New find...

[John Beard]

Plain Old Dave,

Seasons' Greetings!

I would be grateful if you would PM me the serial number and barrel date of your rifle. Thanks!

And Happy New Year!

J.B.

[chuckindenver]

actually,, Remington 700s , Winchester model 70s, do, have a recoil pin through the front lug...Ruger77s wont do to the angled screw they have..
enjoy your rifle.

[Darreld Walton]

I've been shooting a .30-06 in a .22 stock for quite awhile. Dave in Alaska sent it down to me perhaps ten years ago. I did put a dab of 'glass on the recoil lug, and at the back and that's it. It has held up amazingly well! But hey, I'm a screwy old fart, and it wouldn't be the first time I've "tickled the dragon's tail".......

[Plain Old Dave]

It DOES have recoil bushings in both front and rear action fastener holes, and it occurs to me this action is more or less pillar bedded.

[Kurt]

Darreld, I saw a 1903 Springfield in a M22 stock at the Lumen Christi gun show a couple years ago. It was for sale by the guy I think got it from the guy in Nebesna that passed away. My understanding is the guy had a connex full of gun parts and pieces. Anyway, the stock was split at the tang. I don't know if it had any bedding, kind of doubt it. He also had the M22 bolt that probably came with that stock originally and I bought that. He had no idea where the rest of the gun was. Two nice guns that were bred and got mongrels in the litter. Such as it was back in the day.

Kurt

[John Beard]

Plain Old Dave,

Seasons' Greetings!

Your PM mailbox is full. My reply to your inquiry awaits clearance of space.

Happy New Year!

J.B.

[Plain Old Dave]

Space is available.

[tbryan]

I have one identical to that, right down to the Lyman 48 I found the 1922 stock and put it on an action with a crit. bbl. I have been shooting it for three years now with no problems. I suppose it could crack tomorrow, but it looks so neat and shoots very well.

[Plain Old Dave]

I have more, but it won't let me attach more than 5 pics per post.

[Plain Old Dave]

081439 REPLACEMENT FOR 598xxx

I am advised this is a "Special Target Rifle", an NM 1903 that served as an NM Rifle, but sold off afterwards. So, one other VERY plausible story thus far is this was shot through the 1940 season and sold by DCM at the DCM shed at the 1940 National Matches, or at some other point. The 1940 Matches (8/18-9/7/1940) were the last ones before WW2, as well as the last one where the M1 wasn't really competitive. The 1939 Matches were apparently 8/20/39-9/9/39, so this rifle couldn't reasonably be expected to have been assembled AND fitted AND shipped to Ohio in a week.

In 1953, the next National Matches, the 03 wasn't even a Service Rifle and the process that led to the M14 and eventually the M16 was underway. So, this "obsolete" rifle was fitted with the King Reflector sight and M2 stock she now wears and began a second career as an alternative to the Model 70 that was on back order after the war or unavailable due to the National Emergency at some point after September 1940.


This is my favorite part of this gun collecting hobby. See, to me a gun isn't a 'weapon.' It's a story, sometimes one you have to pull out of her, but a compelling one just the same. One has to wonder if the 1940 National Match scorecards had rifle serial numbers on them....

[John Beard]

081439 is the transaction date, which is 14 August 1939. If your rifle was issued as a replacement for S/N 598xxx, then it was disposed of by the government on that date and would not have been issued as a team rifle for the 1939 or 1940 National Matches. S/N 598xxx was most assuredly a privately-owned rifle at that time, something apparently happened to it (perhaps it blew up), and your rifle was issued to the owner as a replacement for it. The transaction may well have occurred in the preliminaries leading up to the 1939 National Matches. Your rifle could certainly have been used in the 1939 and 1940 National Matches, but most likely would have been used by a private shooter, not a military shooting team.

Hope this helps.

J.B.

[Plain Old Dave]

Like my Papaw would have said, the mud's getting clearer. It occurred to me that even during the Depression that 4 years was a while for a barrel to sit around, and a 1 for 1 replacement for a LN 03 at the DCM shed the Monday before the 1939 Nationals to give a shooter a few days to work up zeroes makes a lot of sense. That and the significantly lower number of 1940 NM rifles vice 1939s didn't make the 1940 math make sense, either. No Hatcher Hole lends more circumstantial evidence to the "Xxx State Rifle Team" or "X and Y Rod and Gun Club" theory, too. Staying in private hands means no military rework, too.

In that era, would State National Guard teams be state funded or Federally funded or did it vary by State? Now, there's all sorts of Guardsmen; Technicians (State employees), AGRs (Federal), and Traditional Guardsmen (State unless recalled to Title 10 orders and Federalized)

[Rick the Librarian]

John, didn't the DCM have a program, where a previous buyer could turn in a LN receiver and receive a high numbered one in return? Or was that later on?

[John Beard]

John, didn't the DCM have a program, where a previous buyer could turn in a LN receiver and receive a high numbered one in return? Or was that later on?

I think that was later on, perhaps in the 1950's.

J.B.

[Plain Old Dave]

Would DCM have advertised this in the Rifleman? UT Knoxville has a pretty complete collection of back issues.