit in order to speed delivery of rifles into the hands of bright-eyed Nazi killers. That spells the possibility - but not a guarantee - of extra time in fitting different parts on one today.

Doing a caliber change, I would get a commercial barrel blank and start from scratch in fitting it. While a guy who knows his way around a lathe could fit a Mauser barrel to an 03 (with a helluva lot of material loss and re-configuring) it would be expensive if you paid to have it done - and in the end you have a milsurp Mauser barrel in place that's of questionable provenance (and utility) instead of a brand spanking new barrel. If you're going to spend a bunch of money on a project like this, you may as well do it right.

Well said, Sir.
Rex

gnoahhh;
Top of the morning to you sir, though I suppose you're well into the day already - but regardless I hope it's going well for you.

Thanks for your reply to the OP, in my experience you're correct.

My experience as a by the way, is that after too much reading and too little sleep no doubt, I decided that I could not live without having a nearly new 96 Swede military barrel grafted onto a 98 action.

When I discussed the project with greydog here on the 'Fire who is a retired well respected gunsmith, he outlined exactly how he'd done it previously, but again he was retired.

I did find a smith who I had used before, who agreed to do the job for a quoted price and so I shipped the action to him.

The work done was to lathe down the threaded portion of the military barrel and then thread it for a section of barrel which is also bored and threaded internally. That "adapter" is then silver braised in place and then threaded to fit a 98 action. The barrel then gets a new chamber cut and it's installed onto the action... Easier typed out than done apparently....

Upon completion of the job however, the smith sent me a note saying that the job had taken "a lot" longer than he'd thought and I'd have to send up more money in order to complete the transaction.

Anyways, it was what was and I did get the windmill I was tilting at sir, but cheap, inexpensive and logical progression of events were not part of any conversation regarding that project!!!

One supposes that it's perhaps easier to take as time goes on and it does make for a decent story too I guess?

So under the thought that "almost anything is possible but sometimes they're less feasible and often then they will not be economical" therein lies my tale.

All the best to you this fall sir.

Dwayne

So what good is a quote anyway?

mathman;
Good afternoon, I hope the day is progressing as it should for you and you're well.

Indeed that was the very question I had for him when I was told. My intent wasn't to complain about that situation, though I see that looking back on my post it does appear I did that exact thing.

For that I do apologize as again that wasn't my intent with the post.

He'd done 4 other chambering jobs for me over the years and they'd all been seamless transactions. While this one was certainly more complex, the initial quote reflected the complexity or so I'd thought at the time.

The last conversation we had will like as not be just that, as I did advise him I wasn't going to do business with him again.

Life does tend to bring out what's inside us in certain instances, sometimes for the better and sometimes less so.

On the one hand it's only money and I've surely lost a whole pile more than that and much speedier too in other ventures going pear shaped.

That said, as my late father used to say, "A man's only as good as his word" and I do try to live by that axiom myself.

My initial intent in the post was an attempt to illustrate a way it might be done, but that it wasn't the frugal or most likely prudent approach either.

All the best to you this fall mathman.

Dwayne

Thanks everyone! This whole idea has been deep-sixed!

Thanks Dwayne.

My best to you and yours as well.

In this case the 98 thread is large enough to simply turn it down and rethread for the Springfield. However, the breeching system of the 03 is different as well so there is a little more to it. I'm planning to try and do some You Tube videos where I'll take some random barrels, like I have laying around, and fit them to various actions. I'll see if there is any interest anyway.
Dwayne, if you need something like that done, I'll do it for you. The only hang up is that I don't do shipping and receiving so you would have to take a drive. GD

I would like to see it.

Several years back, I was walking around a gun show and saw a custom Springfield 03 on a table. Pretty good looking gun, but I was surprised when I saw 8X57MM stamped on the barrel

It's not right, it's just not right. Both Sgt. York and Gary Cooper are gearing up. Best just get out of town.

Yeah, I have a 92 year old friend who built his dream rifle back in the 60's on a Springfield. Trouble is he made it an 8mm-06 of all things, with a new 8mm barrel, and used a low number receiver as its basis. SMH. But it is a beautiful (if nearly worthless) rifle.

WTF? So the guy wanted an 8x57 in a good action, is that a problem?

If he had wanted that he would have simply bought a Mauser. GD

No flies on an 8x57 with today's components, but a .30 still has better bullet selections. In the case of my elderly friend doing an 8mm-06 60 years ago on an '03 action, I don't understand it. Back then 8mm-06 was a common wildcat created to make use of war-surplus rifles and common as dirt '06 brass (which is mildly perplexing as it was, and is, strictly a handloading deal and if you were going to do that you could just as easily make 8x57 brass out of '06 brass). To purposely seek out an 8mm barrel blank, fit it to an action, and then purposely chamber it for a (then) stop-gap cartridge makes no sense to me - especially when considering the p*ss poor selection of 8mm bullets back then. Oh well, what's done is done. I stand to inherit the rifle but I'll probably just salvage the beautiful stock off of it as I have no desire to shoot it since it's built on an early wartime WWI low-number receiver, made smack dab in the range of receivers which experienced the most blow-ups.