A while back I was wandering through my gun store, and took a look at their bargain rack.  They usually have a couple of Mosin’s and the occasional Enfield there.  One old rifle was mixed in with the used muzzleloaders and such, and something about it caught my eye.  After taking a good look, I realized what I had:  A sporterized M1903, with an asking price of $225.

Closer inspection showed that it was a Smith Corona M1903-A3.

WECSOG.  Some things will just make a man cry

A previous owner had drilled and tapped it a couple of times, finally settling on a Weaver side mount and a scope of unknown manufacture and quality.  Almost all of the markings on the scope were worn away.  Other than the holes in the receiver, the rifle appears to be in good shape.  The finish is pretty thin on much of the gun.  There is a bit of surface rust here and there, but I can’t find any pitting.

The person who sporterized it didn’t cut the barrel, so the original arsenal marks are still there:

The arsenal mark says “SC above the Ordnance Corps Symbol above “4  43”

Not sure what the “U” mark on the bolt means

Finish on the bolt is spotty, but not bad

I tried to get pictures of the bore, but couldn’t get the camera to cooperate.  It’s shiny, and the grooves in the rifling are sharp.    My guess is that the gun was brought out of the cabinet every so often, fired at the range or at a deer, then cleaned up and put back in the cabinet.

Here’s an indication of how long ago the sporterizing was done:

1976 Bi-Centennial Quarter embedded in an old RedHead stock. The glue holding it in has turned yellow with age.

So what are my plans for it?  In the near term, I’m going to give it a good cleaning, put a better scope on it, and use it for my deer rifle.  Assuming of course, that it still shoots well.  It seems to be mechanically OK, and the trigger is pretty good for a mil-surp.  There’s about 1/4 inch of easy travel back to a stopping point, then another 1/8 inch against resistance to where it breaks.   Next, I need to get a manual on how to care for it that shows all of the parts that I’ll need for restoration.  As time and money permit, I’m going to collect all of the parts I need to put original-ish furniture and sights on it. I’ll see if I can get a gunsmith to fill in the holes that are drilled in the receiver, then see about getting it re-parkerized.  I’ll be sure to mark it in such a way that no-one will confuse it with a collectible gun, though.  No amount of restoration will make this more than a shooter, and a serious collector would notice it right away.  However, I don’t want one of my grandchildren to sell it to someone and both of them be unaware that it’s not original.

I talked the clerk at the store down to $200, which is less than CMP was selling M1903 actions for when I was up there last summer.  I figure I’ll have to put another $200 in parts on her, then another couple of hundred or so to get her assembled, repaired, and re-parkerized.  Not bad, considering how rare and expensive even an abused M1903 is getting these days.

So, I guess I’ve got my first project gun.  I won’t be able to restore it soon due to money constraints, but as I see parts that I can afford, I’ll pick them up and squirrel them away.  Hopefully by the time Girlie Bear heads off to college, I’ll have what I need and the money to get it done up right.  The first .30-06 I ever fired was a sporterized 1903, and I’ve always wanted one.  Now my goal is to reverse the sporterizing as much as possible and restore this beauty to as close as original as I can.

I try to be a practical man, especially when it comes to firearms.

I bought my first firearm, a Mossberg 835 shotgun, because I wanted a good gun for home defense.

I bought a Mosin-Nagant because I wanted an inexpensive centerfire rifle for plinking.

The same goes for all of my guns.  I see or feel a need, and I buy something to fit that need.  Be it a hunting rifle, a new carry pistol, or a .22 I buy so that I can shoot more inexpensively or use to train someone on, I have never looked for something new and shiny just because it was pretty or neat.

Then 2011 happened.

First, I went to the NRA Annual Meeting and decided then and there I wanted a new 1911.  And so I tried out as many as I could get my hands on, saved my money, and got one.

Then, I went to the Lucky Gunner Shoot, and met the Pied Piper of Gunbloggers, Oleg Volk.  He came to the shoot with a whole bunch of toys, and I fell in love with most of them.  The nice men from Kriss were there too, and I decided that a Vector would be just a lot of fun to own.

