[david_the_greek]

I'm looking to turn my 03a3 or m1 garand into a "sniper" type rifle. I have no experience with this and am lookin for opinions from anyone who's done it. Which rifle would be better? I guess its all personal preference. They are both gorgeous and accurate but I just can't decide and would like some info or contacts maybe to get some work done. I live in Detroit area.

[Jim Watson]

Well, of course if you alter your 03A3 or M1 into "sniper" configuration you will be destroying whatever collector and historical value they might have if left original. But they are your guns and it is your money.

An authentic conversion to really follow the specs of an 03A4 or M1D is frowned upon because of the high value of originals and the opportunity for fraud. Not by you, we know you are honest and dumb, but what about the next owner?

Just slapping a scope on a not previously altered military rifle is known as a Bubba job and is considered wasteful, but as above, they are your property.

[david_the_greek]

my garand is in darn good shape but it has no matching serial numbers of any kind

[cracked butt]

my garand is in darn good shape but it has no matching serial numbers of any kind

M1s are only serialed in one place: the receiver.

The 03A3 with a fresh barrel would be much better choice than an m!, they simply are much more accurate. If you watch Ebay, you can find mounts, rings, and 03A4 scopes occasionally. simply mounting the correct scope on a 03A3 doesn't make it an 03A4 sniper though. The 03A4 has a different trigger guard and will have a star guaged barrel. It might be a neat project just for fun, but the end result would actually be worth less than the original sum of the parts. You can't fake an 03A4 as the receiver stampings are much different than the 03A3.
I can't helpyou with the m1D as M1s just aren't accurate enough out of the box without major tuning to warrant mounting a scope on IMHO.

You would end up with a better shooting rifle for a lot less money by buying a remington 700 and mounting a quality scope on it.

[Jim Watson]

M1D barrel scope bases are available here and there.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=244564

Now you need a 7/8" tube scope. The M81 and M82 GI scopes are Lyman Alaskans, which are reasonably available.
A couple on ebay right now, though not the military model.
http://sporting-goods.search.ebay.com/lyman_Scopes-Optics-Lasers_W0QQfcclZ1QQfclZ4QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQsacatZ31710QQsapplZ1

A real surplus one here, though probably off an 03A4 instead of M1D, lacking the rubber eyeshade used on the M1.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Lyman-Alaskan-M82-WW11-Sniper-Rifle-Scope_W0QQitemZ7224081051QQcategoryZ31714QQtcZphotoQQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Picture of M1C &D mounted scopes
http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/m1sight.htm

[retnav05]

You can get brand new 03A3 barrels from Sarco, inc. www.sarcoinc.com I have an invoice from 11/02. It cost 95.00. Plus freight, back then.

[USSR]

The 03A4 has a different trigger guard and will have a star guaged barrel.

No star guaged barrels on 03-A4's. They quit star guaging barrels sometime in the 1920's or early 1930's, and the 03-A4's weren't built until the 1940's.

Don

[MechAg94]

Why do you want to hunt snipe?

I would suggest getting an entirely different bolt gun in 30.06 instead of altering either of those rifles. The CMP just ran out of 03A3's so the value won't be going down.

[Gewehr98]

The 03A4 has a different trigger guard and will have a star guaged barrel.

The Remington M1903A4 sniper uses the same stamped unitized triggerguard as the 1903A3. The earlier M1903 and M1903A1 used the milled triggerguard unit with detachable floorplate.

The M1903A4 sniper does, however, have a different bolt handle to clear the scope.

There were no star gauged barrels on M1903A4 rifles, either. As a matter of fact, it is entirely appropriate to find 2-groove barrels on original M1903A4 sniper rifles. Based on War Department tests, accuracy was found to be no worse than when using 4-groove barrels.

If your M1903A3 is completely original, or can be returned to original condition relatively easily, I implore you to sell it (preferably to me) and use the money to build a precision rifle on something else. There aren't a whole lot of nice original M1903A3 rifles left in the wild, compared to when sporterizing (Bubba-izing) was really popular 50 years ago. Hence the prices now being asked for M1903A3 rifles in issue condition. :o

[cracked butt]

The Remington M1903A4 sniper uses the same stamped unitized triggerguard as the 1903A3.

The 03A4 trigger guard should have an extra tab of metal behind the front screw to reinforce it and spread the pressure on the stock to a larger area, but I guess it would be wrong to make a blanket statement to say that they all will have them.

I didn't know about the barrels or even that they used 2-grooves on the sniper models, I learned something new today:) I have a 2-groove on my 03a3 and its an outstanding shooter.