Rick the Librarian
05-19-2013, 02:52
About five years ago, I was offered a low numbered M1903 that had had the stock and handguard cut back. The metal was all original and the original finish. The first picture shows what it looked like when I bought it.
http://www.fototime.com/EB227F8B209391D/standard.jpg
I attempted to restore it shortly after I bought it. Rick Borecky was able to piece together another forward part of a handguard so I had the non-sighting groove handguard. I had another gentleman offer me a one-bolt RIA stock at a very fair price. Unfortunately, the CN inspection stamp had long since been sanded down. However, since correct one-bolt CN RIA stocks did not grow on trees (pun intended), I decided to use it. The result was the way the rifle looked below:
http://www.fototime.com/B074B32A567F923/standard.jpg
The latest in the story is that another guy on another forum had a CN-marked stock, which he agreed to sell me. The "downside" was that the stock had quite a bit of damage to the area where the trigger guard would fit. As you can see, there is a chunk of wood missing, there is a crack forward and someone had tried to crudely glue it.
The "upside", which I didn't discover until I had gotten the stock, was that the stock was a rare converted Rod Bayonet stock - no stock bolts, the "plug" in the foretip, the large S and the plugged upper band hole dating to the 30-03 days. The "CN/1908" I thought may well be a CN/1906!
The stock is currently in the capable hands of Rick Borecky, which the handguard attached so he can match the color when he refinishes the stock. I'll certainly have some "after" pictures when I get the stock back. The "before" pictures are below:
http://www.fototime.com/5F664E4358B1A70/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/145B179A24DCD15/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/54F02834194FF82/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/6D2BBDAD3A88575/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/13DA5DEA22ABD8C/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/EB227F8B209391D/standard.jpg
I attempted to restore it shortly after I bought it. Rick Borecky was able to piece together another forward part of a handguard so I had the non-sighting groove handguard. I had another gentleman offer me a one-bolt RIA stock at a very fair price. Unfortunately, the CN inspection stamp had long since been sanded down. However, since correct one-bolt CN RIA stocks did not grow on trees (pun intended), I decided to use it. The result was the way the rifle looked below:
http://www.fototime.com/B074B32A567F923/standard.jpg
The latest in the story is that another guy on another forum had a CN-marked stock, which he agreed to sell me. The "downside" was that the stock had quite a bit of damage to the area where the trigger guard would fit. As you can see, there is a chunk of wood missing, there is a crack forward and someone had tried to crudely glue it.
The "upside", which I didn't discover until I had gotten the stock, was that the stock was a rare converted Rod Bayonet stock - no stock bolts, the "plug" in the foretip, the large S and the plugged upper band hole dating to the 30-03 days. The "CN/1908" I thought may well be a CN/1906!
The stock is currently in the capable hands of Rick Borecky, which the handguard attached so he can match the color when he refinishes the stock. I'll certainly have some "after" pictures when I get the stock back. The "before" pictures are below:
http://www.fototime.com/5F664E4358B1A70/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/145B179A24DCD15/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/54F02834194FF82/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/6D2BBDAD3A88575/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/13DA5DEA22ABD8C/standard.jpg