Smith-Corona Question

[jeffhuey1n]

I have a Smith-Corona 1903A3. Unfortunately, the previous owner had to have been a butcher, ‘cause he sure chopped it up. It’s been rebarreled to .300 Win Mag. The receiver was tapped on the front with two holes for the scope mount. The aft mount causes tears of sadness to pour from my eyes . It’s been ground down so much that the original sight has nothing to mount to.
I’m determined to get this rifle back to it’s original configuration. With that in mind, I’ve got a couple questions.
1. Can the rear bridge be built up using a MiG welder and/or a stick welder? If possible, I want to build up the bridge to it’s original shape so I can mount the original sight back on it.
2. Using a MiG welder, can the two drilled holes up front be filled?
3. How difficult is it to get the .300 Win Mag barrel off and put a stock 1903 barrel dated 07/44 in its place?
I’ve got a few parts I need to use to reconfigure the rifle. A stock, barrel, useable bolt (ugly but it’ll work) and miscellaneous hardware. I’ve sourced the remaining parts I need. I’ll just watch for the next sale before I get the few parts. I’ve uploaded pictures to give you an idea what I’m up against.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Sniperhandle]

You will have more time and money in it than you could just buy one that's original for, And you will still have a butchered gun. I have tig welded up holes, but only because they were crooked or in the wrong place, I wouldn't mig weld it.

An original Smith Corona barrel may cost you close to what you can buy the whole rifle for. Same with the stock and handguards.

Even if you were to build up the rear bridge, It still has to have the dovetail machined into it.

I would do my best to clean that up and use it as it is, It will never be like it was, Even if the best Machinist/Gunsmith did the work, You would still be able to tell it had been repaired, When you get it Parkerized, The welded area will be a different color. I know, I have done lots of WW2 Parkerizing in the past.

 

[swd]

What Sniperhandle said above plus you’re going to warp the action after all that welding. Then after machining you’re going to find pin holes that need to be welded up. And after all that it’ll need to be sent out for re hardening. And then even after all that the chances of it looking really right are slim. Just accept the fact that it’s done and go buy the rifle you really want.

 

[paperpuncher]

I agree with the above comments. If you are committed to resurrecting the rifle consider a slightly different end goal. If you have the stock, barrel and bolt add a redfield mount to it and make a nice A4 clone. Attempting to rebuild that receiver to original is going to disappointing

 

[tobnpr]

FWIW I concur with it being too far gone for a resto due to the rear bridge. Even with heat paste forward of the rear bridge you're likely to warp the receiver unless you do it in mind-numbingly small passes waiting for it to cool. Receiver temper aft of the lug abutments is irrelevant.

I have MIG'd forward scope mounting holes on several milsurp receivers, a quick zap and the HAZ is limited to the hole itself, I can grab the receiver right next to the tiny weld. It'll always be visible though...

 

[kendog]

Come on guys... Any gunsmith worth his salt could have her fixed up in all her previous USGI splendor for a six pack or two of his favorite suds and an afternoon of shop time. Are there no real smiths out there any more??

Seriously, put a fork in it. She's done.

 

[jeffhuey1n]

I agree with the above comments. If you are committed to resurrecting the rifle consider a slightly different end goal. If you have the stock, barrel and bolt add a redfield mount to it and make a nice A4 clone. Attempting to rebuild that receiver to original is going to disappointing

I’ve been exploring this idea. I’ve also thought of turning it into a 1903 by using all 1903 parts in the restoration. The aft bridge would then be irrelevant. Thank you for the input!

 

[jeffhuey1n]

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and expertise. I’m going to ponder this for a while longer before actually deciding on what route to take. Fortunately, there’s no rush to get this done. I have three other ‘03’s to shoot. This is more a labor of love as I really dislike seeing brutalized rifles.
The one thing I haven’t been able to figure out is the barrel. It’s got a .300 Win Mag barrel on it, I want to get rid of it and put my 7-44 barrel in its place. Any thoughts on the viability of this idea.
Thank you all again. Much to ponder…

 

[SBS]

Can't see a problem with swapping barrels, just use an original bolt and extractor plus the usual headspace work - which could mean setting the barrel back if they removed material from the front of the receiver. However, check to see if they opened up the feed rails for the magnum round. If they did, it may not hold or feed '06 rounds.

 

[Sniperhandle]

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and expertise. I’m going to ponder this for a while longer before actually deciding on what route to take. Fortunately, there’s no rush to get this done. I have three other ‘03’s to shoot. This is more a labor of love as I really dislike seeing brutalized rifles.
The one thing I haven’t been able to figure out is the barrel. It’s got a .300 Win Mag barrel on it, I want to get rid of it and put my 7-44 barrel in its place. Any thoughts on the viability of this idea.
Thank you all again. Much to ponder…

The barrel is most likely just the original barrel that has been rechambered to 300 Win mag, And I would be careful, It could also be a 308 Norma, as many rifles in the 60's were rechambered to 308 Norma and 300 Win mag.

 

[jeffhuey1n]

The feed rai

Can't see a problem with swapping barrels, just use an original bolt and extractor plus the usual headspace work - which could mean setting the barrel back if they removed material from the front of the receiver. However, check to see if they opened up the feed rails for the magnum round. If they did, it may not hold or feed '06 rounds.

It appears the feed rails have been widened. I have a couple mil dummy rounds to test their width and the .30-06 rounds won’t feed correctly. I’ll get my micrometer next time I go out to the shop to see how much was removed. More options to explore. As for the barrel, I don’t know if it is the original barrel but it looks to have been bored and a sleeve installed (see photo). This begs the question, if I remove this barrel, what is the possibility of installing an original barrel that’s been modified(?), not sure if that’s the correct way of putting it. By that I mean reaming the ‘03A3 barrel to fit the .300 win mag. I’m becoming resigned to the probability that a complete restoration won’t work. At this point I’ll to try leave it at .300 win mag and give it the full outward appearance of a 1903. Parts aren’t the issue, Sarco is pretty reasonable for their ‘03 and ‘03A3 parts.
Tackling the ‘03 rear sight installation which is doable instead of messing with the rear bridge and trying to install the ‘03A3 sight, which appears impossible. Might still reinstall the scope mount and scope just because.
In my opinion, the appearance of the original military rifle is much more preferable than the fancy wood stock that is the original option.
Thanks to everyone for your feedback.

 

[SBS]

Note that the contours of the '03 and '03A3 barrel are not the same, so that the 03 sight will not fit on the A3 without recontouring the barrel.

 

[jeffhuey1n]

Note that the contours of the '03 and '03A3 barrel are not the same, so that the 03 sight will not fit on the A3 without recontouring the barrel.

Thank you. I just hope I can find a gun smith nearby who can make these changes.

 

[jeffhuey1n]

I had a thought. If I, with the expertise of a gunsmith, create a cosmetically correct 1903A4. The key is the barrel and scope mount. If a new barrel can be bored to a .300 win mag, that will solve part of the puzzle. The next part of the puzzle is the rear bridge. If I make, create, machine, not sure yet but if I make a block to fill the space between the scope mount and rear bridge, I think it’s possible to silver solder the block in place. For perspective, my first A3 had scope mounts silver soldered to the receiver. The soldering was exceptionally strong and took quite a bit of work to remove them.
Thank you again.