Short chambered 1903A3

[John L. Lucci]

Has anyone com across a 1903A3 that was short chambered? My one lone '03a3 would not close on a live round (Greek surplus) when I was at the range. When I examined the problem back on the work bench at home with a dummy round I saw rifling marks on the bullet after I pulled the round back out. I see no obstructions in the chamber or lug areas..

[John Beard]

I encounter short-chambered M'03-A3's at the CMP very regularly, perhaps one out of every twelve. Then it's "off to see the Wizard" in the chambering reamer room.

J.B.

[John L. Lucci]

I encounter short-chambered M'03-A3's at the CMP very regularly, perhaps one out of every twelve. Then it's "off to see the Wizard" in the chambering reamer room.

J.B.

Guess it can be inferred it's never been fired since rebuild.. Nice to know..

[chuckindenver]

keep in mind Greek surplus is known to be a tad longer then other 30-06

[John Beard]

Guess it can be inferred it's never been fired since rebuild.. Nice to know..

You infer incorrectly. The overwhelming majority of short-chambered M'03-A3's I encounter have factory-original barrels.

J.B.

[kcw]

Does your rifle have the serial # electro penciled on the bolt handle? A number of the "Greek returns" of ten years ago from the CMP were found to be short chambered. As noted, the Greek brass (ie. 1970) is a bit long, but not the OAL length of the cartridge assembly.

[kcw]

You infer incorrectly. The overwhelming majority of short-chambered M'03-A3's I encounter have factory-original barrels.

J.B.

"Factory original"? Do you mean that those rifles were shipped to Greece from U.S. arsenals in that condition? I assumed that the Greek arsenal didn't finish their re-barrel jobs.

[John Beard]

"Factory original"? Do you mean that those rifles were shipped to Greece from U.S. arsenals in that condition? I assumed that the Greek arsenal didn't finish their re-barrel jobs.

I make no reference to Greek rifles. The rifles I have been working on at the CMP are VFW/American Legion turn-ins. The overwhelming majority have their factory-original barrels.

J.B.

[John L. Lucci]

keep in mind Greek surplus is known to be a tad longer then other 30-06

Tried it with my reloads as well which COL was set with an American M2 ball round. No Joy..

[purple]

You need to verify proper headspace with a set of .30-06 headspace gauges. If the bolt will not close on the 'go' headspace gauge then it's a matter of finish reaming the chamber to a point where it does.

[Peconga]

You need to verify proper headspace with a set of .30-06 headspace gauges. If the bolt will not close on the 'go' headspace gauge then it's a matter of finish reaming the chamber to a point where it does.

Most (all?) arsenal replacement 03-A3 barrels were supplied with short chambers in order to facilitate replacement in the field or depot level. Hence, it is possible that the OP's barrel was replaced but was never finish reamed to set final headspace as intended. I am surprised no one has mentioned this, but I guess the talk about Greek ammo and 1903s got everyone off track :-)

Another possibility is that the headspace on the OP's rifle was originally correct with the issued bolt, but had the bolt swapped later at some point. It is a well-known "secret" that some arsenal replacement bolts (those marked "B&S" in particular) run towards the tight side, and are sometimes used to correct excessive headspace on rebuilt 1903s. That is a possibility but would only account for a minimal adjustment (a couple of 1000ths of an inch); from my experience the short chamber scenario above is much more likely.

Regardless of the cause, the OP will need to get ahold of some quality headspace gauges to move beyond guesswork.

[John L. Lucci]

Most (all?) arsenal replacement 03-A3 barrels were supplied with short chambers in order to facilitate replacement in the field or depot level. Hence, it is possible that the OP's barrel was replaced but was never finish reamed to set final headspace as intended. I am surprised no one has mentioned this, but I guess the talk about Greek ammo and 1903s got everyone off track :-)

Another possibility is that the headspace on the OP's rifle was originally correct with the issued bolt, but had the bolt swapped later at some point. It is a well-known "secret" that some arsenal replacement bolts (those marked "B&S" in particular) run towards the tight side, and are sometimes used to correct excessive headspace on rebuilt 1903s. That is a possibility but would only account for a minimal adjustment (a couple of 1000ths of an inch); from my experience the short chamber scenario above is much more likely.

Regardless of the cause, the OP will need to get ahold of some quality headspace gauges to move beyond guesswork.

The other possibility the person I bought it from chambered it for a specific 30-06 round. One round that comes to mind that might fit (but I have none on hand to test my theory with) is Federal American Eagle brand which come with a very abruptly pointed fmj bullet compared to M2 ball. Federal AME 30-06 bullet ogive starts further back, almost at the case. What I remember is the guy built it up for his wife as a service rifle. I bought the gun not his story and to me it looked like a minty 1903A3. Never had opportunity to shoot it (Plus I've always had a decided preference for my Garands to start with) until recently.

Plan to take the gun in to see a 'smith when I have funds avaialble..

[Motorcop]

Could be but not too likely...

Rick H.

[John L. Lucci]

Could be but not too likely...

Rick H.

My current thinking is the person I bought it from had more than one A3 and stored the bolts separately and confused the bolts to the two rifles the day he brought the gun to the gun show ..

[Bob S]

I got four of the Greek returns before they were offered up at-large; there was a pre-sale for existing DCM/CMP customers (I've been a DCM customer since the mid-1960's.). Three of the four were short chambered: would not chamber a USGI cartridge and would not close on a GO gauge. I emailed CMP as a courtesy just to let them know and of course they wanted them back. I declined as I had already reamed the chambers to close on the GO gauge and all was well. FWIW, the one that had good headspace as-received was the only one that showed any evidence of use and I'm pretty sure had it's original barrel; the three that definitely had USGI replacement barrels were the ones short chambered. But you can't infer anything from my small sample.

Respectfully,
Bob S.