The Old Salt Has A New Old Toy

Here is a photo of my newest C&R addition. A Springfield 1903 Mark I in a very nice condition. So nice, in fact, I really can't think of anything to do with it but clean it again as some of the oil on it is starting to get slightly gummy.

I also want to get a good look at the innards to see how many actual Mark I parts are still left in her. These old rifles are like the rest of us, over time someone starts changing or modifying their original parts.



In the picture above, you can see a slot cut in the left side of the receiver. This was the ejection port for a Pedersen Device. The Pedersen Device was invented in 1917 and converted bolt action Springfield 1903s to semiautomatic versus bolt action. The Pedersen devise used what was basically a .30 caliber pistol round and in 1917 was considered "Top Secret". By the time the rifles and devices were manufactured WWI was over and the military went back to using bolt action rifles. Later the majority of Pedersen Devices were destroyed however it is believed that perhaps 25-50 survived or were rebuilt from destroyed parts. Information is available concerning these devices on the Internet. They are worth a good piece of change should you locate one in a garage sale.



Here we have a view of the right side, starting with the butt.



Moving toward the front sight here is a closer view of the action from the right side. There are surprisingly few dings and dents considering this rifle was built in the early part of the last century.



And here is a view of the muzzle from the right side.



Now we have reversed direction and are moving down the rifle from the muzzle towards the butt.



Again, there are very few dings or dents.




The left side of the receiver with a slightly different view of the Pedersen Device ejection port.



On the left side of the lower part of the stock is one L shaped scratch. It looks like it got caught on a front sight coming out of a tightly packed gun safe.

I certainly have a lot more more scars than this piece has and I am not anywhere near the age of this beauty; nor am I holding up near as well.