Springfield Conversion

[2nd Bat]

Not typically/ They are simply too expensive in terms of required components and far too time consuming to build and sell at anything even remotely reasonable. I sold my last one for almost $1500.00 (with a scope and mount) and frankly feel like it wasn't worth the expense effort and time.

If i went to the expense of finalizing a design and Cnc a drop in stock it might make sense but until or unless I do that I'll just make the occassional gun for myself and perhaps sell some once they are all done and I perhaps get bored with them. I just don't think the demand is there to justify the set up costs required to get the selling price below $700.00. So I'll build them mostly for local and personal use and sell the odd rifle from time to time.

[Young Blood]

if I send you the stock and internals, could you maybe built it for me for the cost of the labor??

[2nd Bat]

What would be fair $20.00 an hour 50.00? That's what custom work usually runs and frankly knowing how long it takes, even if I cut the time in half it would be a very very expensive gun. Custom guns are expensive. Far better to do it yourself and enjoy the process.

[Young Blood]

I just don't have the skill to do something like that, but you're right, it probably would end up being a ridiculous amount of money putting everything together (stock, internals, labor) but hey... nice work!!

[2nd Bat]

I'm still looking into the possibility of CnCing the stocks which would eliminate a huge amount of the labor and might just make it feasible to do as a finished custom gun (in the $900.00 range)

Probably won't pencil out to do it but maybe.

[supernube]

Has anyone tried to use a drill rifle replica such as this one:

www.paradestore.com/detail.aspx?ID=310

For$31.50 it would seem like a much cheaper "base" rather than the $300 + it seems 2nd Bat has spent on real 1903 parts. It would probably not be nearly as authentic, but at 1/10th the price, it seems like an avenue that might be prudent to explore.

[Sgt_Tom]

I have one it's nothing like a springfield. The bolt is all wrong, the wood is extremely tough to cut into, would take forever. None of the parts look like the real 1903 rifle.

[Beaver]

Tom is right, I have a real Springfield and that looks nothing like it.
Save your Money.

[2nd Bat]

It's also too thin to accomodate the internals from your base gun. The actual Springfield requires very careful carving out and leaves pretty thin sidewalls for the mag well.

[Sgt_Tom]

www.dupagetrading.com/firearms.htm This looks like a great deal for anyone making a Springfield conversion. $200 is a fair price. Do you guys think it might be able to work?

[YankeeDiv26]

Idunno, The only thing that would be a major issue is the rod welded in the barrel, you'd have to remove the barrel and replace it in order to get it work. It looks nice for a display peice though.

<YD>

[2nd Bat]

That's a great deal on a deactivated Springfield and would provide you with pretty much all the components you'd need to do a conversion except your base rifle. You'll also have to come up with something to substitute the barrel as the plugged barrel won't work.

Sgt Tom if you thought cutting and dremelling out one of those cheap wood parade rifles would be hard. Have fun with an actual Springfield stock! With one of these deacts and a base rifle your components costs with shipping would be around $330. to 350.00. 80 hours of labor later and you're there!

[Sgt_Tom]

Yea Its still too much money for me. I am just going to go with an AEG Garand made by yours truely. I want to pull it off for 160$.

[2nd Bat]

I have since finished and sold two additional rifles $900 to 1200.00 and can now say I've done all the major variants. I have two more in progress for personal use and as rentals for local events. I also sold a couple more complete stocks and hardware set ups to folks doing their own. This most recent one is a Remington variant Model 03A3 with scant stock. It is my favorite so far. It has a custom tight bore barrel from DB Custom and an enhanced Marui trigger release with upgraded spring on a BAR 10 base gun.

The finish is going to be dark walnut when I'm done with medium grey parkerization. I'll post pictures of it when it is dry.

[2nd Bat]

Still working on the one mentioned above (Almost done) I did however finish a different one I had set on the back burner for a while to accomodate a request from a young man I met at Liberty Canyon. It is a new variant for me in that it is a C-Stock M1903A3 with finger grooves. It was a very basic approach that minimized some of the parts expense but still required quite a bit of time. Total materials cost perhaps $250.00 including the base VSR type rifle The sights (front and rear), Stock bands (Front and rear with stacking swivel and bayonet lug along with an A3 handguard, receiver group bits and pieces and assorted small parts here and there are all I used from an original Springfield. The rest is fabricated.

