What to fire in a LN receiver

[ElWoodman]

They're not very forgiving of bad headspacing either...I run Hornady Custom Lite 125gr in my sht 03s.

[louis]

Here we go again

[cplnorton]

I wish someone would make a .22 conversion kit like the Numrich one years ago. I think there would be a big market for this if the price was reasonable.

[Griff Murphey]

It's kind of interesting looking at the way prices are running these days. In the 60's a high number would sell for $34.95 and a low number might be $29.95. Similarly when CMP was selling the Greek return 03s I recall the low numbers were sold for about $200 less than the high numbers, with stern warnings not to shoot them. I walked into Jackson Armory in Dallas about a month ago and the high numbers were under $1,000, generally, and the low numbers were $1200 and up. Some real collectors buying those early non-shooters. Makes you wish for a time machine; who knew? Rick, maybe...

[PhillipM]

It's kind of interesting looking at the way prices are running these days. In the 60's a high number would sell for $34.95 and a low number might be $29.95. Similarly when CMP was selling the Greek return 03s I recall the low numbers were sold for about $200 less than the high numbers, with stern warnings not to shoot them. I walked into Jackson Armory in Dallas about a month ago and the high numbers were under $1,000, generally, and the low numbers were $1200 and up. Some real collectors buying those early non-shooters. Makes you wish for a time machine; who knew? Rick, maybe...

If I remember, the CMP ground down the firing pins

[Hpmaster]

Once smoked cigarettes, drank beer and whiskey in excess, drove unlimited late model dirt cars for 40 years, had many years where I drank 3 pots of black coffee a day, worked a super high stress job, had bacon everyday, ate the fat off my 1 pound steaks, have driven well over 100 mph on the public roads numerous times, fired tens of thousands of my own reloads in competition and practice in M1s, M1As, AR 15s built by myself, had several case separations, chased wild women and had unprotected sex plus a few dozen other behaviors I know were not wise at all. But dang I have never fired a single round out of a low number Springfield because it might be dangerous!

[5MadFarmers]

If I remember, the CMP ground down the firing pins

You remember right. Went to the North Store at the time and gave a script letter SA in the 21K range, off the top of my head, some consideration. $200 at the time? About a decade ago. I was after other guns so I left it behind. Which is fine as I came into a more interesting LN SA later.

Selling them at all was stupid. A ground firing pin isn't going to even slow anyone down. Myself I'm glad they did but it was particularly stupid. With the product liability lawsuits in modern America they left themselves open. If somebody replaced the firing pin in one of those and injured themselves seriously they'd take the CMP to the cleaners. Selling it with a ground firing pin isn't going to be an even remotely successful defense. Val Forget sold a guy cartridges for an ancient Rolling Block back in the '60s and the guy lost an eye shooting a gimpy gun. That guy took Val to the cleaners. Cases are even more likely to succeed today. Hot coffee at McDonalds? File suit. Hurt yourself riding your lawnmower? File suit over lack of seat belts. I do not agree with lawsuits that stupid people are able to win but the realist in me knows the CMP was particularly stupid on selling those.

[5MadFarmers]

Once smoked cigarettes, drank beer and whiskey in excess, drove unlimited late model dirt cars for 40 years, had many years where I drank 3 pots of black coffee a day, worked a super high stress job, had bacon everyday, ate the fat off my 1 pound steaks, have driven well over 100 mph on the public roads numerous times, fired tens of thousands of my own reloads in competition and practice in M1s, M1As, AR 15s built by myself, had several case separations, chased wild women and had unprotected sex plus a few dozen other behaviors I know were not wise at all. But dang I have never fired a single round out of a low number Springfield because it might be dangerous!

Do you specialize in false analogies?

There is absolutely nothing to be gained from shooting an LN SA '03. With a caveat. Assuming you can blow the money on a gun that shouldn't be shot at all that money, less in fact, could be used to acquire a NS '03. Same exact gun. The Armory assured it. If you go through the list of items you listed there is zero direct alternatives which are identical. A tofu chunk isn't a steak, banana peels aren't tobacco, wine isn't whiskey, driving 30mph isn't driving over 100mph, and a squirt gun isn't an M1.

Do you specialize in false analogies?

If you had 10 P-51 Mustangs out back, lucky you, and 1 of the 10 was known for having the wings come off in flight - would that be the one you'd select? That wouldn't be too bright.

[5MadFarmers]

At the risk of further igniting a volatile subject, and mind you I'm going to do this off the top of my head without even bothering to check the documents I have to confirm it, the RIA rifles weren't affected.

Heat treating was basically a lie that Hatcher perpetuated. Covered that, and the real problem, in my book.

RIA didn't buy their steel from the same supplier and didn't get the same lots. When they pulled the -800,000 SAs they didn't list the RIA rifles as a problem. Circa 1920ish? In a document around here.

Shooting a heat treated '03, when the NS ones are readily available, is dumb. If you're the obstinate type - get the RIA edition.

[Merc]

We encounter enough risks in everyday life. To lose an eye because of a desire to shoot an antique rifle that was made before the art of metallurgy became a science isn't a risk worth taking.

[musketshooter]

It took a lot more that a cast bullet load to blow that receiver! I would bet it was a case full of pistol powder.

[Merc]

It took a lot more that a cast bullet load to blow that receiver! I would bet it was a case full of pistol powder.

Or, maybe an accidental double powder load. It's a good idea to weigh each reloaded cartridge on a digital scale to guard against the possibility of a double load.

[tmark]

If one had two double loads of ammo each fired in a sht and the other in a dht, both rifles would blow up. But the sht rifle would suffer more catastrophically than the dht. This infers that the shooter of a sht rifle that blows would suffer more catastrophic injury than the shooter firing the dht.

I wonder if this analogy is appropriate..... firing a sht rifle is like driving a car without a seat belt. If a crash occurs, risk of injury is greater; firing a dht rifle is like driving a car wearing seat belts. If a crash occurs, risk of injury is inherently less.

[PhillipM]

I have never seen a report of a SHT blowing up with good factory ammo. In modern times its always been some dummy that was reloading with a reduced charge that would allow the case to be double charged.

I have SA 36018 with the original bolt. Glass on glass does not adequately describe how smooth it is. It had been in a closet for 60 years or so and one day I took it to the range to show it off to my buddies and had a what the heck moment and shot a round through it just to hear it go bang. Very satisfying! I've no need to shoot it again, it fires like my other 1903's.

My shooter is a MK1. I figure if a Hatcher hole is good, a Pedersen ejection port is better.

An A3 is just sticky compared to the case hardened rifles.

[blackhawknj]

MCA Sports http://www.mcace.com/ makes cartridge adapters that allow you to fire 30 Carbine out of a 30/06.