Some of the guys have 1903 Springfield rifles with the long Malcolm style scopes, and they shoot them very well. I decided that a scoped rifle might be better for my old eyes. I found a rebuilt 1903-A3 made by Remington, and although it was not the historically correct sniper rifle, it was close enough for me. I then bought a Leatherwood Hi-Lux USMC 8X scope and proceeded off to my gunsmith to have the rifle drilled & tapped for the scope mounts. He had to remove the rear peep sight to clear the scope, then unfortunately botched the rear mount by getting it too far forward, so the rifle's upper hand-guard and retaining ring had to be modified to clear the scope base. It's not real noticeable, and won't affect much. Then when I tried to install the bolt, the bolt handle would not clear the scope. I didn't want to spend more money on this project as I was already into it for more than the rifle is worth, so I cured the clearance problem by filing a notch in the bolt handle. Again, not real noticeable to the untrained eye, and good enough for who it's for.
First trip to the range I had the rifle on at 100 yards in just five shots. The Malcolm scope has very good optics, but the mounts are rather rough and do not seem very consistent as far as returning to a given sight setting. I'm hoping I just need to use them more and they will smooth out. First match will be in late July and I'm looking forward to giving it a try. Here are the required pictures:
An overall view
The rear mount that is a bit too far forward
The notched bolt handle
Shasta
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