{"id":18000,"date":"2022-07-28T06:27:37","date_gmt":"2022-07-28T13:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=18000"},"modified":"2022-07-28T09:57:56","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T16:57:56","slug":"1903-springfield-cast-and-jacketed-loads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2022\/07\/28\/1903-springfield-cast-and-jacketed-loads\/","title":{"rendered":"1903 Springfield Cast and Jacketed Loads"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is an update on my latest 1903 Springfield load development work.<\/p>\n

I purchased this rifle about three years ago assuming the headspace was correct, but it wasn’t.\u00a0 That’s a risk associated with old military rifles.\u00a0 Rifle parts are often mixed through the years, and when doing so with the bolt and the barreled action, it’s easy to induce an excess headspace condition.\u00a0 That’s what I encountered on my rifle, so I had the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) in Anniston, Alabama install a new 1903 barrel and rechamber the rifle.\u00a0 Live and learn, I guess.\u00a0 Always check the headspace when purchasing a milsurp rifle.<\/p>\n

As it was returned to me from the CMP the rifle shot to the right and jacketed bullets shot way too high (at least I thought it shot way too high, but I was wrong…more on that in a bit).\u00a0 I\u00a0 noticed that the front sight was biased to the left (which made the rifle shoot to the right).\u00a0 I drifted the front sight in its base (it\u2019s a dovetail fitting).\u00a0 The front sight takes a retaining screw that secures it to the barrel mount, and on my rifle that screw was missing.\u00a0 It might have shipped that way from the CMP or it might have fallen out.<\/p>\n

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When the Springfield was returned to me from the CMP, the front sight was biased to the left, as you see here.\u00a0 I didn’t notice it at first.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A replacement front sight screw.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I wrote to the CMP regarding the missing front sight screw, but I haven’t heard from them and I found a replacement front sight screw on the Sarco website.\u00a0 I haven’t installed it yet (that will come later).\u00a0 I drifted the front sight in its dovetail to the right, and that brought the point of impact closer to the point of aim.<\/p>\n

Before I get into the reloading specifics, I should explain a bit about the rear sight.\u00a0 The rear sight on the 1903 Springfield rifle is a complicated device.\u00a0 It’s called the M1905 rear sight, and it is designed and calibrated for standard military ball ammo (back in the day when the Army used .30 06 ball ammo).\u00a0\u00a0 The sight is a ladder type rear sight and it has four aiming methods.\u00a0 One is the battlesight zero (it’s with the ladder down); the other three are with the ladder up which allows adjusting for various distances.\u00a0 In the big photo at the top of this blog, you see the rear sight with the ladder up.\u00a0 In the photo below, you see the rear sight with the ladder down.<\/p>\n

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The M1905 rear sight assembly on the 1903 Springfield rifle. The sight ladder is in the down, or battlesight zero position. Wow, there’s a lot going on there.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This first aiming method is through the battlesight zero notch with the ladder down. Battlesight zero means the bullet will coincide with the point of aim at 547 yards.\u00a0 The thought is that if you hold center of mass on a man-sized target at any distance up to 547 yards, you\u2019ll hit the target.\u00a0 At 100 yards the rifle will shoot way high with the ladder down using the battlesight zero, which is what I experienced.\u00a0 I did not understand this was a normal occurrence when using the battlesight zero rear sight notch.<\/p>\n

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The 1903 Springfield’s rear sight in the raised position.\u00a0 Note that the sides of the rear sight force the crossbar to the left as distance to the target increases.\u00a0 That’s a built-in feature to compensate for bullet drift to the right at longer distances.\u00a0 Clever people, those Army engineers were.\u00a0 This rifle is over 100 years old.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The other three aiming methods all involve shooting with the ladder up (as you see in the above photo).\u00a0 \u00a0You can adjust for various ranges from 100 yards out to 2800 yards (which is roughly a mile and a half) by loosening the crossbar lock screw and sliding the crossbar up or down to various indicated ranges on the ladder.\u00a0 One sighing method uses the crossbar upper notch.\u00a0 You simply slide the crossbar up or down so that the top of the notch aligns with the estimated distance to the target (in yards) on the ladder’s distance graduations.\u00a0 Another sighting method uses the crossbar lower notch.\u00a0 In this case, you slide the crossbar up or down so that the top of this lower notch aligns with the estimated distance to the target.\u00a0 The last sighting method involves using the crossbar aperture. There’s a horizonal scribe line across the plate containing this aperture, and when using the aperture, you align that scribe line with the estimated distance to the target.\u00a0 The aperture allows zeroing the rifle for ranges as close at 100 yards, which is where I do most of my shooting.<\/p>\n

