Recently bought this 1943 barreled 03A3. I am far from an expert ... just bought it because I am a history buff. The stock looks like it was refinished. It does have the OG mark on the butt.




Only put about 80 rounds through it over two range sessions when THIS happened:




Needless to say, I am heartbroken. Is this repairable ... or is the stock now an expensive piece of kindling? If it is firewood, anyone know where I can get a vintage replacement stock?

Thanks.

There are folks out there that can use various epoxies and brass screws but I expect it’s pricey. There are period correct stocks out there but they too are 70 years old and may suffer the same fate. If it were mine I’d most likely repair it and shoot away. It’s what the armory overhauls did in theater.

Repairable, but I would want to replace it.
I think that epoxy and clamps would remedy it

If repair isn't feasible, look up SARCO in Easton PA or Numrich/Gun Parts Corp in West Hurley, NY. They should have replacement stocks, but they might not be original or have original cartouches.

Glue and brass rods will fix it. My guess is you had some loose receiver bolts and it started shifting in the stock under recoil. Always check your screws / bolts especially on older wood stocked firearms.

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BCCI Life Member #2068

Gunblue490 and Iraqi8888 have repair videos You Tube

Woodworker speaking here, not a gunsmith or stock maker - It looks like it cracked along a plane in the grain, not across the grain, all the little bits are still there, and if you can force a good wood glue all the way through the crack and clamp it properly, it should close up and be almost invisible. A good wood glue will be stronger than the wood around it if the wood is dry and oil free. If you try to glue it yourself, practice your clamping setup several times so you have all the spacers, pads and clamps you'll need, and a quick application sequence all worked out so you clamp it solid before the glue runs out or stiffens.

If the rifle has been oiled often through a long service life and stored upright on its butt like most military arms are put up, then the oil will probably have soaked into the stock and will present a gluing problem.
If so, then it's time to go to a professional stock repair house. There are several around, I don't know what they charge, but they can get the oil out and make an invisible repair. Most of the ones I've seen on web searches seem to have shotgunners as their most frequent customers.
It's a lovely piece of history - I'd love to see you save it.
Let us know how you make out.

^ This. It happens a lot with milsurps as the wood gets old. A whole slew of Finnish M39s ended up with cracked stocks in the same manner as their arctic birch stocks changed in US conditions. On Enfields the effect takes place out of sight, the only sign being the gun shoots patterns, not groups.

Another possibility is that the weapon was restocked and there was insufficient clearance at the tang from the git go. Seen that on many Turk Mausers.

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Release the Kraken

If it was mine, I would repair and shelf the original stock, then get a correctly stamped Boyd's repro stock from the CMP to use for shooting.

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Chris
SWCA #2243 SWHF #292

Take it to a string instrument repair shop ....they are wizards in wood repairs!!
I have seen them take a broken neck on a cello and make it like it never happened and was much stronger to boot...

Randy

I've repaired two shotguns that were cracked in basically the same place. I used Waterproof Titebond glue in a Hypodermic Needle and stainless steel Screws. I counter sunk the screws (coated with glue as well), then used the saw dust from the predrilled screw holes mixed with glue to fill and hide the screw heads. I also added a little saw dust that I had from a Walnut wood project I made in the Shop and mixed up two different stain colors to get the original color to hide the repair work. They actually came out very good and most people who shoot the guns never know they were cracked. So far so good after 6 years and 3 years respectively. The military use to repair guns like this all the time - but they weren't worried about looks all that much!

HINT: Use clamps to hold everything together while the glue is drying - then screw together after the glue is dried. The glue is what really gives the stock its strength!

Try fixing it (cost next to nothing) - you might be very successful & surprised! In the worst case it can always be replaced.

"It does have the OG mark on the butt."

If it also has "EK" stamped on it, it was inspected by Elmer Keith.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

This is great advice and you should follow it.

Standard repairs by US Army ordnance depots were done by gluing, then installing brass pins through the repaired crack.

