1903...Bubba'd or a beauty?

[cheeze]

Really nice '03! Beauty in my eye. Back in the day, that was a common, cheap rifle (as in $15.00). This was the chance for lots of common folks with rag-tag rifles to pick up a top-notch high quality piece of workmanship for next to nothing. Of course, most of those people had no need for a military rifle, they needed a hunting rifle, so they modified them to suit their needs. That's exactly the point, correct? A rifle is a tool and if the tool doesn't fit the task, you modify it to work, or get another. Look at what we're doing to AKs, FALs, etc... 80 years from now, folks will be calling you AK modifiers "Bubba".

My grandpa put a '03-a3 on a rinehart fagen monte-carlo stock and left it otherwise stock. That was the gun he and his family used and was proud of. I figure get a gun you want, change it however you like, and to heck what other people think. I wouldn't mod an '03-a3 today, but I sure would have back then, as many of us would.

 

[tahunua001]

I'm usually against sporterizing rifles that would be worth upwards of $600 in any other condition but that is a pretty splendid job.

 

[Joshua M. Smith]

So, what do you say?

<pics snipped>

Colt, you didn't get that from Bass and Bucks, did you? If not, its twin is sitting there, old-style reticle 'scope and all, in .300 Win Mag.

I've almost bought it several times, but the caliber keeps turning me off. I'd want to put it back into an original stock and use a period sniper's 'scope, but I don't do anything with the .300 and have no need for anything that powerful around here.

I guess I like them in their original stocks, just because I have more to work with, but I'm not fanatical about it by any means.

Regards,

 

[HavelockLEO]

looks dead sexy to me. and very very far away from Bubba, his hacksaw and his imagination.
This rifle looks to have been worked on by someone with the knowledge to do their work well. Easy on the eyes and functional(accurate) has a beauty all its own.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Joshua,

No, my rifle is not the same as the one you saw...Mine is still an '06.

Havelock,

You are correct. The man who did this rifle did some skilled work. I need to take some detailed pics of the mods made....For instance, the bolt was modified. It not longer has the knob on the back or the safety on the bolt. It now has a crossbolt style trigger block safety in the trigger guard. The scope mounts are also unique and machined to fit to the gun. They may even have been made just for the rifle.

 

[Jim Watson]

We definitely need those closeup pictures.
Removal of the cocking piece knob takes some knowhow, not just a hacksaw; and a crossbolt safety like Muh Scattergun is a lot of work on a bolt action.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Here are some pics. I recently purchased the rifle and do not know who the gunsmith was. I'd guess from the style of the rifle, the work was done sometime in the 60's.

The trigger guard safety and modified bolt:

 

[ColtPythonElite]

.......................

 

[ColtPythonElite]

A good crown job on a nicely turned down barrel:

 

[joed]

Looks nice to me. I'm not a fan of early 20th century military firearms. In fact I see them as nothing more then tomato stakes. This one is the first I've ever liked, and that says alot.

 

[wojownik]

Tragically bubba'd. A fine piece of history turned into a plain old hunting rifle.

The work technically appears to be very good, and aesthetically a nice job, but to me it just defacing a classic in its own right.

But, just my own opinions. A man can do whatever he like to his own property, I suppose.

 

[strykerfire]

its a shame. They did her like that, they did it to alot of them But that only makes my original Remington 03 A1 b ring a premium price tag.