Safety malfunction on Remington 03-A3

[ExFlyinguy]

Was hoping maybe somebody could shed some light on a problem I discovered. A fellow brought a sporterized Remington 03-A3 in for me to look over and I'm told that he bought this and a couple other guns many years ago just to have a few firearms. He's an older Gent & I know he has never fired these.

Anyway, I do a simple function check of empty firearm, cycle bolt test fire on empty, get a click. Cycle bolt again & place on safe, and safety works. Move safety switch to fire and I'll be damned if it didn't dry fire without me pulling the trigger.

So I repeat the check a couple more times and sure enough- everytime you try and pull the trigger while the safety is engaged the second you take the safety off it will fire without the trigger pulled.

Is this gun fubar? I don't know if the problem is with the bolt or the trigger.

[Bluto Blutarsky]

Sounds like something is worn, broken, or missing in the trigger group or the safety. Are the trigger and safety parts original, or were some parts changed or modified when the rifle was sporterized. I don't know much about the inner workings of a Springfield, but aside from the safety they're basically a Mauser copy.

I'd suggest disassembly and inspection of all parts. If nothing is obviously worn or broken at first glance, compare the parts in question to parts from another Springfield in good working order.

[McSull]

http://forums.thecmp.org/archive/index.php/t-43587.html

[39flathead]

Being a sporter, I'm betting some bubba did a trigger job with his wife's nail file and a dremmel.

Brownells used to sell a 1903 action "rebuild" kit, maybe they still do.

[ExFlyinguy]

Thanks guys that is super helpful!! I was guessing it might have been a trigger job gone wrong. The bolt has been jeweled and looks pretty nice.

I found this on eBay of all places

[ExFlyinguy]

Thanks to the tips so far, I field stripped the rifle and though I have not disassembled the bolt, I am 90%ish sure that the problem is in the safety itself not properly holding the striker/firing pin in the rear most position. After doing a little cleaning and oiling the safety has almost no function at all now. It fires regardless of where I position the on/off selector. So I'm getting somewhere although going in the wrong direction

Additional note. The YouTube videos that I watched showed a different safety lever which looked to rotate/throw in a Clockwise/Counter-clockwise manner. This one slides horizontally left to right through the bolt shroud.

[Hawk]

I've never seen a safety like that on a M1903A3 or even a M1903. Can you post pictures of the rest of the rifle?

[ExFlyinguy]

I've never seen a safety like that on a M1903A3 or even a M1903. Can you post pictures of the rest of the rifle?

sure can-

[Bang]

No way is that a stock safety. The issue safety has lever at the rear that swings from being detented at 90 degrees to the left, detented to 12 o'clock, and detented at 3 o'clock.

I did a trigger job on my sporterized 03 many years ago, which resulted in a condition where if you pull the trigger with the safety at 12 o'clock, the firing pin will slightly advance and hang. Moving the lever either way from 12 o'clock in that condition will result in a firing pin advancing to fire position.

My rifle has a safety issue per se, but preventable if the operator is cautioned not to pull the trigger when the safety is at 12 O'clock. 12 O'clock position in not meant to be a safe or a fire position to begin with. Warning...I'm saying all this from memory, but I am pretty sure it is accurate.

From the photo posted, it appears the military safety has been replaced with a cross-bolt type safety that prevents the firing pin cocking piece from slipping forward when the trigger is pulled when in the safe position. It may have been done to accommodate a scope, which would make the stock safety lever a pain in the ass.

ETA: Just remembered...there was an aftermarket safety modification kit that changed the 180 degree safety lever to a lever that was to the left and movement of the lever was about 35 degrees.

[Gunsnwater]

12 o'clock is a safe position. It alows cycling all the ammo out as it doesn't lock the bolt.

O.P. I'd reccomend going with an original safety.