Will a Ruger rifle barrel fit on a 03a3 Springfield action?

[twoforks]

Will a Ruger rifle barrel fit on a 03a3 Springfield action?

[Amflyer]

Nope.

[Edward J. Palumbo]

These rifle barrels & receivers are threaded differently; the Ruger appears to be 16V turns per inch, and the Springfield is 10 square TPI. No, they are not interchangeable.

[twoforks]

Thanks for the information.

[Edward J. Palumbo]

You might consider E.R. Shaw or G.R. Douglas for a new barrel. I found a military barrel for the 03/03A3 in unused condition on eBay for $120.

[DakotaMan]

Agree with all above. If the barrel has a large enough contour in the chamber area, there is a slight chance that a gunsmith could cut the Ruger threads off and rethread it for the O3-A3, cutting the chamber slightly deeper to accommodate this. This would also eliminate any wear that may be present on the lands of the barrel, making it more like new.

An O3-A3 is a very good and accurate receiver. It is worth putting a good barrel on it if you want accuracy. Of course you should glass/pillar bed the action to get the most accuracy out of it.

[FirstBubba]

I beg to differ!
Any barrel can be made to fit any receiver! ...IF...you have enough money!

But the folks above are actually correct! Lot's cheaper AND easier to just buy a barrel blank or already threaded to your receiver.

[WA Mtnhunter]

Why not invest in a new barrel to fit the receiver instead of paying a gunsmith for work that may not turn out to be such a hot lick?

[twoforks]

Thanks again for all the information and ideas. The 03a3's barrel is in bad shape and I have a Ruger 270 barrel from another rifle that if it would fit I would use it. I already have two 30-06's one being a Remington 03a3. Thanks again.

[DakotaMan]

I'm not sure how you save money by buying a new barrel if you don't need to. I like new barrels as much as the next guy but even an E.R. Shaw costs $175-$250 for a threaded, chambered barrel. The gunsmith still has to trim it, head space it and put it on for about $125. That's $300 to $375 all in.

If you have a good shooting .270 barrel and you like it, I'm guessing he gunsmith fee would be about $150-$200 to move the chamber ahead, cut the threads, head space and install.

Then again, you could get a nice fluted Krieger installed for about for about $700.

[WA Mtnhunter]

So how do you know the Ruger .270 barrel shoots well? Why was it removed in the first place?

You can't argue with cheap. Always fall back to my old chief engineer's saying, "We don't have budget or schedule to do it right the first time, but we'll damn sure have time and money to rework it." LOL!

[DakotaMan]

WAM, I don't consider moving the chamber ahead to be "doing it wrong". That alternative is used by benchrest shooters all the time to get more life out of their expensive barrel.

I think the point is that if twoforks would be willing to spend about $200 installing a used Ruger .270 barrel, it would probably be better to spend another $200 and get a great barrel for that great receiver. He/she would then probably have a real shooter instead of an average shooter.

However, if twoforks is not interested in spending any money, it is a mute point. For $200 or so, a good hunting rifle can be had. For #400 or more, a great rifle can be had.

[DakotaMan]

Sorry... $400, not #400.

[WA Mtnhunter]

DM,
My point should have been more clear. Spending coin on a barrel that may not shoot well and having to replace it is not cost effective, nor is burning up a bunch of ammo at today's price and availability to find out that it doesn't shoot well. There was a period when Ruger was outsourcing barrels to several shops and gained a reputation for crappy accuracy along the way. Perhaps that is the reason the .270 barrel was removed in the first place. You can't fix a crappy barrel any more than you can make chicken salad out of chicken s***. Cheers

[DakotaMan]

WAM! I concur and that is a good point. That is why I felt it would only be a good alternative if you know the barrel is good. Gunsmithing seems so expensive today that re-using barrels is a dicey proposition. Thanks for the clarification.