It's really an exercise in what can you do on a budget that will still adequately represent a Springfield and is competitive on the field. Here are the pictures let me know what you think.













It has a tightbore barrel and shoots just shy of 400 FPS. The bolt effort is minimal so you can cock it at the shoulder quite easily. The peep sight probably should be drilled out a bit for airsoft as while it shoots very accurately for an airsoft gun is certainly doesn't require the precision of a Springfield 03!

The hop up is adjustable and I left a slot to access it in the side of the handguard. It is tight and a fun rifle. I would guess there is perhaps 20 hours in labor. I enjoyed building it.

[deacon]

do i spy with my little eye some of my finished templates there? beautiful gun by the way

[2nd Bat]

Yes you do. A shameless plug for Deacons Lucky strike cigarette template and Carlisle bandage box. I figured I'd showcase your work as well!

[2nd Bat]

I have nearly finished my first scant stock variant. (I have a few minor details to tend to) It came out well and I am pleased with it. It shoots terrifically well and feels wonderful.



Here it is with a recently finished C stock variant





By comparison here is the C stock on it's own:



They both represent A3 Variants which were more common in WW2 than the A1s which still soldiered on throughout the war. I drilled out the peep site on both as the original site is so tiny as to be unusable for Airsoft. Both are based on BAR10 VSR clones and are upgraded to shoot at slightly over 450 FPS. The bolt tension is such that they can be cocked from the shoulder and feature very nice smooth actions. The magazines hold 30 rounds and feed very nicely loading through the bottom.

I will have them at the Long Winter game and then will put them up for sale.

[2nd Bat]

In answer to PMs the C stock variant is simulated wood (except for the handguard) Even close up it looks amazingly good (if I do say so myself). The Scant stock is all wood and uses almost entirely vintage parts.

[supernube]

How are you getting the rear of the handguard to meet up with the front of the receiver on the a3? Is this even possible using a VSR clone and a real stock? The VSR receiver just seems to be shorter in length that the real springfield.

[2nd Bat]

The upper handguard on the A3 requires a lot of tight work. You've really got to shave it down to get it to seat decently It still leaves a gap that must be filled. The shorter A1 stock is quite easy. Length wise the receiver area is just about spot on for length. I build up the area in front of what would be the bullet channel so the handguard feathers in nicely. I also continue this back to be more Springfield like. On the actual Springfield the bullet channel is centered not off to the side as with the VSR but to me that is a minor infidelity most people won't notice. I'd love to have a means to neatly do the trademarks into the receiver group.

If you look closely you can see the area up front on top of the receiver group has been built up. You might also notice that the gap between the handguard is quite tight. It wasn't as well finished on my earliest Springfields I'm afraid.

The A1 is an easier build but has the added expense and effort of mounting the rear ladder site. I like them both frankly. The straight stock A1 is just a classic look that transends many many periods and the A3 is cleaner and more contemporary.

Good luck with your efforts.

I have thought about trying the engraver attachments for the dremel but don't know how precisely it works and I've frankly been too scared to give it a shot. I'd love to have
U.S Springfield M1903A3 299319916 engraved or REMINGTON or any of the other actual builders of the rifles. It would be a nice touch.

Incidently, I got two kills with my Springfield at Long Winter. Both head/ helmet shots. The funniest one was at long range and was more luck than anything else. My target peeked his head up over a bunker and my BB which had already been "in the mail" got there just as his head came over the rise. I was just trying to give them something to think about.

There is something enormously satisfying with the action on a single shot, bolt action rifle. Very fun. My rifles (both the Garands and Springfields) got lots of wonderful comments as well as a couple sales at the event.

[supernube]

Well on my a3 I still have a spacer in the gap that extends the receiver out but it just makes the front of the receiver look a little to long. The ideal fix would be for the handguard to be about an inch longer, but that is beyond my woodworking skill. The difference is very minor, but the little inperfections bug me.

[2nd Bat]

I found that even after very precise shaving of the inner channel on the A3 handguard it still stick up too high where it met with the VSR receiver group. I had to carefully force the stock down and then duct taped it down while I applied great gobs of glue into the gap. It took several layers. Once dry and confident that the glue would hold the handguard down without the tape I applied dyna glass filler to create a contact joint that flwoed well and looked right. Once dried it looks like metal and further holds and aligns the handguard. With filing, sanding and piant it came out quite nice and is solid as a rock. It does not impede disassembly at all though the upper handguard is now permanently attached.

