Help me ID this rifle please!

D

delavan

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Hi,

A good friend of mine inherited what seems to be a 1903 Springfield 30-06 Sporter. At first, I thought he had somethign worth a good amount of money, that was until I seen the picks and noted that it was sporterized.....As I was browsing the net to find some references on it, I couldn't find anything. The Springfields were apparently built in the States by 4 different suppliers.

This one has a weird icon on the receiver, instead of manufacturer markings.
My curiosity is being triggered quite a bit.

Hopefully, someone has an idea of what this is all about! It looks that 2 x brass diamonds were inserted on the stock for show, the receiver is tapped for a scope mount and it looks like the symbol that is on top of the receiver is unknown...looks like a "flowery" border with tri rifles put standing, held against each other or something....It says made in England??? WTH? Apparently it was bought for $60 about 50 years ago in Canada..

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Help! I know my SKS's and Mosins (and the info is plenty)
 
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Its got what looks like a black spot under the crest, like someone had painted over previous markings. As for the tri-rifle symbol, yes it looks like BSA crest. Was it ever a military rifle converted?
 
It is a BSA sporting rifle built on a converted military Model of 1917 Enfield. The P14 is cal. 303 British. The Model of 1917 is basically the same rifle in 30-06. The symbol on the receiver is the BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) logo.
 
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B_noser said:
It is a BSA sporting rifle built on a converted military Model of 1917 Enfield. The P14 is cal. 303 British. The Model of 1917 is basically the same rifle in 30-06.
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Nice! Didnt take you folks long to figure this out...I was losing my mind looking at google picture returns...its not quite a Springfield like my friend thought!

I thought there was a metal piece on the stock where the bolt handle is located once the action is closed...this is the conversion you mention?
 
Nope, Trimmed the ears and profiled the top of the bridge (where the logo is), D&T for scope, shortened the barrel and wood, added sporting sights and perhaps a recoil pad or commercial butt plate. There should not be metal under the bolt handle. This has a one piece stock. You might be confusing it with a Lee Enfield, which does have a metal butt socket under the bolt handle and a two piece stock. The Lee Enfield and P14/Model of 1917 Enfields are entirely different rifles.
 
Yes a BSA marking, Birmingham small arms made many sporter riles. The dark spot is a plug filling a hole that some M1917 rifles had under the original rear sight bridge. Normaly you would not see it.
Drilled for a scope mount and you could mount a side peep sight.
 
As mentioned BSA conversion of a Winchester 1917, I believe that one is a D model, the very basic conversion, no bolt handle change etc. Should be from around 1950(ish). BSA tended to use up lots of parts so its not uncommon to find bits from all three P1917 makers on one gun, but the bulk of it will be a scrubbed winchester. There will be a crossed sword date/proof mark on it somewhere.
Not bad rifles, you can buy new stocks still.
 
My friend got this as a gift from his old man, to go hunting when he was a teen. I doubt this rifle has much value (much more for sentimental value). I'm thinking no more than $500 at a gun show if he was looking at selling, maybe less?
 
Being that she's been sporterized and had the sight ears chopped off, it'll be a bit less valuable than a sporter that could more easily de-sporterized to militarily correct condition.

Nice enough piece though.
 
The BSA brand icon is three stacked rifles - called in military parlance - 'piled arms'. A take on the word was used by BSA in their brand of airgun pellets - 'Pylarm'. Older-style black-powder era guns had stacking swivels or extensions under the muzzles to enable three such guns to be stacked - often called 'stacking swivels' as well.

If anybody here can show an image of a Swiss Schmidt-Rubin or K31, they too have a similar set-up to enable them to be 'piled; ready for an instant grab in case of emergency.
 
delavan said:
My friend got this as a gift from his old man, to go hunting when he was a teen. I doubt this rifle has much value (much more for sentimental value). I'm thinking no more than $500 at a gun show if he was looking at selling, maybe less?
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$500 would be very optimistic.
 
BSA made several grades of sporters out of the Model of 1917. The one illustrated is one of the lower grades, as the higher grades had features such as a modified bolt handle and a flattened floorplate. Your rifle has been "enhanced" by someone with the faux ivory inserts, after it left the factory. Despite these enhancements the rifle is likely worth 250$ tops, assuming the bore is OK. Don't get me wrong, I own several of them - they are a good example of post war pragmatism.
 
Its interesting, buddy told me he had a 1903 Springfield and it sounded nice until I asked for the pictures. It went down from there. Still a nice rifle, but I would not necessarily seek one.
I still appreciate all the good info and knowledge base off you all CGN'ers!
 
Solid action, and they tend to be accurate. If you take it apart you should be able to determine who actually manufactured it. Some were built by Winchester, some by two other companies who's name don't come to mind right now.
 
HibouAttentif said:
Solid action, and they tend to be accurate. If you take it apart you should be able to determine who actually manufactured it. Some were built by Winchester, some by two other companies who's name don't come to mind right now.
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Remington and Eddystone. BSA used Winchester barreled actions, which they generally scrubbed all markings off of. Usually the only place you find a marking is on the barrel if you are lucky. Mag parts, extractors, safety, ejector, extractor could all be Win/Rem/Eddy. BSA wasnt as picky on those parts, or willing to spend the time to remove markings from them. Sometimes you will find the odd inspector or nickle-steel marking still left in place on the receiver, but for the most part BSA did a good job wiping previous markers marks from the action and barrel.
 
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