To Scope or not to Scope

M1's are not that difficult to scope. I had one set up with a Burris scout scope at the Ole Frontier Gunshop, Contonment, FL 850-477-8074. Ask for Alan. This is near Pensacola and Mobile, AL.
Three blind holes were drilled over the chamber area of a Douglas supplied target barrel in 30-06 to secure a base. This job requires a highly proficient machinist.

Mechanically the scope works. Clips load and eject with no problems. However, the scope gets very hot. Burris said failure of the scope could occur if some of the non-metal parts got too hot. I was allowed to nonofficially participate in a highpower match with this setup. So far the scope is working well. The major disadvantage is that the stock is not high enough for the scope and the excellent iron sights that come with the M1 are hard to beat. It your eyes are normal you will find that iron sights under practical shooting conditions are quite good. It is true that from a sand bag the scope is better assuming that your M1 is hgihly accurate. People that only shoot from a sandbag will never learn to shoot from usable positions.

Best of luck

Carl M.

Armorer,


One was a A3O3, one was a 700BDL Remmington.

The A303 had been sporterized. The chamber cracked bewteen the mounting holes and blow the scope a foot in the air. The bolt locking lugs held, or that guy would have eaten it.

The other was a 700, may have been a 742 BDL. It was tapped on the left side of the chamber. Creaked from the screw holes to where the barrel screwed into the reciever. I believe this was from a double feed.
Where the back of the first round is torn off and ejected and the next round is fed into the case of the first round.

What some folks don't realize is that when a round is detenated in a chamber, the outward pressure is 360 degrees. Any weak point, and the gases WILL take the fastest route outward.

I had a handgun explode in my face 30 years ago. I still have little black freckles to remind me.

Armorer


One was a A3O3, one was a 700BDL Remmington.

The A303 had been sporterized. The chamber cracked bewteen the mounting holes and blow the scope a foot in the air. The bolt locking lugs held, or that guy would have eaten it.

The other was a 700, may have been a 742 BDL. It was tapped on the left side of the chamber. Creaked from the screw holes to where the barrel screwed into the reciever. I believe this was from a double feed.
Where the back of the first round is torn off and ejected and the next round is fed into the case of the first round.

What some folks don't realize is that when a round is detenated in a chamber, the outward pressure is 360 degrees. Any weak point, and the gases WILL take the fastest route outward.

I had a handgun explode in my face 30 years ago. I still have little black freckles to remind me.

Armorer,
Please excuse the two false replies. I think I have figured out the glitch.
You certainly do cite some cases of blowups. Usually when a chamber fails it destroys the action ring. On most bolt guns the bolt handle or locking lug will retain the bolt if the action has not completely split.
On any modern remington rifle there normally is no reason to drill and tap since they come that way from the factory unless you are doing a scout scope installation. I would need more details to understand exactly what had been done to that rifle.
The springfield is full of questions. Quality of the barrel and what was done to it and how well it was fitted. In my M1 the 3 screw holes are very shallow and they are spaced out over the length of the 4" long base. My major fear was that the base would detach. Most "gunsmiths" can not drill-tap shallow blind holes and I assume that douglas uses properly heat treated steel in their barrels. There is minimal danger from this set up if it is done right. I believe, please correct if I am wrong, that the military did remove significant metal from M1 chambers when they chamber mounted scopes on the sniper versions of this rifle. This would seem to weaken a barrel more than three shallow holes.
In my limited experience I have had only one incident-it was a case separation in a p-17. My glasses protected my eyes. The handloaded ammo had been improperly stored and had weakened the cases over years of storage. My fault on that one.

best wishes
Carl M.

Armorer, back in the early 70's I saw the results of a catastrophic failure. A guy came into the gun store wearing several boxes of bandaids and had cotton stuck in his left ear. He had purchased some reloading gear for use reloading for his 30.06 cal 1903 Springfield and his pistol. He got drunk then concocted a load for his Springfield that consisted of a 180gr bullet and a case full (read this as compressed!) of PISTOL powder. It was after dark when he finished so he took the rifle out the back door and test fired it. The last thing he remembered before passing out was how nice the backyard looked when lit by the fast burning powder. He awoke to find the barrel and forend in his left hand and the pistol grip and buttstock in his right hand. Never did find all of the pieces in between! Of course, most of us would never intentionally shoot such an overload in our guns but must remember that tapping or drilling into the receiver may weaken it enough to obtain the same results as this gentleman did but with a "normal" loading.