looking for info on National Ord "O3A3

[habu1]

Newbie with first post: I am looking for info on a O3A3 by National Ord/Santa Fe Ord. I have read pros and cons about this receiver and would like input about its quality, experiences with this receiver, good, bad or ugly. Safe, not so, shooter?, y,all know the drill. Thanks for any info you can give me and the rest of the community.

[Jeff L]

Most folks would deem unsafe, shoot at your own risk.

[chuckindenver]

not safe to fire with live ammo.

[JBinIll]

not safe to fire with live ammo.

Now that's ugly.

[chuckindenver]

i could have went into all the whys and how comes..but one picture is worth a thousand words.

[Kurt]

Pretty much says all that needs saying....and showing.

[jgaynor]

This website mainly concerns nat ord M1 Carbines however if you click on page 3 and scroll down to Chapter V it will take you to the section on the 03-A3. The site summarizes the history of the company and its products.
Cautions against shooting them are well advised.

http://www.m1carbinesinc.com/carbine_NATORD.HTML

[Tom]

not safe to fire with live ammo.

Chuck, some of those breaks look really fresh. Are you sure you didn't have a bad day at the range??

[chuckindenver]

that rifles failed some 20 years ago,,, i have many more Nat Ord failure pics...

[purple]

The Santa-Fe that I got appeared not to have been used much, but it showed excessive headspace, uneven contact on the bolt lug seats and setback on the one lug seat. All other parts were in great shape. I used them to build a rifle on a real Remington 03-A3 receiver. The Santa-Fe receiver is now a paperweight. One of these days I'm going to put it in the vice and give it a couple of whacks.

[ClaudeH]

The Santa-Fe that I got appeared not to have been used much, but it showed excessive headspace, uneven contact on the bolt lug seats and setback on the one lug seat. All other parts were in great shape. I used them to build a rifle on a real Remington 03-A3 receiver. The Santa-Fe receiver is now a paperweight. One of these days I'm going to put it in the vice and give it a couple of whacks.

Two feet of electrical conduit or water pipe, a haevy bolt with a rubberband, all held to a foot and a half or two feet of scrap 2x4 with a hose clamp makes that receiver worth $50 to $100 at a gun turn in. Seriously. Get that dangerous weapon "off the street" and put some jingle in your pocket while sticking it to the idiots!