M1903 Bolt C2 Stamp

[Zeewad]

I have an M1903 Remington Modified that was a Raritan Arsenal rebuild with a scant stock. The receiver is in the Dec. 1942 to Jan. 1943 range.

The bolt has a "C2" stamped under the safety lug. The bolt handle goes straight down. According to charts I've seen it puts the date of the bolt around 1911-1912, Springfield make.

Is it safe to shoot this rifle with this bolt? I've read forums that say yes and no. My thought is that it was the receiver that is the dangerous part, not the bolt.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Hummer70]

Do both lugs contact the receiver?

 

[Zeewad]

The gun is apart right now because I'm cleaning out the cosmoline that is in the tight hard to reach places like the trigger assembly and the breach area.

I did put a snap cap in it and it appeared to contact well and the snap cap ejected fine. The bolt didn't appear to be hard to close or open with any slop.

 

[madcratebuilder]

If you are concerned about the bolt you can find nos A3 Rem bolts for around $15-20.

 

[fguffey]

http://www.vishooter.net/m1903.html

F. Guffey

 

[Zeewad]

Thanks for the Vishooter site. It shows the bolt was before the double heat treat which made me wonder if the bolt was also part of the bursting receiver issue as some people have mentioned on other forums. I don't think it does, but I'm still learning.

 

[Zeewad]

If you are concerned about the bolt you can find nos A3 Rem bolts for around $15-20.

So then an 03A3 bolt can be used on an 03 receiver, right?

 

[gpb]

You need to check the headspace.

 

[fguffey]

For pictures on the V1 site click on just about anything.

Zeewad, be aware, some of the pictures provided for V1 presentation were furnished by Don W. I purchases a mill from him a few years ago, after loading he had a question about head space on a period correct Rock Island 03 built in 1911, I do not use head space gages, he had no less than 25, problem, he had a choice of .005, .009 and .014, none of his gages indicated head space in thousands, point being he had .0075 head space with new Remington ammo that varied in length by .0007.

In the perfect world the head space when compared with a go-gage and or new minimum length ammo would be .005, you would think with his 75+ Springfield bolts and my 35 we could reduce the head space .002 by changing bolts, problem, the 03 Rock Island correct 1911 had a straight bolt handle, the bolt in his rifle was the only straight handle bolt he had, and I have one in a rifle, and that is all. point? hang on to your straight handle bolt.

Changing bolts, we picked 10 bolts at random and checked their effect on head space, nothing, all the bolts presented the same effect on head space, I offered to check all of his and all 35 of my bolts and cautioned him hot to be optimistic, I check the effect each bolt has on head space with out the rifle, meaning I could have taken the dimensions of his bolt home to compare with my bolts, but that would have been a waste of time, there is not .001 difference between my bolts when it comes to off setting head space.

F. Guffey

 

[fguffey]

“So then an 03A3 bolt can be used on an 03 receiver, right?”

Yes, but there is a difference, the third/exposed safety lug that sits in front of the right side of the rear receiver ring on the 03 ‘fits’ close, when measured the gap is measured in a few thousands, this feature escaped Springfield attention, along with a other details, had Springfield made the gap, in thousands, a part of the rifles permanent record bolt set back could have been measured daily, weakly, monthly, or yearly or in thousands of rounds fired, but? that did not happen. Caution, with the bolt pulled back and closed the lug must not contact the receiver ring, this happens when someone without the ability to keep up with two thoughts at once, meaning the remove material from the rear of the lugs.....OR!, there is some kind of set-back????

Interchangeable? Yes, but the replacement bolt third safety lug will have a much larger gap, seems Remington did not agree with the small gap of safety, they could have decided a large gap would allow for a faster pressure drop with the greater gap during catastrophic failure/case head separation, then if you look through the pictures on V1 Shooters site some of the third lugs are square on both ends, others have a flat rear with a radius on the front.


F. Guffey

 

[fguffey]

forgive, and the bolt handle on newer 03s have a bolt handle that is bent back, suggestion, keep the straight handle bolt for period correct? then find a replacement bolt, B&S, Brown and Sharp, a company in Rhode Island made replacement bolts, they also made tools and micrometers and gages, I am not concerned with ‘period correct’ a B&S bolt works for me.

F. Guffey

 

[Zeewad]

Thanks for the great info.