Member 1903/ 1903a3 Pictures

[Planning]

post your pictures of your 1903/1903a3 here, thanks

[wonderwolf]

1903 from the CMP. Pearl harbor dated barrel and I think the receiver is dated May of 42

I shot this in the high power match this past weekend...I need to do more stock work (boyds stock...YUCK). It worked great..bolt got just a little sticky at the last rapid fire stage. shot a 552 overall

[KMURPHY]

2 M1903A1's. Both Rock Island guns. One has a U.S.M.C. marked barrel (sledgely (sp?) barrel im told). pretty nice overall.:2pistol::2pistol:They look much better in person, i suck @ interweb pic posting

[97th Signalman]

I have posted this before but here is my July 1943 Remington 03A3. The photo with the target shows a 100 yard group. No other milsurp that I own shoots as well as this 03A3.

[rep30cal]

I have a 1943 Smith-Corona, it has a 6-43 date and a flaming bomb on
the barrel. I can't remember what the reciever dated as but I think it
was the same year.

Edit, my reciever number dates as a 1944, but it is a re-arsenal job.

[weasel_master]

I'll have to dig out my Rock Island. It's dated 1912 with the barrel being October 1918. It's got the brass kit in the buttstock as well. Serial number is too low to shoot but it's got a place in my heart.

[M1 Tanker]

03A3, Remington March 44 barrel on a 43 receiver.

2210

2211

2212

[k98k792]

Here is my Smith-Corona 03A3. It is a tack driver.

[Arizona Ranger]

Springfield 1903 Mark I 2244

[Norton]

My 7/44 dated Remington 03A3

[SLUF]

US M1903 Springfield Arsenal (all original) mfg 1933. Sling's a bit rough.

[drmsparks]

3.86 million serial number (July 1943)

Matching 6-43 barrel, MW about 1.5

Everything visible marked Remington.

When I came home with the box the wife's first comment was...Don't you already have one of those?

Her second comment was Wow, I think that's the prettiest rifle you own!


What do you think?

[KMURPHY]

that is real nice

[Norton]

My MK 1, it too is a tack driver. The stock has a cartouge that says 36 M (very faint) and a deep K I posted a side view so you can see the Pedersen device cut out
She is my favorite of all my rifles

[KMURPHY]

*Borat Voice* Wahwahweewah!

[nijwnfi]

I'll see those, and throw in a 1917 for good measure. 03 and 03A3 are CMP finds, 1917 was a local find, Winchester to boot.

[Norton]

Nice set you have there. Its always nice to find a Winchester rifle. I bet the Doughboy who drew that rifle had confidence it would shoot straight when the time came. One question I noticed the finish on your 03A3 is Silver/Grey. . My old 1943 dated Smith Corona 03A3 looked just like yours, My 1944 Remington 03A3 is nearly Black. Still other 03A3s look to have a Greenish tint Did the War department have two or three different finishes at different times or did companies such a Remington do what they wanted? My M1 Garand is Grey/Green, my Carbine is Blue/Black.
My Eddystone M 1917 Barrel is Blued with what looks like real Bluing.
Years ago I remember looking at all the M 1911s of all diferent makes in the Arms room with the armorer. We laid them out on a table and they went from nearly flat grey, Blue, close to Black and almost green. No two were alike.
What is the deal?

[nijwnfi]

The 03A3 was a Greek return rifle. They were typically re-arsenaled and re-finished in grey park. This one is a Remington, original barrel, that measured damn near zero on muzzle gauge. Looked like it was dipped in cosmo, worse one I've ever had to clean. Handguard still sweats a little when she heats up. The 03 is a Springfield, it's black park. I've since found another 1917. The receiver is scrubbed, but barrel is Winchester. I read somewhere these were sold to foreign countries. For $350 I got a tack driver is all I know.

[trigger643]

1927 National Match with original paperwork including invoice for rebarrel in 1934 and new stock in 1947

[Norton]

Wow.. Tigger that is nice, how did you get hold of it? What does paperwork say? My uncle had a what was called a 'NRA sporter' 1903 and it had those type of rear sights.
Are they simular rifles?

[97th Signalman]

Wow.. Tigger that is nice, how did you get hold of it? What does paperwork say? My uncle had a what was called a 'NRA sporter' 1903 and it had those type of rear sights.
Are they simular rifles?

Like Norton said, Trigger's NM Springield 03 is a great find...beautiful rifle.

[trigger643]

Beside military small arms 1900-1945, I also have a strong interest in match rifles and pistols 1930-1970.

I bought the gun in 2002 at Clark's Custom Guns in Bossier City from Jerry Miculek. It was on consignment there from an estate with many other competition weapons, several others of which I purchased (a 1968 Clark Hardball 1911, a Clark S&W 41).

