I got the my newly barreled 1903a3 receiver back from the gunsmith and he charged me $50 less than the estimate. The barrel dropped right in with no tweeking needed, so far so good. I then tried it in the brand new "Some fitting may be required" stock I bought. I was (I thought) lightly pressing down to mark where I might have to remove some wood and CRACK!. I debated repairing it, but it was right where the recoil lug rests and decided against it. I have had worse days but.......
New Stock Failure
- Thread starter SW28fan
- Start date
Even the real US GI stocks require some final inletting. The first thing one should do with a military stock is to protect the butt end from damage from slipping and falling by fitting the buttplate (don't ask me why I know this).
With the M1903 the next thing to be fitted is the trigger guard. After that is done move on to the action/barrel paying particular attention to the recoil lug area and the inletting for the rear sight fixed base. The inletting for the front receiver ring needs close attention. After this make sure that the action bottoms on the wooden flat behind the recoil lug and that the lug seats against the lug cutout in the stock. make sure that there is some metal/ wood clearance behind the end of the action tang and the stock. If this isn't done the tang will act as a recoil lug and split the stock behind the tang (you see this on a lot of the used GI stocks). I don't know if there is a rear guard screw bushing fitted to the commercial M1903 stocks, but this needs to be in place before fitting the stock.
The forend shouldn't contact the barrel anywhere except at the tip where you are looking for 5-7 lbs pressure required to lift the barrel out of contact with the barrel channel. Watch for metal to metal contact between the top of the barrel and the metal of the lower band. If this contact exists you need to provide some clearance by either lowering the barrel seating in the stock or grinding out the lower surface of the upper band (this area doesn't show then the rifle is assembled).
With the M1903 the next thing to be fitted is the trigger guard. After that is done move on to the action/barrel paying particular attention to the recoil lug area and the inletting for the rear sight fixed base. The inletting for the front receiver ring needs close attention. After this make sure that the action bottoms on the wooden flat behind the recoil lug and that the lug seats against the lug cutout in the stock. make sure that there is some metal/ wood clearance behind the end of the action tang and the stock. If this isn't done the tang will act as a recoil lug and split the stock behind the tang (you see this on a lot of the used GI stocks). I don't know if there is a rear guard screw bushing fitted to the commercial M1903 stocks, but this needs to be in place before fitting the stock.
The forend shouldn't contact the barrel anywhere except at the tip where you are looking for 5-7 lbs pressure required to lift the barrel out of contact with the barrel channel. Watch for metal to metal contact between the top of the barrel and the metal of the lower band. If this contact exists you need to provide some clearance by either lowering the barrel seating in the stock or grinding out the lower surface of the upper band (this area doesn't show then the rifle is assembled).