So now Oleg has new pictures of the KSG and Coonan pistol up, and I’m feeling lust in my heart.  And every time I go to my range and see the Kriss up on the rental wall, I want to start selling organs to afford one so bad I can taste it.

Hi, I’m DaddyBear and I want guns for no other reason than they’re fun and shiny.

Today is the one year anniversary of the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords and several others in Tucson by a madman.  Said madman chose to make his entrance onto the world stage by shooting up a group of innocent people, and the anti-rights blood dance began shortly thereafter.  The latest spasm from the other side of the gun rights debate has been a movement to hold a candlelight vigil against violence today.

Now, if someone wants to light a candle to remember someone, then I will be the first to make room for you at the kneeling rail.  When you use something that’s usually as personal and beautiful as that to make a political point while standing in the blood of children, well, I’m not so quick to support you.

Weer’d Beard had a good idea.   Madmen, criminals, and tyrants don’t go away because of good thoughts.  They are held at bay by men and women who arm themselves and protect us all.  He suggested that those of us who take our self defense in our own hands light our own candles and show the tools we carry to make ourselves better able to defend ourselves.

Here’s mine:

This little light of mine CZ-82, 9x18mm, Hornady Defense Taurus Model 85, .38, Federal NyClad Hollowpoints

Because good thoughts and a weapon make you safer than good thoughts alone.

A South Carolina man was arrested in New York today for, among other things, having a gun.  According to the UPI report, he was carrying a S&W .45 handgun and a Tec-9, along with 34 bullets.  I’m assuming that the added machine gun charge was for the Tec-9, and he was also charged with possession of a defaced firearm, so I guess someone had tried to destroy the serial number on one of his guns.

This is one of the quandaries I run into when I consider the right to keep and bear arms.  I run the risk of being a Fudd and saying “I don’t approve of that gun, so he was wrong”.  I hate it when that thought creeps into my head.  A right is a right, even if I don’t agree with what he was doing.

Now, if the “machine gun” part of this is that he had modified the Tec-9 to be fully automatic, then he’s wrong.  If he had well and truly tried to destroy the serial numbers on a weapon, he’s wrong.

But he’s not wrong for just having the guns, assuming that he is legal to have a gun in his home state in the first place.  Yes, New York is a gun-unfriendly state, and as a gun owner he was responsible for knowing the laws where he was going.  But the whole reason we have to have things like HR 822 is that our rights should be recognized equally throughout the states, be they the right to keep and bear arms, or the right to attend or not attend church, or the right to write a smartass blog.

This guy may not be a choir boy, and if he has broken the law, I hope that justice is served.  But the simple act of carrying a gun shouldn’t be a crime.

Who has two thumbs and the best wife on earth?   This guy!

This fact was demonstrated today by my ability to sign into my range as a member, which my darling wife bought as my Christmas present.  This was after being urged to go shooting this morning, and being told that since my range is primarily for pistols, then I should get more pistols.  Also got told that she got me the membership for a reason, and she expects me to use it.  This from a woman that in 2003 wasn’t entirely convinced it was a good thing when I got back into shooting, and is still lukewarm to the idea of her going shooting with any regularity.  Yeah, she’s a keeper.

Started out with the Remington R1 again.  It’s still shooting to the left a bit.  I changed my point of aim a tad and got the rounds into the center of the target.  I need to get a set of calipers and do a comparison between the clearances on this gun and my Rock Island 1911.  I field-stripped the R1 last night, and it is tight.  I could take the RIA down with my bare hands, but I had to use the included plastic wrench to rotate the bushing and push in the slide lock pin on the R1.

The CZ-82 came next.  I pushed the target out to 30 feet, and while my group opened up a bit from where it was at 21, I was still on the 10 inch splatter target I was using.  I seriously need to stock up on ammunition for this on.  I have one box of brass cased target ammunition left, and one box of defense rounds.  I do have a case of TulAmmo for it in the basement, but this range doesn’t allow steel cased ammunition. I’ll use that stuff for outdoor shooting and start stocking up on 9mm Makarov when I have the extra pennies.

