doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com interesting 1903 on gunbroker

I was following this rifle on gunbroker, I thought it was really well done and wondered what others thought of it.
Any thoughts on the maker?1903 custom

At that price, might be a decent deal. Is that a Myrtl wood stock? The style looks more 1950s than between the wars.

Birdseye Maple, dyed/patinized to a pleasant hue to my eye.

That is about the lowest number Rock Island I've ever seen. One can only hope that it was heat treated on a cloudy day. Someone put a lot of work into an 03 that could let go at the next shot. I suppose the stock is worth that much.

Actually thanks to a member of this forum, who purchased the remnants of a low number 1903 that blew up, and sent it to a metallurgist who studied it with methods unavailable to Hatcher at the time, we have a much better idea of the causes of these failures.

And?

The fault was in the case of that particular receiver was that the case-hardening temperature was too low. The receiver was not the best, but adequate until it received what was probably a double load. If you are interested in reading the article yourself, feel free to pm me with your e-mail address.

Oh, I believe it could be under heat treated and soft which could cause the bolt lugs to set back in the receiver and eventually develop excessive headspace but how do you double load an '06 (or an '03 as it was originally)? 94 grains of 4320? 106 grains of 4350? Try it and see how far you get. Or just a case full of Bullseye? That would do it with any rifle. There's a nice photo online of a receiver with a crack about halfway from back to front. Oh heck, you only need half a receiver. Let her rip! Hey, it's been shot for over 100 years, it's good for a lot more. Personally, I'm very attached to my fingers and my eyes. Have at it if you want.

You are welcome to your own opinions and to a copy of the article.

The cartridge was almost certainly overloaded, but, for 2 reasons, was probably not a complete double charge. The powder was 5744.

Thanks PhysDoc for starting the thread. I am the latest caretaker of this rifle and my primary concern at this point is to return it to a semblance of it's original state. To put the low number issue to rest, It may get shot, but probably not. I have other low number 1903s, including a 1905 Rock Island with the converted 30-03 barrel and serial number 228 Springfield. I also have 30-06s in other rifles that pose no know danger to use. Gary D. is correct about the stock. What convinced me to go ahead and buy it was I felt that an amateur probably wouldn't use ivory on a project unless he was fairly talented. The fore end and grip cap are ivory. That also poses my biggest dilemma. How to repair it since I don't have a block of ivory sitting around. The pictures speak plainly and the only thing I have found on examination are the initials WS under the butt plate. The other interesting feature is the sling swivels and butt plate were gold plated. When backing out the BP screws, I could see the plating. The underside shows coverage and the only evidence on the outside is a small sliver on the widow's peak of the buttplate. The swivels show evidence of course. The rifle in hand is nicer than the pictures portray. It handles well, the metal work is well executed and the stock work while not top of the line is well done with few errors. Brent may be right about 1950s, it is hard to say. The receiver dates to 1906 and the bolt is a C14, correct for Rock Island around 1917. I suspect it might have been a WW1 rebuild. A thorough cleaning ala Michael Petrov's plan should take care of most of the issues. The stock desperately needs some oil.

I would welcome any suggestions on the tip repair. Right now I am considering building up the missing piece on pins with accraglass and using a product called AcryliKey to coat the undersized form. It is used to repair ivory piano keys. I figure I can do a practice run or two on scrap to see if it is feasible. I'm sure it will be noticeable, but hopefully it would be presentable. Any thoughts?

Thaine, my thoughts would be to remove the ivory parts and replace with pieces made from buffalo horn.
IMO the change of color from ivory to black would go a long ways to improve the basic overall looks of the rifle.

Fred, I read the article a number of years ago when it came out, but as I said its been awhile. In the article was the possibility of a short load (significantly reduced load) investigated? We know that many "exploding" guns can be traced to this cause. Top that off with suspect actions (low serial number 1903's) it could be the cause.

BTW, can you please send me a copy of the article as I can not find the copy I did have. You have my email address.

Boone Trading Company should be able to come up with a chunk of some kind of ivory to repair your gun. I would prefer that to Acraglass.

LFR's suggestion is what I would probably opt for, but perhaps you can find some mammoth ivory to replace it with. It will be a little different in color but probably more interesting and better than any patch job could be.

If you choose horn it is available from Joe D, (member here on the forum) from Ebay. Horn

I have bought several horn blocks from Joe and put them to good use. However, for the 03 in question, I would prefer to repair the ivory with more ivory.

eightbore,
If you can make the thin Ivory pieces from piano keys work let me know, I'm pretty sure I have some in my "pile" from when I moved 20 years ago.
Mike

How big of a piece of Ivory would be needed to do a repair to the broken out area?

Min dimensions figuring you'd likely be squaring up some edges to get as fine a fit as possible.
I have some pieces of scrap that are not big enough for pistol grips and the like. Maybe something in the Box o' Ivory can be put to good use.

Gentlemen, I apologize for ghosting my thread. I had cataract surgery on the 12th and hand surgery on the 21st, so i have been a little distracted to say the least. The horn replacement is my all else fails choice. I have some blocks and slabs that I bought from Joe D several years ago. They are acclimated to our low NM humidity by now. The AcryliKey I was thinking about using is a two part color matching powder with a binding agent used to repair ivory keys. Hence my initial thought of building it up over an Accra glass core. I have generous offers for a piece of ivory to repair it with and I will be in touch with you concerning it. I am not in a rush since I will need a month or two to get my left hand functioning properly and have cataract surgery for the right eye 9 Sept. I appreciate everyone's input. That is one of the things that makes this such a great resource. BTW, I don't think I can bring myself to replating the swivels and buttplate in gold. That seems a bit over the top to me.
Thaine

Best wishes for successful surgeries.