1903a3 action bedding

[jws916]

Just bought a 1903a3 "sight unseen auction" and it doesn't having any pressure on the barrel bed of the stock. I've searched high and low on how to fix this and they discuss either glass bedding or shimming the rear tang of the action, these are no-go's for HP competition. I would consider this course of action to explore the accuracy potential but I would like a step by step how to before attempting this. I may resort to buying a new stock but again, can't find any "how to" literature on carving the action bed of a 1903.

 

[Kp321]

First, are you sure that the rifle does not shoot well as is? As I understand it, you are wanting to put barrel pressure by raising the rear tang? You could accomplish the same by lowering the front of the action in the stock which would not involve any glass bedding. The bottom of the action is flat which makes it a fairly straight forward bedding job. Use inletting black to mark the areas to remove wood and take it slow with sharp chisels.

 

[jws916]

Thanks for you reply, haven't shot it yet but what little I do know about 1903's is they usually need 5-10lbs of upward pressure to shoot well and some threads suggest 15lbs. The fact that I can move the barrel around and it stays where I leave it leads me to suspect there may be play in the action bedding. I'm a Garand guy and have lots of literature on how to accurize them. Don't understand why I can't seem to find anything on the 03. Like you said, it's pretty straight forward to remove bedding from the front, I just want as much info as possible before I proceed.