1903-a3 what are your thoughts on this one?

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Man, that looks like a nice specimen. If all numbers match it's even nicer. But as is would be fine for me. I have one now, made by Remington. I want to find another one with a better finish. Then I'd keep that one as a collector and sporterize this one I have, because it has major issues with its finish. Also the stock has been sanded so hard it lost its original shape. But I'm not touching it until i get another one in hand. The thing that gets me when I look at a rifle like this on here and see the price, I remember back in the 60s when my friend's dad got one in the mail (Yes the mail, rememeber prior to the Gun Control Act of 1968, you could recieve firearms through the mail.) and it cost them about $25-$30. Now I see this one for $795? LOL! My how times change.
 
It was commercially built, I would want to know who is doing the assembly. No collector value. For the money and maybe less you could have a very nice US Arsenal rebuilt rifle. JMO
 
I would buy one today if I had the money...... collector value is not important to me.... but it is just a beautiful rifle.....
 
I think if it says professionally refurbished would hint that it might be done more closely to original and my help its value. And lightly finished would tell me that it was just finished enough to get it back into original condition and no more. Wait and see how it looks. It may look pristine.
 
A new park job on a sows ear will look good.
Looks mean very little. I would be more concerned if it were built on a drill receiver.
 
To me, being built with a new USGI barrel and having the pistol grip were big sellers but they do have the straight stock as well. Also I have been wanting a true 1903 for awhile but kind of scared to have one where their metallurgy was lacking even in the good ones.
 
That price seems high for a 'not original' rifle. Then again, I got mine for a song.

How it shoots might be worth every penny, do let us know.
 
Looks like a "scant" stock to me, not a real pistol grip stock. Am I seeing it wrong?
I had one which was a junk yard dog built from parts, and it was a great rifle, very accurate.
CHAZ
 
I have an original Smith 03A3 from the days of the DCM (CMP) It shoots like a dream. $795 might be a little pricey but you will enjoy the gun. Put it up and see what it's worth in 10-15 years from now.
 
Looks like a nice shooter, kinda pricey, but EVERYTHING IS these days. This is the one gun that I don't own, one day. I too am not overly concerned with the collector side, I'm a shooter....
 
I think it will be a nice rifle. It is a scant stock. I bought a 1903A3 off a CMP guy for 700.00....straight stock, its rearsenal by OG, but everything looks original to me including the 11-43' 2 groove barrel with MW-0. I like the nice kick it has.
 
Man, that looks like a nice specimen. If all numbers match it's even nicer.
Click to expand...
The ad copy says it's a Smith-Corona receiver with a 2-groove Remington barrel. So it's by no means original.

On the other hand, all-orginal Springfields are very rare, since almost all of them went through two or three arsenal re-builds.
 
In actuality the rifle already has collector value to a whole generation of shooters who are just entering the market. Any nice old milsurp, matching or not is going up in value not down.
 
Ok so the rifle is in! on the plus side it has a very good barrel, trigger, and bolt. ON the bad side the stock has a chip repair at the rear trang
Which is something you would hope they would not try to sneak by a guy that just plunked down 795. The receiver is off a drill rifle as you can see where the weld was removed from the mag cutoff area. It also has a smooth butt plate and very thin blade front sight and I am not sure if these things are USGI or not. I have cleaned it up and applied some blo to the stock and I do like the way it looks. I hope it is a shooter too!:cool:
 
So pricey in my opinion. I can get a nice new Bolt Action Remington 700 with scope for that price.
 
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