I also shot the S&W Model 13, but with .38’s.  I’m working more on my trigger pull than anything else with this one.  I was able to do a much better job of staying on target with double action shooting this time.  This is another one where I need to start loading up on ammunition.  I’m not as low on .38 or .357 as I am on 9mm Mak, but I’ve got less than I’m comfortable with.

Last came the S&W 22A1.  I need to get more magazines for this one.  I go through the two I have pretty fast, and it would be nice to load up four or five before going to the range.  I had some trouble with this one today.  I was shooting Winchester High Velocity from a box of 500 bullets, and had several stovepipes and a couple of duds.  I shot Remington ammunition last time out with no problem, so I may switch back to that or try the Federal bulk stuff and leave the Winchester for the other .22’s.

I also noticed that the range is going to start having their Wednesday shooting leagues starting up in January.  I think I’ll sign up for that and see what happens.  It’s not IDPA or ISPSA, but it’s an excuse to get out and shoot more often.

I brought up the idea of reloading in order to save a bit of money (I know, I know) in ammunition, but Irish Woman is still not OK with the idea, so I’ll let that go for now.  She’s come a long way when it comes to guns, so I’m not going to push too hard.

The Indianapolis Star is reporting that a Kroger store manager reacted to someone putting something up to the back of one of his employees and demanding that she go to the back office by shooting the thug in the face.  Said thug has reportedly shuffled off this mortal coil.

Not surprisingly, Kroger seems to have a “No guns in the workplace” policy, as do most businesses.  Being in Indiana, employees are allowed to keep firearms in their locked cars while at work, but companies are allowed to prohibit them in the workplace.  I don’t have a problem with that, by the way. Company premises are usually private property, and what a property owner wants to allow or not is up to them.

Authorities are still investigating, as is Kroger.  I imagine that the family of this misunderstood young man, who was turning his life around and only went out of the house to get his mother’s medicine and to take orphans to vespers, will be hiring themselves a lawyer within the next 36 hours.  I fully expect both the shooter and Kroger to be sued six ways from Sunday on this, no matter what the police find.

Of course the newspaper has to throw in a couple of digs, but that’s to be expected:

Records suggest Elliott at one time had a carry permit for a gun, but it’s uncertain whether that’s still the case because lawmakers recently changed the law to make such information confidential.

As I understand it, the law was changed to make them confidential because some newspapers wanted to do a Google Map mashup of CCW carriers’ addresses.

On the other hand, not all shoppers would feel entirely comfortable if they thought the produce guy might be a wanna-be Wyatt Earp.

 Right, because all CCW holders have fantasies of being an Old West lawman who goes on a personal vendetta against a gang of men who shot up his family.  Yep, that’s me.  Hey, I’ve even been to Tombstone!

Like the title says, I’ll be watching this one.  My family shops at our local Kroger a lot.  But if this manager is fired, I’m switching to somewhere else.  I left Walgreens after they fired a pharmacist for defending his life, and I’ll leave Kroger too.  Not calling for a boycott.  I’ll leave it up to everyone else, but I sure won’t be giving them any more of my money.

Authorities in Ohio are reporting that a young Amish girl was killed when she was shot by a man who fired his muzzleloading rifle into the air to clear it before cleaning at the same time as the girl being shot.  I’d like to go on a diatribe about a Rule 4 violation, which this situation very much deserves, but one thing catches with me:  the distance from where the man says he fired the shot and the place where authorities believe the girl was hit.

The distance is being reported as 1 1/2 miles.  I just can’t see a muzzleloader firing a round that far, but I could be wrong.  Investigators are bringing in an expert to examine the bullet from the girl’s body in order to see if it was indeed fired from the muzzleloader.

