1903 with 1903a3 Barrel,Opinions? Advice Welcome.

Status
Not open for further replies.

trigger753

Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2006
Messages
13
I have a Remington 1903 with a June 1942 receiver, but it has a Remington barrel dated 2-44. From what I have learned from a previous post the barrel is a 1903a3 barrel. My question is can I have a 1903 barrel installed on it? Is the receiver modified to fit the 1903a3 barrel or the barrel modified to fit the receiver, or both? The shop I bought it from has offered a full refund or if I am interested I can purchase it as is for 200.00 I paid 500.00 originally. Other than the barrel the rifle is in much better condition than any I have seen at the local gun shows lately. And it was several hundred dollars cheaper to boot. Here are some pictures
http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c352/trigger753/?action=view
Let's here the advice and opinions.
Thanks. Trigger
 
You are just jerking our chain? It appears you have pretty much an
original 1903 Remington. The 1944 barrel could be a replacement;
or could be original. There are Springfield experts on this forum that will
let both of us know. Buy it.
 
No Kidding-Serious Question

What I have found out about it is it was presented to a relative of the previous owner from an American Legion Post in the early 60's. He dose not belive it has been modified or even fired since then. I'm just trying to figure out why a 1903a3 barrel is on it. And why it was done back then when 03 barrels were available. I am going to drop it off at a gunsmith this week to have everything checked out. It seem to be in fantastic condition.
I would like to know if the receiver had to be altered to install the current barrel. If can find a correct barrel I would consider changing it.
Good deals happen, but until it's proven I'm a bit leary.
 
It looks to me that the barrel is a 1903 barrel; which is correct for
this rifle. The 03-A3 barrel does not have a sight sleeve or rear sight.
The rear sight on the 03-A3 is a peep type arrangement located on
the rear receiver ring.
go on gunbroker.com and auction arms.com and look at both type
of springfields.
 
It's a very late M1903, truthfully.

And falls in the serial range of what were called M1903(M), for Modified, as produced by Remington using M1903 parts as they tooled up to produce the M1903A3 version during the war. Why the barrel is off by two years is a matter of conjecture - it could've been rearsenaled at a later date, or perhaps the receiver sat for a while prior to final assembly. Regardless, the barrel may indeed be a 1903A3 barrel, but the 1903 rear sight sleeve has already been installed, making it for all intents and purposes a 1903 barrel. (Minor differences in the front sight fitment between 1903 and 1903A3)

The Remington M1903 (M) rifles turn up from time to time, using the search function here I've seen at least a couple others with serial numbers very close to yours. Note that some historians argue that there was really no 1903 (M) variant, because Remington was in a constant state of product improvement as they transitioned from 1903 to 1903A3 production. So you'll see a variety of different parts and pieces on the 1903 (M) variant as Remington sought to streamline their production capabilities. Discussion of that here:

http://www.jouster.com/cgi-bin/03/03config.pl?noframes;read=37965

The Springfield Historical Society website lists specimens by serial number and their disposition. While your rifle isn't in there (you have to add it to their database) one rifle fairly close to yours in serial range shows issue to the Lake Erie American Legion post.

At any rate, it's a nice specimen of a transitional M1903 Springfield as made by Remington early in WWII, just prior to the changeover to M1903A3 production. I'd leave it in exactly the condition you found it, because I'd wager there's some historical significance as to why that receiver has a 1944 barrel installed. It won't hurt to take the action out of the stock and take a look at the barrel sleeve/barrel junction, particularly the metal finish, and see if you can tell whether it was a later barrel retrofit or left Remington that way.
 
It looks like a perfectly normal Remington 1903.
I don't know about that "previous post" but it sure looks like the barrel shown is a replacement '03 barrel, not an A3 munged in place. The front sight is correct for '03, not A3, and the punchmark in the ordnance bomb shows it was arsenal installed and proved.
$500 was not a bad price. If you can whine them out of money back, it is a steal.
 
Virtually all '03s and M1s have gone through at least one rebuild. It is not "inauthentic" for them to be fitted with barrels dated later than the receiver.

For you to find an all-original '03 would be a treasure worth bragging about!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top