The A3 handguard definitely creates challenges the A1 shorter handguard does not.

[captainmurphy]

I have got to say, your conversions are excellent. how well does the JB Weld hold up for use? I was trying to figure a way to cast an aluminum piece to make the mag cutoff, but making it from JB may be easier in the long run. Just as long as it holds up to some abuse! I just don't want to be using it in the field and parts start falling off.

KJW M700 Conversion

Well here is my foray into the Springfield conversion world. It started as a KJW M700 in a former life. After getting into a WWII phase I restocked it into what is commonly seen on drill rifles from the 50s and as I was informed is a 1947 Navy Polymer stock (it was $45 on ebay, so sue me). So far I have either machined or milled the components into their shape. This last week I have reworked the bolt shroud and bolt handle over to use real steel components. In the next couple of weeks I will be creating and assembling the magazine cutoff and extending the stock back to meet the receiver body.I think the only major challenge will be in convincing the wife to let me buy a wood stock for it so it actually looks like a real 1903 and not a resin prop! I will be putting the stamped bayonet lug back on the front, I just wanted to see the 1903 version in there first.

It still has some work to go, but it will be a beaut when it is done.

[TommyGunner]

Very nice work!!!!! I love it!

Alot of people do not appreciate the ammount of work involved with making these guns. There is a huge ammount of labor that goes into them, and the you have to consider the initial parts cost for the guns as well. What do you charge for a finished Springfield 2ndbat? I know I had to up my Enfield price becuase of how much work was involved lol.

TommyGunner

[captainmurphy]

What paint color is everyone using to match the original parkerizing? I have tried several regular colors but they don't match that well. Is it a custom mix that can be sprayed on?

On a seperate note, while looking for a decent stock for redoing it in wood, I came across this site that has wood and poly stocks on sale for dirt cheap.

www.ows-ammo.com/catalog/index.php/cPath/46

Happy hunting!

[supernube]

I used a mix of model masters "steel" and flat Black. I just eyed it and used my original parts as a guide. When dry, I rubbed in some black shoe polish to get a weathered look.

[captainmurphy]

Awesome, thanks supernube. I have been trying to mix and match paint, but I don't have much for modeling colors around anymore. Although I am not much of a painter, some days I love having a lathe!

I tried to cut a real steel striker knob off of the shaft and mate it to the orignial M700 but that damned thing destroyed two really expensive bits while trying to drill it. So I decided I would make one out of aluminum bar.

Striker Knob Build

Takes a $400 tool with $200 in tool bits to make a $5 part!

At least it looks pretty authentic. All I did was tapped both pieces with a 1/4 x 20 and cut off the head of a bolt to stick into both halves. On a sad note the stress of the tapping weakened the original M700 striker and it broke off the safety cuts. I will have to built that back up with something, if not make a whole new piece. Man, I hate that crappy zinc.

[supernube]

For the striker on my conversion I used a real bolt, cut it down, and drilled the striker to match the thread on the original gun. I had to shorten it it a bit so that the knob actually puts pressure on the bolt sleeve and holds everything in place.

You can see it here:

i333.photobucket.com/albums/m391/supernube/X-mas08002.jpg

[captainmurphy]

Very nice. Your receiver body is built up using what material? I have tried a couple of different products on mine, but nothing really sticks to this zinc very well.

I think one of the cardinal differences we have is that I am modifying a Tanaka styled gas system and it appears most are replicating with spring rifles. I am honestly not that familiar with the spring replicas and what is possible with them, but I can vouch for the gas rifles being pretty well as close to the real ones as you can get (this is from comparing the KJ M700 to my real Rem M700).

I wish I could have cut this striker off clean, but it was not going to happen for some reason, even after annealing it twice, it still was too tough. I don't believe the pattern of striker that I have is the same as the early war ones though. Both of mine have a more rounded shape that I replicated with the aluminum one.

On the M700 trigger system, I have found a flaw. For some reason if you set the shroud safety and then pull the trigger, the sear is not resetting all the way. So once you let the shroud safety back off, it lets the stiker go as well. What I have narrowed it down to is that the shroud is allowing the striker to move forward a thousandth of an inch and thus the sear is not reengaging where it let off from. It will take some working back up on the engagement area, but I think if I bevel the safety area to actually slightly pull the striker back while safe, it should fix it.

Maybe by next week the new wood stock can be mounted. Then it is down to the last cosmetic receiver addons!