Pics and info request for a beautiful old rifle

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There are two purposes for this thread. First is to show some pictures of this classy lady in 'before' condition, and second to make sure there's no reason I shouldn't use it to build on.

A number of years ago my uncle gave this Springfield 1903A3 in .308 Norma Mag to my younger brother. He doesn't reload much, and when he moved out of the area it ended up with me. I don't know much about it but whoever sporterized it did an incredible job. The wood has a classic styling and the metal is a beautiful deep blue. I've read about the 03A3's in Hatcher's Notebook; this one is in the 4 million range so the steel should be fine and the action should be strong enough for anything I want to run in it.

I'm tooling up to chamber my first barrel, and my uncle suggested I use this one as my test mule using a .30 Broughton barrel he had. It will definitely be a challenge with the square threads, cone breech, and extractor cut. My intent is to rebarrel this back to .308 Norma Mag and give it back to him. I'll be looking for a different stock too since I don't think I will be able to open the barrel channel up enough on this one for the Broughton.

Sporterized 03A3's seem to have no middle ground, most go for very cheap but those by some gunsmiths go for an insane amount of money. I don't see any markings on it to identify the gunsmith, so I have no idea of the value. If any of you can tell anything from these pictures I'd appreciate it. I really hate to tear her apart though.

 

[dinc]

I'd keep it as the classic that it is. Pick up an Rem 700 to practice smithing on.

 

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It is pretty for an action donor. A polished stainless barrel and walnut target stock would look good on it too though.

 

[dwtaylorpdx]

One thing to consider is that getting the barrel off of a O3A3 near as I can tell is always painful. I've helped on 3 and they all required near nuclear force. Something about the way the barrel seats in the action.. Especially original barrels. Its also pretty easy to screw up the action without the O3A3 wrench or a really good clamp setup. I have my grandfathers sporterized gun that's killed a lot of stuff for me over the years. I finally had to move up because the stock cracked behind the lug and I can't find a good way to fix it. The gun has extraordinary wood on it, so I'm looking at a basic lam stock so I can shoot it again and keep the original....

Mine is still 30:06 and up until teh crack punch really nice hunting groups of holes with 165 or 180 gr ballistic tips.
Mine likes full cases of powder and having the bullet very close to the rifling.

Dave.

 

[packratt]

If the barrel is toast I'd rebarrel with the same profile or one that is close enough to use that stock. As it is, it is a nice rifle and I wouldn't mess with it.

 

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I don't think the barrel is gone, my brother said it shot well.

 

[308Gunner]

I would leave it it was me