Have wanted a carbine for quite awhile, but can't quite part with the money to buy the genuine article.  So, I shopped around for a fake.  My requirements were that it had to have good wood and cartrouches and metal could be worn, but not pitted and bore must be good  Found one that met my critereia, only problems were that it had been drilled and tapped for a scope and a receiver sight (6 holes), handguard was missing, aftermarket rear sight was installed, and a bead sight was installed in the '03 style front sight.  Wood would need some TLC and I would have to plug the holes, refinish the metal, replace handguard, and sights.  I got to work about six weeks ago and here are the results:
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Like most of you, I am not a fan of a shiney finish on the receiver of these rifles.  But, my rules are that I do all the work myself and all I can do is hot-water bluing and parkerizing.  After the tapped holes were plugged and filed it had to be refinished.  I got a repro handguard and stained it to match, found a 1901 rear sight and replaced the front bead with a homemade 03 style blade. 

The bore looks great and being that this rifle was produced in '03 I doubt that it has been fired much.  Can't wait to get it to the range.

daveboy

Very nicely done - but one feature jumps out as uncharacteristic: the upper contour of the handguard is visibly different from what we normally see in original SA production. Instead of being straight, with a distinct 45-degree chamfer at the front end, yours displays a rounded "Roman nose", no clear chamfer, and maybe a bit of droop at the rear end, too.

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Fortunately, there seems to be plenty of excess thickness to the upper sector of the HG and some judicious work with a fine flat rasp or a long sanding block could easily bring the contour to a close duplicate of an original rifle handguard for the 1901 sight.

Hey outstanding job you will enjoy it all the more as you use it, I have built a couple of Krags they are a joy to work on Mike

Gmountain wrote on Dec 17^th, 2010 at 2:47am:


No. Rifle is not a repro.  It is marked by the manufacturer as a "Model 1898 Springfield Armory" and so it is.  For prosterities sake, I assume that the '03 front sight and the 6 holes drilled in receiver would cause folks to question the originatlity of this rifle.

If I were to sell the rifle (not likely) I would obviously point out that it had been modified to a carbine configuration.

BTW it is a great shooter.

daveboy