Doing Penance, One Sporter At A Time
Dan Briggs’ passion for military rifles started 60 years ago in Dixon, Illinois. “I bought my first Springfield ’03 at Montgomery Ward,” Dan says. “Two friends and I went down in an old dark basement where the guns were. We decided we were going to get some real rifles.” Dan remembers paying $49, with no background check: “Give ‘em the cash and walk out. Those were wonderful days. I feel sorry for kids who never got that experience.” Dan’s father knew Bob Reese, who bought de-militarized equipment from Rock Island Arsenal, weapons cut up with torches and sold as scrap. But Reese recognized the value of the parts that could be removed and sold. “We loved to go over there and dig through his stuff,” Dan says. “We’d hang around there in the summertime.” Reese was a true visionary when he bought another gun company and turned it into Springfield Armory, which builds the iconic M1A. Dan also had a transformation and became a self-described basement gunsmith, sporterizing the classics. Because ‘03s were once considered to be surplus, nobody realized what treasures they had. “I cut up a bunch and now I regret it,” he says. “Whenever I find a sporter I can recapture, I feel like I’m making amends. They’re not making any more of those, and they have to be preserved as they were.” Here’s how he resurrects them: “I tear ‘em down completely to bare receiver and barrel. I check out the bore, gauge the barrel, make sure the throat, rifling, and muzzle are good. If that’s a good starting point, I go through it piece by piece. I check the headspace, and usually the trigger groups are unaltered.” The internet is a magical place for the gun cognoscenti. “I get beautiful ’03 stocks for my recreations from a guy named Kevin Blackhurst at 1903partshop.com. We’re friends, just from the conversations we’ve had.” Dan really likes replicas of the Springfield sniper rifle. “If they’re built from original guns, it’s $5,000 – $7,000,” he says. “If people don’t want to pay it, I take a 1903, drill and tap the receiver, modify the bolt handle and they’re in it for about $1,500, depending on what they get the ’03 for.” Dan is entrusting this tradition of honoring the past to the next generation. He organizes matches at Red Cliffs Range for military rifles, and he’s already got recruits, such as Austin McPhail, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan. “Austin comes over and does a lot of work—he’s like a sponge,” Dan says. “I’ve just kinda directed him, and he’s learning more all the time. He bought his son a .223 rifle. I shortened the barrel and threaded it, and he got a javelina with it the first time out. “When he shows it to his friends, he says, ‘Yeah, this is a custom rifle built by Mr. Briggs.’” Dan laughs. “All I did was shorten the barrel and thread it!” His gunsmithing has become a hobby business, and he is still doing work for friends and club members. Contact Dan at (801) 580-2680 or gofst62@aol.com for more information. By Kevin Foster Cox