At first glance there is a lot wrong with this rifle. It is a 1927 mfg dated receiver, but the barrel is 06-34. The stock is obviously a midwar replacement "C" type. The headless cocking piece is all buggered up with a washer brazed on the end. The barrel band is Remington, it has a JS bolt. The list goes on. I was pretty sure it was a fake.

I hemmed and hawed over the rifle for a couple of weeks and finally bought it "as a shooter", at a shooter's price. When I got it home I looked up the serial # on Springfield research service and it hit as a national match rifle so I sent off for the paperwork.

As the thing was wrong anyway, I would restore it. I had a few other '03s around and some extra parts including an NM checkered butt plate and NM checkered trigger and a correct barrel band, so I started swapping out parts.

When I removed the butt plate there in the upper storage compartment (not the oiler compartment accessable through the trap), was the original invoice from springfield on carbon paper listing the headless cocking piece and a "B" stock dated 1928, another invoice from Springfield dated 1934 for installing and headspacing a new barrel and return rifle to original owner in Alabama with old barrel and a receipt for a stock purchased in 1947 from the DCM. When the paperwork arrived from springfield, it was a photocopy of a stock card which aparently had been attached to the upper portion of the 1st invoice (there was no record of the 2nd invoice).

I put all the old parts back on the rifle.

I located the son of the deceased through Jerry and contacted him. He was retired and I went over to Minden and met with him for a wonderful afternoon. He showed me the "treasures" he'd kept out of his father's collection and the pile of junk he was going to sell on ebay... in the junk was a 1926 dated star gauged barrel, but no "B" stock...

His father had been a doctor in Alabama and apparently they had had a falling out at some point. When he died the son got all the guns, but his sisters (also estranged), got all the money and property. He did not recognize the 03 I'd bought from his youth and the names on the invoices were not those of his father. He must have acquired it at some later date. It's doubtful the barrel I bought was original to the rifle, but I picked it up anyway.

I purchased a 1914 vintage Springfield 1911 from him out of his next pile to go to Clark's on consignment.

I shot it a few times and it was extremely accurate.

In 2004 I was laid off and in the course of reorganizing my finances I decided to sell the guns out of my collection I felt were unshootable due to value. I didn't realize at the beginning that I would be under employed/unemployed for the next 30 months. My collection went from 242 down to just under 20. At least my bride got to see the proof of my investment liquidity.

As the original history of this gun unfolded, it was posted on the CSP Gun Talk forum back in 2002 and I had alot of help from the members there piecing together the legitimate modifications for competition that had been done to the rifle and that nothing about it was faked -- just altered by the original owner to conform to his needs. Even J.C. Harrison got in the act and after much head scratching decided the bolt was original to the rifle.

I sold the rifle to an advanced collector and member of that forum in 2004 and I have been told he has displayed it with many other NM rifles at Camp Perry. He told me at the time of sale he eventually intended his collection for the NRA museum. Who knows, maybe one day I'll see it there.

I have more pic's and scans of the paper work on a disc and when I find them, I'll be glad to post them. We just moved to Tennessee this summer, our 3rd move since 2004... and the boxes are daunting.

[Steve in PA]

My CMP 1903A3 that I bought a few years ago. Had it out to the range a couple of weeks ago.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d159/Steve_in_PA/Guns/1020071129.jpg

[Norton]

[QUOTE=Steve in PA;41671]My CMP 1903A3 that I bought a few years ago. Had it out to the range a couple of weeks ago.


Nice rifle Steve, The finish looks to be in very good shape from the photo. What make and year is it?

[trigger643]

Ya Steve, beautiful rifle. Hard to tell from the pic's, but I'm guessig a really early Remington A3? I don't think Smith Corona ever got up to the quality yours exibits, but I'm often wrong :thumbup:

[Darkwatch]

I saw a really ugly bubba'd one at a local Gander Mtn here. It had this horrible stock on it but otherwise was in nice shape for $249.00. I actually thought about it. But I have too much on my plate right now to be trying to restore another gun.

[Steve in PA]

Its a 9/43 Remington, bought from the CMP a few years ago. I believe it was a Greek return due to the last 4 numbers of the serial number being etched on the bolt handle, but I don't believe it was ever fired. The rifle looked brand spanking new when I got it. I know some rifles were re-done by the Greeks, however this rifle looked factory new. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't but it was super nice and is very accurate.

[nowhereman]

Here's mine, everything is original accept the receiver and it needs a stacking swivel.

[Old Jimmy]

Planning, I cannot believe I went through this whole post and only saw 1 of your rifles. Was the wife gone with the keys to your bunker when you posted???

