1903 sporter

Good questions.

How about we get a low SN, fire a proof load in it (like they did) .


Then take hammer and hit it.
 
I sort of think our job here is to add something to the conversation, like why would you sell it to someone else to blow up?

Or maybe it would be, its a piece of history and maybe we should keep it.

However, what I will tell you, junk it is not.
 
I sort of think our job here is to add something to the conversation, like why would you sell it to someone else to blow up? Or maybe it would be, its a piece of history and maybe we should keep it.
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Possibly a valid point there, ... in that the only safe use for this 1903 junker might be as a wall-hanger and conversation-starter down in that region of one's house know as The Man Cave. :)

However, what I will tell you, junk it is not.
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No, it's junk I'm sure. :cool:
 
We have those guns that will never be fired, pristine examples that got taken off the line and preserved for all time .

I think of the early ones as history we should not dismiss.

I don't' have issues with not shooting them, but junk is not the right word either as they did valuable service.

A very important part of history and the story is incomplete without them. Not just the gun history but production history as well.

At the very least preserve them.
 
If the rifle receiver fails structurally the case head is pretty much guaranteed to blow. This happens on low number receivers and I have at one well documented National Ordnance M1903A3 which set back and blew the case head. If the receiver seats are moved back, due to weak or soft metal, than the case head is moved out of the chamber. Shooters are pretty much unaware of the importance of cartridge case head protrusion, it is far more safety critical than the dimension from base to shoulder. Too much cartridge case head protrusion and the side walls blow, or if you want to call it, the case head blows.

Now of course there are "good" single heat treat receivers, but no one knows how to non destructively test the things, and the only real way to tell a good SHT from a bad SHT is whether the thing has blown up or not. The fact that some are still around is not proof that existing receivers are good, they may be only a few rounds away from fatigue failure.

I only have one life and an not interested in firing something I don't have full confidence in. Nor am I going to try to convince people that the risk is small, like Dr Lyons. Single heat treat fan boys base their arguments on ignorance. They have not heard of, they don't know, prove it is unsafe, etc. That standard is not appropriate anymore, at least for product liability. Now days, you have to prove it is safe. I would like single heat treat fan boys make a case by metallurgical analysis, failure analysis, structural analysis, test, why all single heat treat receivers are safe. If one is unsafe they will have lost their argument.
 
How safe is going to the Hospital? 250 ,000 (minimum as high as 440)_ hospital caused (not the thing they went in for) deaths a year.

They don't list that as amongst the common causes of death. Interesting eh.

Exploding Springfield fall where in the list?

Well far below auto accidents.

Far below people shooting other people at the gun range (deliberately or negligent)

So we are a million times more likely to die or get injured on our WAY TO the gun range r AT the gun range from other causes as a 9103 low SN.

I am not arguing you should shoot a low SN, but I also think there is some context needed.

I certainly do not think they should be destroyed.
 
* * * I am not arguing you should shoot a low SN, but I also think there is some context needed.
I certainly do not think they should be destroyed.
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Actually, I agree with that. I never said cut it up and throw it in the fireplace.

Put on the wall above the mantle. Folks who see it will want to ask you about it, and then you can explain its distinguished place in history.

Still a junker, but at least a useful one. ;)
 
Well far below auto accidents.
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Absolutely, lots of car accidents, people dying virtually every minute if not hour. I have read that Takata air bags have killed less than 20 people, injured maybe hundreds. And this is world wide. I have read number between tens of millions to hundreds of millions of Takata air bags in vehicles. So, if you get the recall notice, you going to change your air bag? The chances of injury are probably less than that of a low number Springfield going off in your face.


https://www.nhtsa.gov/recall-spotlight/takata-air-bags

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2017/06/26/takata-air-bag-recall-lista/427828001/
 
Why take a chance. It's going to happen sooner or later to somebody. It's like the lottery in reverse. Somebody's got to win, why not you?
 
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