Demons from the past...at the Gunshow!

  I've got a 03-A3 that I am trying to sort out.  First match, it spit up the ejector, then the rear sight fell apart.  At Perry 2007 it shot well in spots but with the worst second stage trigger I have ever pulled.  You could feel every tool mark on the cocking sear.  Third place in the 2007 Texas Championships.  2008 Perry in just about the same shape.  I fixed the front sight with a wide blade when the CMP said they were legal, then Gaby and Crawford did the trigger before the Texas Garand/Spingfield/Carbine/Vintage Championship.  Second place by a point to Tryce.  I ordered a "C" stock from the CMP and started waiting.

  So, Alan Wilson decides he's missing out on big fun and wants an 03-A3 to shoot in these matches.  The CMP is long out of rifles.  He's looking at one at Collectors firearms in Houston for 700.00.  Plus tax.  Plus shipping. Plus the FFL fee.

   At the Tyler gunshow and a Smith Corona Rock Island rebuilt-and-never-shot is laid out on a table.  Muzzle still blued.  Rear sight has positive clicks and sloid detents.  It gauges 1 1/2 at the muzzle and 1 in the throat.  700.00.  That's a good deal, though it's a shocker to anyone who bought these for 175.00 a few years ago.

  I get Alan on the phone and get a tentative go-ahead.  The dealer cuts the price to 650.00 and I'm standing in the crowd aiming at an overhead lighting fixture when I realize I am holding on to a C stock.  An original C stock.  (A "C" stock has a pistol grip.)  Holy gun smoke.  I write a check as fast as I can without melting the pen or setting the paper on fire.

  This is a hell of a rifle, needs only a wide front post.  It's such a good rifle that I had to calm myself down and make sure I called Allan to tell him what a worthless fool he was, but with wonderful gun-buying friends.  My rifle will never be as good as this one! 

  1943 barrel.  It been parked in storage since WWII.  Now it's going to live among Texans, friends and shoot competition.  Until Obama outlaws it, then we will turn it in to be crushed.