Now, to go back to Rule 4, this guy needs retraining in safety, whether or not his bullet was the one that killed this young girl.  When you squeeze the trigger, you’re responsible for where that bullet goes and everything it hits.  If you have to shoot your gun to clear it, then use a backstop, or invest in and use a bullet puller .

When the forensics are done on this, I’d be very interested in hearing whether or not this man’s muzzleloader fired that bullet.  If so, I want to know what gun he uses, what powder he used, how much of it, and what bullet he was firing.  Something just feels fishy about this.  1 1/2 miles just sounds way too far for a muzzleloader.

Two boys in Texas are recovering from gunshot wounds after being hit with what authorities believe were stray bullets from nearby hunters.  The boys were playing basketball at their school, which has several areas open to hunting around it, when they were shot.  Investigators are questioning several landowners and hunters.  Both boys are still in the hospital, hopefully on the mend.

This is a Rule 4 violation of immense proportions.  In my search for a place to hunt, I struggle to find a landowner that both allows hunters to use their land and doesn’t have neighbors too close for comfort.  This is one of the reasons I love hunting at Fort Knox, even though it’s not the most productive hunting ground on Earth.  I can pretty much guarantee that the only people who are out in the woods with me within the conceivable range of my gun are other hunters plastered in blaze orange.

I have gone hunting on small farms that have homes on all sides of me, and I have to do a lot of work to make sure to scout out shooting lanes so that there is very little chance of a bullet, either a pass-through or a miss, going near someone’s home or kids playing in their yard.  My worst fear is that I will negligently hurt someone, and I try to make sure that I don’t even come close to inconveniencing the neighbors.

We all know the Four Rules.  We all need to follow them, and police our buddies so that they follow all of them, both in letter and spirit.  Two children are now in the hospital because of a split second of negligence and all hunters and shooters will be associated with incidents like this.  We must work together to make sure that when we are given a reputation gained through our lowest denominator, it’s not one that can be held against us.

Sunday was hectic, but I was able to squeeze in a quick trip to my indoor range.  Knob Creek is currently flooded out (Hey, it’s called Knob Creek for a reason), so I went to my indoor range, OpenRange Sports in Crestwood.

For all of this shooting, I sent the target out to 21 feet.  I used the same paper target for all of the shooting, but added a new stick-on target for each gun after the first round.

I of course shot the new Remington R1 that I posted about a few days ago.  I started out with three magazines worth of S&B 230 grain FMJ, and the pistol performed flawlessly.  The slide was very smooth, and the trigger the last owner put in was smooth with very little take-up before breaking.  I also put one magazine each of CorBon 185 grain +P and Federal 230 grain hollow points. Again, the pistol performed flawlessly.  The 3-dot sight on the R1 showed up very well against a dimly lit range background.  I need to do some shooting with it in real low-light conditions.

Here are the results from shooting the 1911 at 21 feet:

Not bad.  A couple of flyers, and I’m shooting a bit low and to the left, but not bad for the first time I’ve shot this gun.  I’ll keep working on it.

Next came the CZ-82.  This is my EDC gun.  It’s definitely more accurate than I am.  I was shooting Fiocci 92 grain FMJ through it today.  Again, shots were taken at 21 feet.

Not bad for a $200 gun shooting cheap ammunition.

Next came the Smith and Wesson Model 13 .357.  I wimped out and was shooting S&B .38 Special 158 grain FMJ.  I did most of them single action, with the last two cylinders going in double action.  I love the trigger on this gun.  All it takes in single action is a hard thought, and the double action is very smooth, if a bit heavy.

My first cylinder of double action shooting went off to the right quite a bit, but I corrected that in the second cylinder.  I definitely need to get some snap caps and work on my dry fire.

Last came the S&W 22A1.  This one is a bit finicky about its ammunition, but with Remington 36 grain HP it runs pretty well.  I went back and forth between the torso and the head with these.  Hey, if you’re going to shoot inexpensive ammunition, have fun with it.

Yeah, that was fun, and that’s the main reason I do it.

Here’s the final status of the target after all of those holes were punched in it:

Yeah, Frosty had a bad day.