Winchester 03

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gamekeeper
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Winchester 03

Post by gamekeeper »

I was talking to my landlord today about guns and he said he had his fathers rifle that he used in WW1, his father flew fighter planes and carried his Winchester 03 in the open cock pit and actually shot at the enemy planes with it!
Well, the rifle was condemned by a gunsmith as being beyond repair :shock: so I asked if I could see it.
It looked in good condition but had a couple of burst .22 long shells in a plastic bag attached to the trigger guard, I said it should not be used with anything but .22 Automatic ammo which is hard to come by, so he looks in his ammo store and comes up with a few boxes of Winchester .22 Automatic ammo and asks me if I'll take a look at it :D
The mag tube was filthy where blow back from the wrong shells had blasted soot everywhere, so a good clean and I thought load her up and let rip, no go, the cartridge cut off was not letting the cartridge go past to chamber but was letting it go far enough to jam the bolt.
Now I don't know much about the 03 but I thought it might be a weak spring in the cartridge cut off. I took it apart and the little spring did feel weak, I cleaned and oiled it but it made no difference.
The rifle fired and ejected fine in single shot mode but jammed if any cartridges were in the mag tube, has anyone here had a similar problem with this model?
Numrich have the spring @$5.20 but are sold out on the cut off.
Any advice would be appreciated.
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jdad
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Re: Winchester 03

Post by jdad »

I see you went over to RFC....smart move. Jerry (22AGS) and a half dozen others take these apart on a daily basis since they're so bored in retirement. :D
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Mescalero
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Re: Winchester 03

Post by Mescalero »

I don't do nostalgia, it is not part of me.
I would LOVED to see that Englishman shooting at German planes with that thing.
What a hoot!
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gamekeeper
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Re: Winchester 03

Post by gamekeeper »

Mescalero wrote:I don't do nostalgia, it is not part of me.
I would LOVED to see that Englishman shooting at German planes with that thing.
What a hoot!
A bit more information,Wing Commander G. H. Lewis DFC flew a S.E.5a called The Artful Dodger, he shot down 12 enemy planes and according to his son, (my landlord,) he used his Winchester 03 when his Lewis gun jammed.
Last edited by gamekeeper on Fri Jul 11, 2014 12:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Winchester 03

Post by Mescalero »

Amazing!
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Re: Winchester 03

Post by Merle »

A lot of folks don't know it, but in the early days of WW1 aircraft weren't armed & were mostly used for observation. Pilots used to just wave at each other. Then, they started carrying pistols & rifles to shoot at each other, just to make it interesting. One of my college buddies had a Colt Army Special in 32-20 that his grandfather used to shoot down a German. He said it had a flatter trajectory than a 45ACP, and gave him a range advantage! Imagine flying wing tip to wing tip and shooting at each other, while riding along in a canvas framed aircraft - what fun! :o
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crs
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Re: Winchester 03

Post by crs »

We have an '03 inherited from my father in law. It shoots flawlessly and is a fun little rifle.
I had re blued and the stock refinished 40 years ago and it still looks like new.
You will enjoy the rifle once you get to function correctly.
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gamekeeper
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Re: Winchester 03

Post by gamekeeper »

crs wrote:We have an '03 inherited from my father in law. It shoots flawlessly and is a fun little rifle.
I had re blued and the stock refinished 40 years ago and it still looks like new.
You will enjoy the rifle once you get to function correctly.
Can you still get .22 Automatic ammo for it ? I've seen conflicting reports of availability.
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Re: Winchester 03

Post by Hobie »

Yes, we just got some of the .22 Auto ammo. I think it was made by Aguila but don't have a box here to verify.
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Hobie

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Re: Winchester 03

Post by Griff »

Thanks for glimpse in the past! Don't know anything about the '03, but have a question. Does a "gunsmith certified" non-functioning rifle count against the number allowed in a personal battery? Correct my assumption if wrong.
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Re: Winchester 03

Post by jdad »

Hobie wrote:Yes, we just got some of the .22 Auto ammo. I think it was made by Aguila but don't have a box here to verify.

It is definitely available......not cheap, but about half of what people had been paying.
http://www.luckygunner.com/22-win-auto- ... -50-rounds
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Re: Winchester 03

Post by KirkD »

What a great piece of history!! Hope you get it up and running!
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Re: Winchester 03

Post by Merle »

Griff wrote:Thanks for glimpse in the past! Don't know anything about the '03, but have a question. Does a "gunsmith certified" non-functioning rifle count against the number allowed in a personal battery? Correct my assumption if wrong.

Where do you live that you have a personal count?
FWIW, my opinion would be "no". :?
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Re: Winchester 03

Post by Griff »

Merle wrote:
Griff wrote:Thanks for glimpse in the past! Don't know anything about the '03, but have a question. Does a "gunsmith certified" non-functioning rifle count against the number allowed in a personal battery? Correct my assumption if wrong.
Where do you live that you have a personal count?
FWIW, my opinion would be "no". :?
None where I live, but there is in "Merry Ol' England," unless I'm mistaken.
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Re: Winchester 03

Post by gamekeeper »

Griff wrote:Thanks for glimpse in the past! Don't know anything about the '03, but have a question. Does a "gunsmith certified" non-functioning rifle count against the number allowed in a personal battery? Correct my assumption if wrong.
If a firearm is permanently deactivated and has been deemed so by the Proof House and duly stamped anyone can own it with no restriction other than carrying it in a public place.
Because of our restrictive gun laws in the UK deactivated firearms are popular with collectors, it makes me weep when I see rare old or good quality modern firearms butchered because our government does not trust us to own them in usable condition.
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