New Stock Problem

[NASAman]

Wow, it's been a long time since I have been here. Here's whats going on. I have a 1903A3 I got from the CMP about 10 years ago. The stock was not in good shape so I decided to buy a new stock from the CMP. It came in and I stuck it on the shelf for when I got around to it. A couple of years later I got around to it and discovered that I had a 1903 stock, not an A3 stock. Oh Darn. I don't know if I ordered the wrong stock or they sent me the wrong stock, it doesn't matter. I was able to get the barreled action to seat in the stock by removing a little wood here and there. I figured this was a common procedure. It fits really snug so I was happy. I sent an e-mail to the CMP and asked if I could buy just a handguard. A tech replied that they did not have just the handguards for sale but he happened to have a spare one on his desk and was willing to swap with me if mine was not used. I sent it in and a few days later I had an A3 handguard. Boy those guys are great. That was last year. I finally got back to the project last week and when I went to install the barrel bands they were quite loose. The handguard fit perfectly at the receiver but both bands were loose. I had some walnut around so I cut some shims the same width as the barrel bands and just shimmed the handguard up until the bands were nice and snug. The shims are pretty thick, around .090 inch. The rifle looks great except there is a gap between the handguard and stock. So my question for the gurus is: Is there a change in the configuration of the '03 to A3 stock that would cause this? Thanks for any help.

Fred

[John Beard]

No. M1903 and M'03-A3 stock dimensions are the same.

J.B.

[kcw]

Wow, it's been a long time since I have been here. Here's whats going on. I have a 1903A3 I got from the CMP about 10 years ago. The stock was not in good shape so I decided to buy a new stock from the CMP. It came in and I stuck it on the shelf for when I got around to it. A couple of years later I got around to it and discovered that I had a 1903 stock, not an A3 stock. Oh Darn. I don't know if I ordered the wrong stock or they sent me the wrong stock, it doesn't matter. I was able to get the barreled action to seat in the stock by removing a little wood here and there. I figured this was a common procedure. It fits really snug so I was happy. I sent an e-mail to the CMP and asked if I could buy just a handguard. A tech replied that they did not have just the handguards for sale but he happened to have a spare one on his desk and was willing to swap with me if mine was not used. I sent it in and a few days later I had an A3 handguard. Boy those guys are great. That was last year. I finally got back to the project last week and when I went to install the barrel bands they were quite loose. The handguard fit perfectly at the receiver but both bands were loose. I had some walnut around so I cut some shims the same width as the barrel bands and just shimmed the handguard up until the bands were nice and snug. The shims are pretty thick, around .090 inch. The rifle looks great except there is a gap between the handguard and stock. So my question for the gurus is: Is there a change in the configuration of the '03 to A3 stock that would cause this? Thanks for any help.

Fred

As far as USGI stocks go there really isn't a dimensional difference between the two on that end of the wood, other than you have to inlet the 03 stock to accommodate the ring on the A3 rifle @ the rear end of the hand guard. I did that with the stock off a CMP 03 drill rifle. Put it on a Smith Corona A3 with only having to make the afore mentioned inlet. Used an NOS A3 hand guard, everything tightened up appropriately.