[Planning]

my 1903a3 after cleaning it up. 1st post in this thread. my grandson is learning the fine art of cleaning cosmolene off a rifle. i disassmbled the rifle and he started cleaning the metal. i worked on the stock for a day when i notice a crack in the stock forearm, so i remembered i may have a stock set somewhere and we started looking. that was yesterday, this morning we found it. i cannot find the upper hand guard yet ( it matches the stock), but it is there somewhere. so after a lot of cleaning and scrubbing on the stock ( no sanding) a light coat of BLO. here it is.
it turned out a nicer looking rifle than i thought it would be. the barrel is like new. built 5-43, REMINGTON model 03-A3. all parts marked remington. the finish is blued looking, not parked. the finish on the rifle is about 98%, but it is hard to tell in the picture.

[97th Signalman]

Nice looking 03A3 Planning. I like the scant stock. It will look even better if you can find the handguard that matches it. I'm glad that I'm not the only guy who can't find half the stuff he has squirreled away.

By the way, how commonn is it to find these rifles blued? Just about every one that I have seen has been parkerized. Mine has a kind of green tinted park job on the receiver and the bolt is a dull black.

[Planning]

Nice looking 03A3 Planning. I like the scant stock. It will look even better if you can find the handguard that matches it. I'm glad that I'm not the only guy who can't find half the stuff he has squirreled away.

By the way, how commonn is it to find these rifles blued? Just about every one that I have seen has been parkerized. Mine has a kind of green tinted park job on the receiver and the bolt is a dull black.

this is the first one i have found that looks all blued, it came from CMP that way. i have seen some that had parts that were blued, but not everything blued.
i have some others, but i don't where they are. i will try to find them and look at the finish on them.

i looked up the serial # and the rifle was built in july 1943.

[MJ11]

:America::thumbup::America:

That is a nice looker.

....MJ....

[97th Signalman]

this is the first one i have found that looks all blued, it came from CMP that way. i have seen some that had parts that were blued, but not everything blued.
i have some others, but i don't where they are. i will try to find them and look at the finish on them.

i looked up the serial # and the rifle was built in july 1943.



My Remington 03A3 was built in March of 1943.

[Planning]

i couldn't stand it, i worked on the original stock and handguard and put it back on it. it has a lot of armory stamps on it, it is a replacement stock and is stamped with the rifles's serial # over another #. it is the correct stock for this rifle. it was very time consuming because i did not want to mess up any of the stamps on the wood, but it ended up looking good to me. i may replace the handguard on it later, if i can find one that matches the stock closer.
i don't know why the picture makes the metal look parked, because it is dark blued

i actually like the feel and look of the other stock better. i think i have some more of these rifles in one of my safe so i will look for them later.

[jersurf101]

here are a couple of pics of my Smith-Corona 03a3. 4.7 million serial number range which seems to put the receiver built late in 1943. It was reworked by the armory and sold through the dcma. This is easily the best shooting rifle that I have! I love it.

[Otis61]

Nice!!! A riflemans rifle FOR SURE!!!

[rifleman]

nice, man i really want one of these. If i dont get the one off gunbroker then i'll be damned if i dont get one at the creek

[brian]

old stock pic.
never mind the krags, nobody cares for them.

the first 03(fourth down), is a 1917.
other 03 is from 12/29. might not look the best but it really shoots.
the two a3's are fresh from an arsenal overhaul.
one from march the other april both of '43.

[97th Signalman]

here are a couple of pics of my Smith-Corona 03a3. 4.7 million serial number range which seems to put the receiver built late in 1943. It was reworked by the armory and sold through the dcma. This is easily the best shooting rifle that I have! I love it.

That is a very fine looking Springfield 03A3. Like yours, mine is also my best shooter out of dozens of rifles that I own. They really are great rifles. I'm glad that I got one when I did. Now, you have inspired me. I think mine deserves to go with me on my next trip to the range.

[Otis61]

old stock pic.
never mind the krags, nobody cares for them.

Not true not true. I think they'er very cool pieces of history. At the time they were one of the best rifles you could get. Too bad We couldn't get our act together to get our own design till we got the 1903. Oh wait a minute I forgot We stole that one from Mauser.

[rifleman]

Reserving this spot for my new purchase! Yes i have a problem, and gunbroker is hard to stop.
yehaw

[apachedawg]

Here's my 1903A3 Remington 5-44 barrel date with flaming bomb stamp. I don't know the date on the receiver.

[Otis61]

Very cool. I love those old guns.

