[Full MeTal Jack]

Fouond another lonely old 1903 at a pawn shop. It diffinately has been used. Bore looked used and dirty. Took a chance. Bore is like a sewer pipe :grumble::cussing:.
Question: Looked at year of production for serial number. Serial # 3,270,100. Production chart showed it was an 03-A3. Check n C. Deffinately 03.

Would this be because of production overrun of 03s when Remington switched to the A3? :surprised:
bTw gave $450 for it.

 

[Felix's Tattoo]

Remington-built 1903s

Jack, on p. 178 of Brophy's 'Book of the Springfield,' he mentions that "Serial numbers as high as 3,365,002 have been observed. Those manufactured after April 1942 were identified as M1903 (modified.) A total of about 350,000 of the Remington m1903 and M1903 (Modified) were manufactured.

If you don't know the difference between the two, let me know.

Regards,
Jim

 

[PAPA G]

If its 03(m)then the butt plate, stock bands, and trigger guard should be stamped. Unless a previous owner changed them.

 

[Full MeTal Jack]

Bolt is all Remington. Trigger is R. Yes the rifle is a mix of O3 parts like the front barrel band and barrel is RA 10-42. All other hardware is A3. Stock is an FJA.
Guess this would be a correct configuration for the year?

 

[jwrauch]

Nice find. Give that bore a good cleaning, you might be surprised.I have an 03A3 that I built from parts after a friend gave me an unissued GI barrel and I was able to score a recovered drill rifle receiver on Gunbroker. I've got around $300 in it and its a great shooter. JR

 

[Felix's Tattoo]

Bolt is all Remington. Trigger is R. Yes the rifle is a mix of O3 parts like the front barrel band and barrel is RA 10-42. All other hardware is A3. Stock is an FJA.
Guess this would be a correct configuration for the year?

After the decision was made to switch to the 03A3, further parts for both models were made by the stamping methods. Later 03s often had stamped parts as they became available and the milled parts ran out.

 

[Full MeTal Jack]

Thanks for the optimism. Bore pic is after a long cleaning. It's bad. New pic of muzzle with soft point bullet. It's not completely shot out. Will put some rounds down range and re clean.

 

[Full MeTal Jack]

After the decision was made to switch to the 03A3, further parts for both models were made by the stamping methods. Later 03s often had stamped parts as they became available and the milled parts ran out.

Thanks Felix's tattoo and thank Felix too.
That was my first thought when looking at serial # manufacture dates.

 

[Full MeTal Jack]

stray dogs

That's now 5 - 1903 / A3s. 1-sporterized in wildcat and 2 CMP Drill Rifle barreled actions. Guess it's like taking in stray dogs. :yikes:

 

[PAPA G]

Thanks for the optimism. Bore pic is after a long cleaning. It's bad. New pic of muzzle with soft point bullet. It's not completely shot out. Will put some rounds down range and re clean.

long as you get minute of soldier accuracy your good to go!arty:

 

[Full MeTal Jack]

Maybe 4 minutes of Solider. Got the windage set. The ol girl had not been fired in eons and barrel looked terrible. Couple shots-cleaned barrel. Couple more-clean again. Picture is in the 20 shot range. Bore is better but still dark and pitted. She's still all over the place and that was with Korean mil-surp. Have to try the Prvi-Partizan 06 next go around.

 

[Felix's Tattoo]

Jack, have you considered replacing the barrel? There are lots of 03A3 barrels floating around out there. I built a minty-looking parts gun 1903, using an 03A3 barrel. Some barrels are just beyond help, that's all.

Of course the purists don't like that swapping of parts and such, but if you like the rifle, and want to make a good shooter out of it, rebarreling is certainly an option.

I think I still have an excellent 03A3 barrel in my stash. It had been put on a very early (1906) Springfield for use as a cast-bullet shooter. I found a correct date barrel and restored the Springfield.

 

[Full MeTal Jack]

Been looking at ebay, GB and Criterion. Hmm? Not sure for now. Since the barrel's scrap and paid a little more..... might just sit on it for a while. Got an wildcat, 8mm/338 winmag on a salvaged O3 RA receiver to finish.
That barrel is a rechambered ER Shaw 8 Rem mag.