I have owned more than a dozen CMP M1 Garands and several 1903 & 03A3 rifles, and several display this type of repair. All of those rifles came from military storage, so I would not be surprised to see another rifle with such a repair.

Tightbond and hypodermic needles are more forgiving than epoxy type glues for the less experienced.
Opening/cleaning cracks carefully so the glue can absorb and have enough glue remaining when clamped is the drill.

Getting kids and adults to admit that they left the rented cello or guitar leaning on a wall, prior to the fall, is a $$$ issue and requires no waterboarding.

From the photo the crack looks pretty clean and I would first see how some clean water absorbs into the wood.

Options:
After pulling the action etc etc you might just fill the crack with a ground wood epoxy mixture.
Grind or file the wood used for filling as sandpaper embeds grit.
The ground wood should be powder like and not sawdust.

It has visible repairs and cost 10 million but the sound is what the fuss is about.

Fix the reason it cracked along with cosmetically fixing up the crack.
Most likely the bedding of the recoil lug on the bottom of the recv'r is not in contact with stock.
When the rifle recoils upon firing, the action just slams backwards in the stock. The rear upper tang of the action acts like a wedge against the wood and splits it like a piece of firewood.
That tang looks like it has clearance in the pic but I can't see the extreme rear of it, nor how it sits down in the inlet. Another factor is the rear tang screw itself. That can split the wood if the action shifts in the stock. The screw should be a slip fit thru the metal ferrel in the wood and not jammed into it. But even if a sliding fit when you put the rifle together, again if the assembly shifts when fired,,that screw and ferrel will act as a wedge toward the rear and split the stock thru the wrist even if there is clearance behind the tang itself

Should be bedded tightly at the recoil lug so the recv'r can't set back on firing. The action screws tight, the rear tang should have some clearance betw it and the wood around the back end (no contact).

The bottom of the rear tang can be bedded to avoid the action being pulled down into the stock any further than you want it to when the rear screw is tightened.
Old stocks need some help generally getting their original inlet specs back after years of pounding from recoil, over tightening screws, oil soaking and softening of the wood, ect.

Don't use the back of the magazine box as an extra recoil lug, that'll generally just crack the thin web of wood betw the mag cut out and the trigger cut out. That area may be cracked already.

You can cut under neath the cracked portion and hollow it out from the tang cut to better be able to get your favorite stock epoxy glue in there, & even a reinforcement pin.
Done carefully, nothing will show on the outside and it will be easier to pull the crack closed with the wood removed. The glue (epoxy) will be much stronger than the original wood in there.

Any oil or oil soaked wood has to be attended to. Glue and oil don't do well together and all the work is a waste of time if you don't remove oil from the wood first.
If it's just a little wisp of oil on the surfaces,,an acetone soak or wipedown(s) will generally do. Heavily oil soaked thru, I use the excellent but slow process of whiting powder coatings to draw it out.
The latter is not an overnite thing, but it works.

The stock can deffinetly be saved.

I fixed a cracked stock on a friends Savage 99,

First I flushed the crack with alcohol, it wasn't oily like a military stock but just in case

I decided to use Cyanoacrylate since in my experience, epoxies do not soak into the pores/cells of the wood. Before I got started with that, I applied some paste wax around the crack, hoping any excess would not stick to the wood.

I have CA in different viscosity so I primed the crack with the thinnest CA I have, that stuff is like rubbing alcohol and will penetrate several inches into the endgrain of porous woods. After I was satisfied with that soaking, then I injected the crack with a thick CA, next I wrapped the area in a paper towel to soak up any excess then I started the clamping process.

The stock was kind of a weird shape so instead of trying to use a c-clamp, I went with the soft rope method. Its kind of like a boa constrictor, you can get it tighter with each wrap as long as you keep the pressure on. Anyways, the clamping worked well, the pieces pulled together tight but my waxing of the stock to prevent excess CA from causing a mess didn't work so well. So I had to do a little scraping and sanding then hit the area with some tung oil, when it was all said and done, it came out perfect but now my buddy is scared to shoot the rifle so I can't comment on how the repair has held up.