I just got back my Springfield from E.R. Shaw (E.R. SHAW BARRELS,INC. Address: 5312 THOMAS RUN RD BRIDGEVILLE, PA 15017 Voice: 1-412-221-3636* Fax: 1-412-221-4303), who rebarreled it. It had an old dark pitted .30-06 bore which would not group after 4 to 5 shots, so I sent it off to Shaw to put a .35 Whelen barrel on it. The charge to blue the barrel came to about the same as it would have been to make it out of stainless, so I went with the stainless. I had them crown it at 22", and put a new front sight on it.
I got it back and was very impressed!
This rifle is one that I bought off a friend about 9 years ago for $90. It had a horrid custom monte carlo stock on it and no rear sights. The bore was dark and pitted. I took down some of the wood from the stock, had bedded the action. I put a Williams receiver peep sight on it, and smoothed up the two-stage trigger. As ugly as the walnut was after this work I'd done on it, I put a camouflage paint job on it. I then put sling swivels on it and a leather military-style sling on it.
The new barrel is slightly thicker, and there's significant forend pressure on it that keeps it from bedding properly (will be relieving that today), but my rifle gives me about 2" groups at 100 now. Now I can hear the spitting of disgust from some of y'all. "2 inches!?! How can you be happy with THAT?!?" But to me, for an all-around hunting rifle, I want Practical Accuracy. This is the ability to quickly, from field positions, put your bullet into the kill-zone of your target. The kill-zone of a deer is 8"-12". Of an elk, it's about 12"-18". Of a man (yes, we consider all eventualities, don't we?), it's about the same as a deer. I don't NEED 1/2 m.o.a. accuracy to do that. I've a sub-M.O.A. .300 Win Mag Sendero that will allow me to hit within a 3" circle at 300 yards from a good rest, but which I can do no better at hitting a paper plate at 100 yards from a standing position and sling, given 3 seconds to take the shot from the slung position.
It's good for anything in the Americas, and most anything in the world. With different loads in 5-round stripper clips that load very rapidly, I can apply it to a number of different tasks, including big game (250g+), medium game (225g), and small game or varmints(with .357 pistol bullets).
It's the most accurate and fun, and practical rifle I've ever owned.
But it's UGLY!!!
Regards,
L.P.
I got it back and was very impressed!
This rifle is one that I bought off a friend about 9 years ago for $90. It had a horrid custom monte carlo stock on it and no rear sights. The bore was dark and pitted. I took down some of the wood from the stock, had bedded the action. I put a Williams receiver peep sight on it, and smoothed up the two-stage trigger. As ugly as the walnut was after this work I'd done on it, I put a camouflage paint job on it. I then put sling swivels on it and a leather military-style sling on it.
The new barrel is slightly thicker, and there's significant forend pressure on it that keeps it from bedding properly (will be relieving that today), but my rifle gives me about 2" groups at 100 now. Now I can hear the spitting of disgust from some of y'all. "2 inches!?! How can you be happy with THAT?!?" But to me, for an all-around hunting rifle, I want Practical Accuracy. This is the ability to quickly, from field positions, put your bullet into the kill-zone of your target. The kill-zone of a deer is 8"-12". Of an elk, it's about 12"-18". Of a man (yes, we consider all eventualities, don't we?), it's about the same as a deer. I don't NEED 1/2 m.o.a. accuracy to do that. I've a sub-M.O.A. .300 Win Mag Sendero that will allow me to hit within a 3" circle at 300 yards from a good rest, but which I can do no better at hitting a paper plate at 100 yards from a standing position and sling, given 3 seconds to take the shot from the slung position.
It's good for anything in the Americas, and most anything in the world. With different loads in 5-round stripper clips that load very rapidly, I can apply it to a number of different tasks, including big game (250g+), medium game (225g), and small game or varmints(with .357 pistol bullets).
It's the most accurate and fun, and practical rifle I've ever owned.
But it's UGLY!!!
Regards,
L.P.
I agree that a well-appointed Springfield can be gorgeous. But my lame attempts at stock-work along with the evidence of my proofing the action (it was a sporterized, used rifle. I used a ball-peen hammer to ascertain that the previous owner hadn't annealed it to work on it. It's fine, but has a coupla flats on the bridge of the receiver.), along with its two-tone metal finish, make it an odd duck.