This is an interesting thread. My understanding is that the LNs that failed in military service during and after WW1 were all either shooting WW1 contract ammunition or were fired with 7.92 mm German military ammunition that was somehow mixed in with the US military stuff.
Some of the contract military ammunition was decidedly bad, made with soft cases, questionable powder loads and sometimes cases that had become stuck to bullets through some sort of internal corrosion. I read somewhere (Hatcher? Sharpe?) that several makes & lots were scrapped or otherwise destroyed because the stuff was dangerous. US military ammunition headstamped with H and 17 or 18 or maybe 19, made by the National Brass & Copper Tube Co. is the most commonly recognized defective stuff.
The rifle failures with this ammunition and with German military ammunition were not limited to LN 03s. At the same time, Winchester decided to stop making their 1895 lever actions in .30-06. Winchester engineers loaded a couple of their new 95s with 7.92 mm German military ammunition and duplicated the failures. The 95 remained in production in 30-40, etc. until Depression economics killed it.
Rifle failures were not confined to American products. In the early 1920s, the French were experimenting with a 7.5 x 58 mm cartridge. After several rifles failed when mistakenly fired with 7.92 German military ammunition, the French switched to a 7.5 x 54 mm cartridge. Soldiers could not close the bolt on German ammunition.
That said, I have heard or read somewhere that 03s made during WW1 were sometimes incorrectly heat treated. Flayderman's Guide says that 03s with numbers 635,000 to about 800,000 were made during WW1, with lowered standards and before DHT was adopted. Perhaps not all LNs are suspect. But I would be suspicious of any in the above range. Joe's door-stop is in that range.
A question for Michael or others. Do your records of pre-war custom 03s include SNs?
Richard
