I am told that the bolt handle was replaced to clear the scope and the barrel was cut and re-crowned as a part of the sporterization process.
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Thanks for the tip. I do need more fore and aft flexibility due to interference between the scope and the safety as you can see in the attached pictures of Dad's old rifle. In the top picture the safety is "ON" and the rifle wont fire but is is not all the way over to the right as it should be. I tried moving the scope back and forth but there is no way to get this scope to clear the safety.
Safety ON
Attachment 77402
Safety OFF
Attachment 77404
Attachment 77406
I too have a sporterized Springfield; mine is an 03A3 and was my grandfather's. I'm keeping an eye out for a good Lyman All American Permacenter scope for it. They're period scopes and the reticles stay centered. Contemporary to the Weaver.
A guy over on Cast Boolits had a Buehler Swing Safety laying around and sent it to me as a gift. Works great! Here are some pictures of it installed.
Attachment 79416
Attachment 79417
Attachment 79418
Great looking rifle!