Sportered SC 03A3

[Calfed]

Wow...that Target rifle is a real looker and the Cabela 03A3 looks great...from either angle.

I'm lucky to live close to a great range facility that has everything from 25 yard pistol to 1000 yard rifle ranges and pretty much everything in between.

Here is a pic of the silhouette range...chickens @ 220 yards, pigs @330, turkeys @ 420 and rams @550.



We most recently shot a special bi-monthly semi Auto military silhouette match with our Swedish Ljungmans. Despite having to go up against Garands and M1A match models, we did respectably. He got 27/40 and I got 23/40.

82315SA match.pdf



I know what you mean about "old eyes". Mine started going at about 50 and after I turned 60 it has been a real struggle.

Here is an overhead of the Sacramento Valley Shooting Center, where we shoot...

http://binged.it/LRzsfF

[PhillipM]

I remember ChuckinDenver saying he will not drill and tap a Smith Corona because the steel is so hard it dulls all the bits that don't break off in the holes.

[Kurt]

Chuck has made that pretty clear and its certainly understandable. I don't think it's so much the cost of the bits as it is the time it can suck up when things go wrong and do with these hard receivers. A lot of people want a fixed price and there really isn't. I'm glad the one I have was done and done very nicely. I don't know if I would want to go through finding and hopeing if you get my drift.

Kurt

[Calfed]

I remember ChuckinDenver saying he will not drill and tap a Smith Corona because the steel is so hard it dulls all the bits that don't break off in the holes.

Chuck has made that pretty clear and its certainly understandable. I don't think it's so much the cost of the bits as it is the time it can suck up when things go wrong and do with these hard receivers. A lot of people want a fixed price and there really isn't. I'm glad the one I have was done and done very nicely. I don't know if I would want to go through finding and hopeing if you get my drift.

Kurt

CMP is doing that kind of work now and doesn't appear to charge extra for the SC drill and tap job. That is one job I would probably have them do. Chuck is not the only gunsmith who isn't enthusiastic about D & T' ing a Smith Corona receiver.

[1563621]

Wow...that Target rifle is a real looker and the Cabela 03A3 looks great...from either angle.

I'm lucky to live close to a great range facility that has everything from 25 yard pistol to 1000 yard rifle ranges and pretty much everything in between.

Here is a pic of the silhouette range...chickens @ 220 yards, pigs @330, turkeys @ 420 and rams @550.



We most recently shot a special bi-monthly semi Auto military silhouette match with our Swedish Ljungmans. Despite having to go up against Garands and M1A match models, we did respectably. He got 27/40 and I got 23/40.

[ATTACH]32556[/ATTACH]



I know what you mean about "old eyes". Mine started going at about 50 and after I turned 60 it has been a real struggle.

Here is an overhead of the Sacramento Valley Shooting Center, where we shoot...

http://binged.it/LRzsfF

Jeez! Now that is a nice range!!!!!!!!!!! We have a 300 yd. in Jackson NJ. Only 300 in the state. Ft Dix had a 600 & reduced it.

[Calfed]

I am indeed lucky to live near this range.

[Darreld Walton]

Calfed, if I were you for a day or so, I'd pull that A4 that you have apart, install a new barrel, have the works refinished, put it into a new C type stock and shoot the bejeebers out of the thing.
You could put your most recent acquisition into the stock that the A4 used to live in, have IT drilled and tapped for a new base, and hunt the gun, OR, fill those holes for the Lyman with filler screws, find an original rear sight assembly, and put it all up in your original SC stock! True, the gun will always be a d/t'd SC, but so what?
I've got a roomful of 03's, A3's, Garands, carbines, and "stuff" that I always told myself and the wife, were my retirement nestegg. Fact is, I'll most likely "go under" with that room full of rifles intact, and they'll get sold off somewhere a piece at a time for next to, or less than, nothing. So I USE 'em! It's always fun to pull one out at the range. Best day in a long time was several years back when I pulled up to the 200 yard sight-in benches at the old range, where two white-haired gents were passing the day taking a shot or two now and again, and yackin' about "stuff". I set up next to 'em, opened two, two-gun cases, with an A4, an A3, my newest Garand, and an Inland carbine, and I thought that their eyeballs were gonna bug out. Come to find out, both had served in the 101st, in the same Battalion, but different companies, from Tacoa to the end of the war. I didn't fire a shot, but shut up with my ears open, popped open a couple cans of ammo, and turned 'em loose on the rifles. Best day at the range I'd had in a long time, made two new buds, got to hear a bunch of new stories, and went home with a grin that the wife had to chisel off so I could eat my vittles for supper that night!
Do what you want, but, you asked "what to do", and there's MY answer, worth exactly what you paid for it!
Oh, and as for drilling and tapping a Smith Corona.......each gunsmith has their own opinion, BUT, back when I had no idea that there was a problem, I tried to d/t one, only to dull the steel bit and not even break the surface. I put the gun away, and ordered the two flute carbide bit from Brownell's, slipped it in the drill press, and proceeded to cut through that S/C receiver like it was balsa wood!!! It was my "go to" bit for the same job on another S/C, two 1917 "Enfields", and finally dulled it after about ten receivers. I believe that I got my money's worth out of the thing for somewhere around $30, and THAT may be the real reason that a lot of 'smith's don't want to do the "hard'' receivers.

[Calfed]

Great story, Darreld, and great advice.

My first order of business is to take the A3 to the range and see how it shoots. My wife is recovering from surgery and I haven't been able to do that. Hoping maybe this week

[Kurt]

Agree 100% Darreld, and a great story, dos the get better than that.

Calfed, wife comes first, mine just had a surgery and the weather was great for shooting that week. �� I need to schedule better.

Kurt