All the above is calibrated for standard military .30 06 ball ammo.\u00a0 If you\u2019re shooting cast bullet ammo, or jacketed ammo with bullet weights or velocities other than standard ball ammo, you have to zero your rifle for your specific load.<\/p>\n

There’s one other bit of coolness incorporated into the design of this rear sight.\u00a0 The sight ladder is designed so that as you raise the crossbar, the sighting notches and aperture move to the left.\u00a0 That\u2019s to compensate for the bullet\u2019s natural drift to the right as distances increase.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all very clever, but in my opinion the Army made it too complicated. The rear sight was probably designed by an engineer who never had to carry or use a rifle in the field or train recruits to do so.\u00a0 I think most of the guys I served with in the Army would have a hard time remembering all this (I’m an engineer and I struggled to understand it).\u00a0 Apparently the Army agreed:\u00a0 They simplified the rear sight on the later 1903A3 rifle.\u00a0 The 1903A3 rear sight is much better for an infantry rifle.<\/p>\n

That’s enough background on the 1903 Springfield sights.\u00a0 Let’s get to the reloading variables and which loads the Springfield likes.\u00a0 I prepped several, and I also grabbed some of the ammo I had previously loaded for the M1 Garand.<\/p>\n

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Four bullets used in this testing. From left to right: The Hursman 173-grain cast bullet, the Montana 210-grain cast bullet, the Winchester 150 grain jacketed soft point bullet, and the jacketed Speer 168-grain Match bullet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Hursman cast bullet loaded in a .30 06 cartridge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I first fired at a 5o-yard silhouette target to see where the bullets were hitting (there\u2019s lots of real estate on that target).\u00a0 With the ladder down, the point of impact was to the right and low using the 17.0-grain Trail Boss and 173-grain Hursman bullet load. \u00a0With the ladder up, it moved left a little and printed higher using the higher rear sight notch.\u00a0 For that 0.793 group up top, I used the bottom edge of the upper left box as the aimpoint.\u00a0 For the other two groups, it was the bottom of the orange bullseye.<\/p>\n

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An initial target shot with cast bullets and Trail Boss powder. There’s a lot of real estate on this target, so I could see where the rifle was shooting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I shot groups at 50 yards with several different loads using combinations of the bullets shown above and SR 4759, Trail Boss, 5744, and IMR 4064 propellants, all at 50 yards, and all with neck-sized-only .30 06 brass.\u00a0 Then I returned a week later and fired groups with the 150-grain jacketed Winchester bullets (again at 50 yards).<\/p>\n

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After shooting the above groups, I had 20 rounds left with the Trail Boss,\u00a0 Hursman bullet, and SR 4759 load.\u00a0 I shot two of them at a clump of dirt at about 80 yards and hit it (I think) both times.\u00a0\u00a0 Then I put a 100-yard small bore rifle target up at 100 yards and shot at it with the 173-grain cast bullet SR 4759 load (8 rounds were crimped, and 10 rounds were not).\u00a0 To my surprise, all 18 rounds were on the paper and 14 of the 18 were in the black.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that great a 100-yard group, but it shows potential.\u00a0 All this was with the ladder down using\u00a0 the battlesight zero sighting approach, so with cast bullets this rifle (at least with the SR 4759 load) is pretty much in the ballpark.<\/p>\n

