The Springfield process

Ok, now that I can post pictures I can go over this the way I wanted to. The earlier post had the shot of the rifle in the box. However, it doesn't do justice to the cosmoline coating. Take a look at this:














And if that's not good enough, how 'bout this?














I repeat, yuck.

After taking the barrel/action out of the stock, it went into my grease soaker. It's a length of 4" diameter PVC pipe with a permanent cap on one end and, in this case, a gallon of laquer thinner poured in. I've used kerosene in the past with good results, but I didn't have any, so thinner it was. I had to take the trigger/sear assembly off for it to fit into the pipe, then set it in action first, sloshed it up & down a few times, then left it overnight with a cap on the open end. Doesn't have to be overnight, but it was late and it was cold outside, so it sat. Does a wonderful job of dissolving most if not all of the grease.

Next day I took it out and set it to dry while I was taking all the metal off the stock. The handguard only had a little on the outside, the inside was clean(it also didn't match the stock, arsenal replacement I'd say). 'The metal' means the nose, the trigger guard, the buttplate, rear sling swivel and the barrel band spring. My preferred method(kitty litter, heat and time) was not doable right now, too cold outside, so I decided to try something I read in Shotgun News. Got a wallpaper tray, poured in some odorless mineral spirits and set the stock in, using a brush to spread it all over the wood. Let it sit a while, brushed and rinsed some more. It worked pretty well, seems to have taken all the grease and old oil out of the wood, and dried out pretty quickly, especially considering temps in the high 30's that day.














After I'd set it to dry, I took the barrel/action and other metal parts and put them in the tray. A little brush work and a few minutes got rid of the last of the cosmo on/in the action(again, it was filled!), and then cleaned it all off the metal parts. Left them to dry off, then wiped them all down with Corrosion-X. Except for the parts in contact with the wood, like the magazine box/trigger guard, the buttplate, the inside of the barrel bands and the stock nose; for those I used Eezox. It's a pretty good lube and protectant, and it's dry; goes on wet and the carrier evaporates. It's also the best stuff I've found for folding knife hinges for the same reason.

The stock was pretty beat up, lots of dents and gouges. The proof mark was just visible under the grip, and a 'RIA' cartouche(Rock Island Armory) barely there on the left side of the butt, so I gave it a light sanding with fine paper to take off the worst of the roughness and left it at that. I rubbed in one good coat of Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil, a stuff I've had very good results with on both gunstocks and knife grips, and gave it a light buff with steel wool, and here it is:














If you've ever wondered, the one big difference between the 1903 and the 1903A3 is the rear sight; the 03 has an open sight mounted on the barrel, and the A3 has an aperture sight mounted on the receiver:













Overall, I'm impressed with the workmanship on the metal, the barrel appears perfect, the action tight and slick, and I expected the stock to be somewhat beat up. I'll be very happy being the caretaker for a time for this piece of our history.