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Hi everyone my name is John I'm new to the forum. I was given a 1903 rifle recently and it was missing a safety spring and needed to be cleaned up. I have read that some parts from a 1914 will work on a 1903 but not the other way around. So first will the safety spring from the 1914 work on the 1903? Also what about other parts like extractors, firing pins,hammers, etc. Please let me know and thank you for any and all help you can give me on this. John
So nobody knows if the 1914 internal parts are compatible with the 1903? I was hoping someone might be familiar with these two models. John
The safety/trigger springs should be interchangeable between the two but I have had some trouble with some but these were parts acquired loose so they may have not worked well to begin with, and I do not have they guns they came from to determine the vintage. Hammers should be the same. The bolts from a 1914 will fit in a 1903, the bolt design changed a few times so you must match the parts to the bolt, late 1903's & 1914's had different firing pins and extractors than in the early bolts, and there are the firing pin design was changed before the extractor so you will that variation. Early extractors are almost impossible to find, do not buy a bolt requiring one of them and expect to find one, the later extractors seemed to never break, at least I have never seen a broken or missing one. There are a number of minor design changes that were made during the run of the 1903, 1909, 1912 & 1914, these are yet to be documented well, at this time I am doing the best I can from memory, which often fails me.
PS, I look at this site very sporadically, especially in the summer because there seem to be little action - don't expect an answer very fast, so be polite & show some patience.
Sav22. Thank you for the reply and great information. I truly appreciate it. My bolt is intact but did notice towards the front inside of it looks a little chewed away. Not sure if that effects anything or not. The rifle was given to me as a wall hanger. It had spent many many years hanging in a barn and rusting away. The outside of the rifle was all rust. So I cleaned the inside of the barrel and it cleaned up so I thought I would restore it and make it usable again. All metal has been cleaned and is now waiting to be blued. Just want to say. I would never sand and reblue a gun normally. But this one was rusted really bad and hoped I could bring it back from the dead. I now have all the parts it was missing so its on its way back to life. I do have another question. I thought I read somewhere that these rifles only used low pressure rounds like target rounds and that regular 22 rounds of today are to powerful to be shot in it. Is this true? Thought I would ask since I remembered reading that. Thanks again for the information. Information on these is hard to find it seems so hearing from someone with experience and first hand knowledge of these is a blessing. Thank you. JohnQuote:
Originally Posted by Sav22
As to the use of Hi-Speed (what today is the usual loading) =- Hi-Speed was introduced about 1931, many 22's made before that were are not strong enough to handle it so caution should be used. Lets see what Savage Arms themselves had to say about it in the mid 30's, here is a factory re-barreled 1903 that has a round barrel with a barrel stamp from the 1930's - look close at what Savage Arms stamped on the left side of the receiver at the time of the re-barrel -
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...full/64474.jpg
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...full/64473.jpg
"NOT DESIGNED FOR USE WITH HI-SPEED CARTRIDGES'
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...full/64470.jpg
Thanks again for the information. So today's low speed target rounds will work in it right? JohnQuote:
Originally Posted by Sav22
Just what keeps the rifle cocked? I have a few issues with it but don't know much about this rifle except whats been explained to me here. I found a safety pring for it but doesn't seem to want to stay on the safety bar. The one I found is flat at the end not the forked one. I know it takes an op bar stop spring which is tiny and have no idea how that goes in. But I am guessing the safety spring has something to do with keeping it cocked back? Maybe I need the forked one??? Any ideas or help would be appreciated. Thank you. John
Ok think I found out whats going on. I was missing the action slide lock. I do have the spring but don't know how it goes together. If anyone knows please let me know. Thank you. John
John, I am a little confused by what you mean by keeping the 'rifle cocked' - I am thinking that you mean keeping the action locked shut when the hammer is cocked, if so it is the action lock spring. If, however, you are referring to the hammer staying cocked then there is something wrong with the safety/trigger spring or with the sear. I will try and get you a picture of the action lock spring as installed and post in the other thread you started.
Sav22 sorry about that. I was a little confused on what was wrong with it. I figured out I was missing the action slide lock and spring. I have them now. Just not sure how they are installed since they were not with the rifle when I received it. Which would explain why the hammer would not stay back. Soif you want to post a picture in my other post that would be a great help. And I really appreciate all the help you have given me on this. JohnQuote:
Originally Posted by Sav22
The action slide lock has nothing to do with keeping the hammer cocked, I am thinking you have a bad sear surface on the hammer. The hammer should stay cocked even if the trigger is manually engaged without the safety/trigger spring installed.
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...full/74544.jpg
Sav22 that makes sense. But looking at my hammer it looks fine. I can't tell looking at it. But then again it won't stay in the cocked position. So I have looked at hammers for sale and can't tell if there good or just like mine worn out. So how can I get a hammer and know it is good. I would hate to buy one wait for it to get here put in and find out it's bad and have to return it. What or how would you do it if you were looking for one? JohnQuote:
Originally Posted by Sav22
I don't know how you can determine if a used part like this is good or not without trying it. Even used parts from a major parts dealer Like Numrich can be bad, they usually would have no way to test them even if they wanted to, which I don't think they do. They do make returns easy but you still are out the shipping. I would try to work on the sear a little, it sounds like you are looking to replace the parts anyway.