worn rifleing

Bring a mini flashlight. Take the bolt out of the action. Stick the flashlight in the action so it illuminates the bore. Look for a bright, shiny bore, free from pits or rust. Look for sharp rifling, and inspect the crown to make sure it is free from dings. Dark bores aren't necessarily the end of the world, but a newer bore will likely shoot better.
 
If the rifle is what you want and you can get it for a good price Do it
http://www.e-gunparts.com/DisplayAd.asp?chrProductSKU=809930B&chrSuperSKU=809930&MC= Here is the link to a new barrel you can probaly find others CMP is all out of the 03s so the price of them will propably keep going up

Here are some ebay possibilitys
http://cgi.ebay.com/Springfield-03A...8QQihZ010QQcategoryZ31709QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Springfield-03A...9QQihZ010QQcategoryZ31709QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Springfield-Mod...2QQihZ016QQcategoryZ31709QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Hope this helps
 
What do you want to do with this rifle? Does accuracy really matter? If you want a piece of history, go for it. If you are looking for the absolute best condition, that might not be it. Also, you should be evaluating a clean bore. If it is dirty and fouled you may not be seeing the actual bore.
 
The only way to really tell is to clean the rifle and slug the bore. As someone posted earlier check for pits but don't be confused about rust and copper. Copper build up looks like rust. Rust causes pits and you have to clean out both to really see what you've got. IMO if it looks like rust it may be copper build up but you might be able to play it off on the dealer as a sewer pipe and get a discount on the gun and with a little luck clean the barrel with a copper gel and walla! :D
 
Actually you can use throat and muzzle erosion gauges to tell what kind of wear there is on the barrel. They are available from The CMP and other places. Some of those two-groove barrels shoot amazingly well, so don't form an opinion too early. A quickie check on the muzzle would involve inserting a loaded round into the muzzle. If the bullet sinks in up to the case mouth, wear is excessive. If it stops 1/8 to 1/4" from the case mouth, wear is probably tolerable. Since a Springfield was normally cleaned from the breech, wear at the muzzle may not mean as much as on a Garand.

Clemson
 
I've heard the two-groovers are often particularly good with cast bullets, so if you want to make up some small game loads or plinkers, this might be just the thing to have. You often find old military rifles funneled at the muzzle by cleaning from that end, but if you can still see some rifling there, it can be cut back and recrowned without going too far back. Throat wear is another matter, but some additional life might be managed by running David Tubbs' Final Finish system through it.

Nick
 
You need a barrel vice and an action wrench. You need headspace gauges to check the chamber of the new barrel in the gun. You may need a reamer to tweak the chamber if it is short. If this is all Greek to you, I would take it to a gunsmith. You may find one who will let you watch, then you can decide afterward whether you think it would be worth tooling up to do it yourself or not? It is a love of the activity kind of thing.

Nick
 
Clemson Quoted:
A quickie check on the muzzle would involve inserting a loaded round into the muzzle. If the bullet sinks in up to the case mouth, wear is excessive. If it stops 1/8 to 1/4" from the case mouth, wear is probably tolerable. Since a Springfield was normally cleaned from the breech, wear at the muzzle may not mean as much as on a Garand.
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I agree that it is a quickie check but only a quickie check. Accuracy loss is determined by the amount of gas escaping around the bullet when it escapes the barrel, when the gas escapes evenly from around the base of the bullet then you should have good accuracy. When gas escapes enevenly due to muzzle damage from dropping the gun, cleaning, battlefield conditions or just soldier (this aint my weapon) use then accuracy is doomed to suffer. A round bullet won't tell you wear marks or dents at the muzzle end, just muzzle erosion. You can place a loaded round into the muzzle end of a gun and have 3/8s'' or more stick out but it really isn't telling you the whole story. Look at the muzzle carefully.
 
Myu very first rifle was an old Eddystone Enfield with a 2 groove barrel. It shot minute of woodchuck all day. I know it is a trifle big for woodchucks, but as I said it was my first and only rifle at the time. Of course, any wood chuck hit with a 30-06 was dead, which was the goal. There is really no way anyone can predict how that gun will shoot, you will have to do the dirty work and check it yourself, that said, 2 groove barrels seemed to shoot well. I have seen new barrels that won't shoot well either. Best of luck to you
 
its not just the muzzle. the riflieng throughout just seems shallow compared to other guns i have owned. i would like to have the gun refinished but i dont want to sink money into something that doesnt have a lot of life left
 
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