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Cast bullets at 100 yards using the battlesight zero rear sight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the jacketed loads, I used the 150-grain Winchester jacketed soft point bullet (I bought a bunch of these a few years ago when somebody had them on sale) and 48.0 grains of IMR 4064.\u00a0 This is the accuracy load in the Lyman reloading manual with a 150-grain jacketed bullet, and I know from prior development work it is superbly accurate in my Model 70.\u00a0 It is also a minimum load, which is nice given the 1903’s steel buttplate.\u00a0\u00a0The 1903 did well at 50 yards with the Winchester bullets, so I posted another silhouette target at 100 yards.\u00a0 I fired three rounds and it was rough shooting at that target.\u00a0 Using the aperture, I literally could not see the orange bullseye at 100 yards when I focused on the front sight.\u00a0 The orange bullseye disappeared until I shifted my focus to the target.\u00a0 I’d acquire the bullseye, then rapidly shift my focus to the front sight and squeeze the trigger.\u00a0 I did that three times, literally firing blind, and managed to get a 3.050-inch 3-shot group.<\/p>\n

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The 150-grain jacketed Winchester bullet load at 100 yards. I couldn’t keep the orange bullseye visible using the aperture at 100 yards.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I figured it was time to quit while I was ahead.\u00a0 I didn’t have any more black bullseye targets with me.\u00a0 I knew I would be able to see those focusing on the 1903’s front post while sighting with the aperture.\u00a0 But with the orange bullseyes (like you see in the target above), I might as well have been shooting at night.\u00a0\u00a0I returned to the range a few days later and shot at 100 yards with the jacketed 150-grain Winchester bullets (with the 48.0-grain IMR 4064 load), the 210-grain cast Montana bullets (with the 17.0-grain Trail Boss load), and the 168-grain Speer match bullets (with a 48.0 grain IMR 4064 load).<\/p>\n

Using the rear sight aperture, I shot the target below at 100 yards with the 150-grain Winchester jacketed bullet and 48.0 grains of IMR 4064.\u00a0 I was pleased with the results and I quit after 3 shots (I didn’t want to screw up the group).<\/p>\n

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Three shots into an inch and three quarters at 100 yards. The load was 48.0 grains of IMR 4064 and the Winchester 150-grain jacketed soft point bullet.\u00a0 Old eyes and an even older rifle sometimes do great things.\u00a0 My rifle was manufactured in 1918; I was born in 1951.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I then shot at another 100-yard target with the 210-grain Montana cast bullet (these were loaded with 17.0 grains of Trail Boss).\u00a0 I used the rear sight’s lower notch for this target.\u00a0 Hmm, what do you know…the elevation was about perfect without moving anything on the rear sight.<\/p>\n

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Another 100 yard target, this time with the Montana 210-grain cast bullet and 17.0 grains of Trail Boss. I used the rear sight notch immediately above the aperture without making any adjustments. This is a real sweetheart load with minimal muzzle blast, almost no recoil, and no leading. The cast bullets are not as accurate at 100 yards as are the jacketed bullets, but they are still pretty good.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally, I fired eight rounds originally loaded for the Garand (I reload for the Garand in multiples of eight, as that’s what a clip holds), returning again to the rear sight aperture. This load used the 168-grain Speer jacketed boattail hollowpoint bullet and 48.0 grains of IMR 4064 propellant.\u00a0 The Speer bullets are almost identical to the Sierra match bullet, but the Speer’s ogive is slighly different and it has less bearing area in the barrel.\u00a0 I called the wizards at Speer about that and they recommended going to a heavier charge than would be used with the comparable Sierra bullet (they specifically recommended 48.0 grains of IMR 4064 for the Garand).\u00a0 That load was a little warm in the 1903 (the recoil was significantly more than the 150-grain Winchester bullet and the primers had slight flattening).\u00a0 But it was reasonably accurate.<\/p>\n

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Eight rounds of .30 06 ammo loaded for the Garand, using the 1903 rear sight aperture, at 100 yards. The astute blogophile will note there appears to be only seven holes; the hole just outside the 10-ring had two bullets pass through it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My observations and conclusions from the above are:<\/p>\n