doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Barney H. Worthen 1903 listed on GB [link]

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=332632053
This is supposed to be a Barney H. Worthen 1903 Sporter. It needs a lot of TLC but doesn't most of them? GOOD LUCK.

ps. I have no interest in said gun,nor do I know the seller.

You'd think if someone was serious about selling the thing they'd take some time and post a few pictures of it.

Damn shame to see a later Springfield 1903 with two groove barrel with signs of neglect and abuse- strange, the stock is not Acra-=Glass bedded, and trigger (copy of the Mauser 98 style) not replaced with a Timney--

That one would be a real test of a restorer's skill. Replacing the recoil pad with a butt plate would leave the stock too short for most people I should think. I doubt Barney had a heavy hand with a buffing wheel so as to blur the receiver markings, which prompts me to wonder if it hasn't gone through one 'restoration' already, in the hands of Bubba. Is it my imagination or does it appear to have originally had a G&H side mount, replaced with the ever more proletarian Weaver side mount?

I'm not one to post a query concerning a current auction (preferring to discuss such things in private), but since the 'cat's out of the bag' it does pose some interesting points of discussion.

I saw this this morning and ran right over here. I don't have Michael's book handy and that is the first time I have seen a jeweled bolt handle. Doesn't seem to go with the classic 1903 Sporter aesthetic. I suppose it's "aftermarket" work?

I can't tell, did the stock have to be relieved for the side mount?

Looks like a four groove to me..

two grooves, two lands is what I see.

I will enjoy watching this one. Might be in my price range (but I will NOT be bidding).

What I see is one land coming to the muzzle at about 1 o'clock, one at about 10 o'clock, one at about 7 o'clock and one at about 4 o'clock. That is four if I am not seeing double.

Herschel. I don't know those guns at all, but if there is a land, there has to be a groove. So, I see four things spiraling down the barrel. Two have to be lands, two have to be grooves. Lands and grooves look like they are about equal width.

At least that is what I see.

The rifle itself looks like a fairly simple restoration.
Unlike most candidates around, not that many holes to fill.
I vote 4 groove.