Griffen and Howe 1903 Springfield target rifle

Ivan the Butcher said:
A friend of mine answered an ad in "The American Rifleman" in 1946 or 47, it seems a Col. Wheelan had a pre-was Model 70 Winchester Target action for sale. My friend bought it for $70 and sent it to the Winchester Custom shop with instructions to build him a target match rifle. It also is in 30-06 with a 28" barrel that is a bit heavier than yours, While at he ask that the stock have a "Bit of figure to it, if possible" Not quite as nice as yours, but outstanding compared to the normal stocks back then!

Using Sierra's 180 grain GameKing bullets he won the 1952 or 53 Wimbledon Cup. He and his rifle are discussed in Sierra's 3rd edition loading manual. He didn't set a new record, but it got his name on the record books!

Ivan

PS Have you compared the stock to work by Sedgley? They were known to do some work on 03's in that time frame!

ITB
Click to expand...

In reading about the Wimbledon matches I noted that when the Winchester Model 70 came out, it soon overtook the Springfield 1903 rifles as a base for long range rifles used in that match.

Was your friend Bill Turpie or Glen Taylor?

https://competitions.nra.org/documents/pdf/compete/nat-trophy/tro-105.pdf
 
2152hq said:
You are correct,,The striker knob was sometimes removed in conversions to sporters and target guns to speed the lock time.

N/Match guns were offered with that feature done at the arsenal at least for a time.
IIRC the N/M rifles had a stronger firing pin spring in them as well to again speed up the lock time. I don't know if that was all of the N/M or just the headless striker type.

That striker knob actually served as a safety feature on the rifle. To divert any gas from a ruptured case/primer that could have made it's way that far back and out the rear of the bolt via the striker rod. The shape of the knob defected the gas to the sides at least somewhat. Instead of directly into the shooters eys and face.

That style damascene application is the same feature you used to see on the slide way beds of machine tools and other precision moving parts.
It very slightly impresses the surface ( couple ten/ .000") where applied and allows oil to migrate on those surfaces. That makes for a smoother and easier movement betw two very closely fitted parts w/o reducing either one or the other in their over all dimension.
It's done with a hardened steel tool shaped and highly polished to a rounded point. The point is either mounted in a hand tool and pressure applied to the work that way. Or the tool is held in a fixture and the work is brought to bear against it with the needed pressure.

..and sometimes it's just used as a cosmetic bling.
The overlapping circle style has much more flash & shine to it. So it really took over the bulk of damascene or Jeweling work.
It really does the same thing as far as making slight depressions to allow oil to migrate on close fitting parts.
Most is done just for looks though.

The Vaver sight look like the correct one for the cut out. Good call on that.
Maybe the Vaver required the hump to be cut down when used on the '03 if they didn't offer anything with a stepped top bar for that feature.
Click to expand...

Thanks, 2152! Some good information there.
 
Sorry, just edited my previous post. You'll never wear the BORE.

I hate smart phones, gosh darned auto correct!
 
back in the late 60's after I got out of the navy I tried high power shooting.Back in those days you had two options for actions. The high Numbered Springfield action for the 30-06 cartridge. The second one most seen on the field was the pre '64 action also for the 30-06 cartridge.For sights usually Lyman's long slide model 48 rear sight for a front sight again you would see either the Lyman 17 sight or redfield globe front sight.Dunlap has his style of match stocks. Winchester had their Marksman stock. And just about all rifles were drilled and tapped for scope blocks. Scopes usually were the Lyman Supertargetspot or Unertl. Barrels were Douglas and there were quite a few one or two man shops that could fit good barrels to either a Springfield or Winchester action. Pacmayer did supply their white line recoil pads to many target rifles. I started out with a pre'64 Winchester model 70 rifle which had a Douglas barrel. Since I worked rotating shifts it was extremely difficult to schedule time off to attend matches. So ended my foray into High Power match shooting. I had about 4 Winchester match rifles. All had been configured by the factory so you could load 5 rounds with stripper clips. Ammo was either U.S. or gov't issue or handloads. The Gov't match and National match was loaded with a 172 grain bullet with enough IMR 4895 to get approximately 2660 feet per second. I started out with the Sierra 168 grain Match King at approximately 2700 feet per second. all my model 70's went to collectors or newer shooters and the last of my stuff went a few years ago to a Marine just out of the service. Shooting mat, gloves,match sling and some other stuff like 500 once fired Remington brass. All I have now is a post '64 model 70 match rifle. Anyway it was fun while it lasted. Frank
 
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Frank46,

How do you like this:
6Wsczoc.jpg


That was my old match rifle. O3A3 with 03 hardware, glass bedded type C reproduction stock, Lyman front and rear sights. I still shoot a match or two with her each summer.
 
They made I believe a 1928 style "T" Springfield match rifle. Style "C" stock or something very close to it. 28" inch long barrel and the front sight supposedly came from a Browning Automatic Rifle aka The BAR. I had a chance back in the '79's to pick one up but could not swing the $900 they were asking for it.The bore on that rifle gleamed and the rifling was almost perfect giving me the impression that it had not been shot much. Target rifles fascinate me. Especially the older ones. I was in a gun shop near Stroudsburgh Pennsylvania and way in the back of the store was a cabinet with 3-4 Hammerli's. One was in 30-06, another in 7.5 Swiss and the third was in 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser. And the 4th,well you will have to forgive me but cannot remember what it's caliber. One of the best things I saw in that store was a wall of 1911's and 1911a1's. just about any and all makes and manufacturers was there. And since Pennsylvania is a class 3 state a huge water cooled Browning Machine gun in 50BMG. And to top it off there was a mint condition Winchester model 54 in 30-06. Beautiful rifle. I have a Win 54 action made in 1928 and chambered for the good old 30-30. Ah the memories. If you ever are in NYC take a trip to Abercrombie and Fitch and visit the gun room run by Griffen and Howe. many custom examples of the gunmakers craft. Frank
 
I mounted an old Fecker scope on the G&H and shot it a bit.

mKJ45nS.jpg


The scope was of unknown magnification and was somewhat cloudy. I also had no luck adjusting the parallax, so the image was slightly out of focus. Despite that, the rifle shot a hair over 1MOA using Federal GMM.

I used some cheap PRVI to get on paper, and then shot a 5 round group with 168 gr Federal GMM at 100 yards.

FUxaDvX.jpg
 
Calfed said:
I paid considerably less for mine...
Click to expand...

The special appeal of the $5000+ gun was that the engraving was attributable to the late Rudolph Kornbrath, a Master of the engraving art.

But I would expect any Griffin and Howe rifle to be a fine firearm
 
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Here are some pictures of my Griffen & Howe .22 Hornet. It was converted to .22 Hornet by G&H. The serial number puts the build date of the rifle before the .22 Hornet was developed. Because of the early serial number, Petrov thought that G&H originally built the rifle in .22LR and later converted it to .22 hornet. Who knows?
Ken



 
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