I've been looking for an 03A3 for a while. Fair amount around, but all locally seemed to be $750 on up. Some on the boards for less, but I still like to see what I'm buying sometimes. Anyway, I got to go to the Tulsa gunshow last weekend. Picked up a Rem 4/43, great shape for $560. About 3 weeks ago I had ordered a Stoneaxe ME/TE gage for the 03's. Got here the day after a local show, but figured I'd still have it for the Tulsa show. Of course I left it at home!!. So I measured it when I got home (as soon as I walked in the door), ME/2, TE/1.5. Whew! Then I went around measuring all my ME's on my other 30 cals.

M1 Garand         4.5
M1 Carbine        4.5
Savage 10FP     2.5
30-30                1.5
Mont. Ward 06   8.5

Kinda fun running around gauging everything. Tried the K31, wouldn't even start into the bore. Even tho I reload with .308 bullets, not sure what the exact bore ID is. Was really surprised with the old Montgomery Ward Hawthorne 760 rifle. ME/8.5 was a lot higher than I'd dreamed it would be. I don't deer hunt or shoot it anymore and haven't put it on paper for years. Might have to do that now to see how it actually shoots. At least the 03A3 turned out good! Greg

Comparing throat erosion from one rifle to another and certainly to different commercial rifles is not a relative measurement. A lot depends on exactly which reamer was used and what it measured when it was *new*.

For instance, your Montgomery Ward rifle may have started out with a throat reading of 6, who knows? With GI rifles and barrels the comparison is more relative and informative, but comparing all of them to a commercial rifle with unknown rounds down it is worthless.

Bottom line on all of it, how does it shoot. I have seen rifles with severely eroded throats and questionable muzzles shoot well. I have also seen rifles with "good" numbers shoot like crap.

You never know.

Case in point:

www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=6&f=6&t=197101

Oops, reread it Rebel. I never checked any throat erosion....this specific gauge can only check TE on an 03/03A3. But you can check muzzle erosion on any .30 cal bbl. This is all I checked, just ME. Greg

Gotcha.

However, go read that link. The better shooting of the two barrels he has is the one with more muzzle erosion.

You never know till you put it on paper.

Thats what I said in the original post. I'll have to go put it on paper "to see how it shoots". And I have read that link before. Still, I was surprised at that high of ME. But I've had that rifle for probably 35 years, and it was used when Dad bought it for me for Christmas. And in all honesty, I've probably only been using bore guides on my rifles for the last 10(?) years. Probably less. Didn't know about such a new fangled thing like a bore guide until I spent some time on the computer reading all the forums. So you could probably cut the bore guide time in half. I'm still trying to get a lot of my friends to understand how much better it is to use one. Most of them have at least gone to a coated rod. I think this shows a perfect example of what cleaning from the muzzle end can do to a bore. If in fact that is the reason for the high ME, which I can't help but feel it is. Thats why I'm very pleased with a 2 on the Rem 03A3. Weren't too many bore guides used on these. So, I've got the 03A3 to shoot now, plus the Monkey Ward. And I know after looking at the Garand bbl with a Bore Scope, I need to put it on paper too. The bbl looks like sewer pipe. Need to see how bad its affected by all that pitting. Was surprised it only had an ME of 4.5 as bad as the bore looked. It'll be interesting on this one too how well it shoots. Thanks for the replies. Greg