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Old July 4, 2007, 09:44 PM   #9
Trapper L
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 20, 2006
Location: South Texas
Posts: 804
Sorry Bob, I saw three Xs not two behind the serial number. Jim Watson would be correct that the action COULD be suspect. Rock Island per my books, started with the double heat treat at #319,921 with a manufacturing start date of 1 Aug, 1918. Yours would be a much earlier model. Rock Island started making the rifles in 4 May, 1904 and at the end of their initial contract stopped production temporarily 17 Nov, 1913 with #234,830. Yours fits in there somewhere. It would have been a full service rifle and has apparently been sporterized. I would suggest either using it as a wall hanger or having the action tested for hardness. While its been a reliable shooter it could be the next shot is the one to cause a catastrophic failure. It would pay to know for sure.

When I was sportizing the 03s, I always considered the serial number 800,000 as the lowest I would convert. Anything above that and you pretty much are guaranteed a good action. The 03 as such is a very strong and reliable weapon. Some of the guys were converting them to larger magnum cartridges and bolt thrust became an issue but as long as the original head dimension was kept it was the best of the times. Here's a 6.5x 06 I built a few years back on an 03 action. It's a dandy.
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL122.../254441809.jpg
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