[Planning]

a couple of my 1903a3's
the first is a remington ( the metal finish is near 98%) i may buy a new stock for it ( i will keep the old stock for later)

the second is a rock island ( my dad got it new in the wrapper in 1960 for $10.00, he hand carved the stock for it, he worked on it for months) i can convert it back, but i think i am leaving it alone. he fired 3 rounds thru it to site it in. it was his back up rifle when deer hunting, but never shot it while hunting.

[madmikes]

I have one its a smith corona 1944 heavy target barrel and redfield match sights it was a marine corp gun.

[Otis61]

Nice ones planning. I like the stock of the remington like it is. And I can understand why you would want to leave the R.I. alone. I think I'd probly do the same thing.

[jdub3]

This is awkward. But, it is really a good gun. It has all original parts accept the stacking swivel and bayo lug. My WWII vet gunsmith headspaced it b/f he passed and said "this is a damn good gun..." It is very accurate too.

[jmcdade03]

Here is mine....It was a It started out as a Remington M1903A3 in 1942. At somepoint Bubba got a hold of and sporterized it. It was eventually restored by a professional and sold to me at a gun show last month. Today I got to shoot it finally.

It is a mix match gun....The barrell is dated April 1943.I applied Tung Oil to the wood to give it a better look.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e72/JMcDade03/DSCN0058.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e72/JMcDade03/DSCN0059.jpg

After I put tung oil on the stocks. The camera does't do justice...it is actually a medium brown now.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e72/JMcDade03/DSCN0066.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e72/JMcDade03/DSCN0064.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e72/JMcDade03/DSCN0060.jpg

Other shooters at the lake brought out their Mosin-Nagants...being a proud member of the Armed Forces I pulled out the 1903A3 out and started engaging targets in the water.

Needless to say, I shot my 2 targets, then shot another three that mosin shooters were having issues with. They were upset but I was too busy being impressed to care.

I may drive Japanese, but I shoot American!

[72guns92]

found a picture of my 1903,also has my 1896 Krag and 1917 Eddystone,semper fi

[cwo4uscgret]

This is my Springfield 1903 Mk 1; rebarreled in September, 1942 with a Springfield barrel. There are hardly any markings anywhere on the gun other the serial number and barrel date code. It is a very clean rifle I paid $350 for...

http://iwantthatknife.com/Gallery/albums/WWII-Knives/springfield.sized.jpg
http://iwantthatknife.com/Gallery/albums/WWII-Knives/springfield_sn.sized.jpg
http://iwantthatknife.com/Gallery/albums/military_guns/springfield_barrel_jpeg.sized.jpg
http://iwantthatknife.com/Gallery/albums/military_guns/springfield_rear_sight_jpeg.sized.jpg
http://iwantthatknife.com/Gallery/albums/military_guns/springfield_bolt_jpeg.sized.jpg

[ppknut]

This is my Springfield 1903 Mk 1; rebarreled in September, 1942 with a Springfield barrel. There are hardly any markings anywhere on the gun other the serial number and barrel date code. It is a very clean rifle I paid $350 for...

http://iwantthatknife.com/Gallery/albums/WWII-Knives/springfield.sized.jpg
http://iwantthatknife.com/Gallery/albums/WWII-Knives/springfield_sn.sized.jpg
http://iwantthatknife.com/Gallery/albums/military_guns/springfield_barrel_jpeg.sized.jpg
http://iwantthatknife.com/Gallery/albums/military_guns/springfield_rear_sight_jpeg.sized.jpg
http://iwantthatknife.com/Gallery/albums/military_guns/springfield_bolt_jpeg.sized.jpg

I noticed you've got the front site cover attached. I was wondering how many of you shoot with the cover on. I have found it distracting.

[97th Signalman]

Thats a super clean Springfield that cwo4 posted. You got a great buy for that price.

I too find it distracting to shoot with the front sight protector. It is especially troublesome on my 03a3 because of how the sight guard appears in my rear aperture sight...it's sort of makes me wonder which ring to use in centering my front sight post. Therefore, I often take it off at the range for that reason.

[Oxmix]

MK 1

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/Oxmix/Collection/IMG_1527.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/Oxmix/Collection/IMG_1529.jpg

Regards

Ox

[Buckshot]

Some really nice pictures on this post! I only have a couple of Springfield 1903-A3s. The first 3 pictures are of a Remington, correct, really great condition with nice cartouches (including the FJA on the side
of the stock), 2 groove riflle barrel. The last two pictures are a restored Smith Corona, with a new (old) milsurp 1944 Remington 2 groove barrel. It is a also a true C&R gun with no reproduction parts.
The two groove barrels were made during WW2 to cut costs and production time. Every article I can find say they are just as accurate as the 4 groove barrels.

[MJ11]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/montereyjack/9ecbb3ce.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/montereyjack/2494f423.jpg