Identify a 1903

Here's some markings I found along the barrel.

Starting from muzzle working back.
RA
(fireball octopus thingy)
5-44
XA72
A marking that looks out of place, I think it's the number 5
Another marking that's a B
Some weird things that kinda look like stars maybe or a hammer. Hard to tell.
U.S.
1215889
There is an R on the bolt. The R is on it's side facing up when you look at the right rear side of the bolt.

I don't see any other markings at this time.

Two questions: Is it normal for the receiver to have a polish or lacquer kind of look to it? And where can I get an original looking stock? I love the way those look.
 
alright the 5-44 is what the other guys were looking for, 5-44 means the barrel is from may of 1944. the RA above it means that it was a reminton barrel and the R on the bolt means that it is a remington bolt as well, they did a large amount of the post WWII refits before the rifles were placed back in storage, I have a springfield with a remington bolt in it. doesn't hurt it at all. those 1944 remington barrels were very accurate for the most part, you should have a very good shooter on your hands now.
 
Your rifle was not rearsenaled by the military, it was sporterized by someone other than the military. The rifle has been polished and blued, the barrel changed to the later A3 model and the receiver was tapped and drilled for a scope mount. The bolt is an early Remington 1903 bolt (marked R as you noted) that was bent for a scope, again outside the military.
An original Springfield would have a dark parkerized finish, a military rebuild would have a greyish green parkerizing on all parts. In addition, you won't find a military rebuild of a 1903, Springfield or Remington with an 1903A3 barrel. The rear sight for a 1903 would be a ladder mounted at the rear of the barrel where as a 1903A3 would have a peep sight mounted on a dove tail milled into the rear receiver bridge. Thus, if you took a 1903 barrel off and put a 1903A3 barrel on, you wouldn't have a rear sight.
What you have is a typical sporterized 1903 Springfield. It was probably surplused out by the DCM in the late 40's or early 50's. There were many civilians that bought surplus rifles to make sporters and typically they took the shot out barrels off and put new surplus one's on. A3 barrels were in good supply where as 03's were not. The A3 barrels also looked better in that it didn't have the notches in the barrels where the rear sight sleeve mounted and would be exposed in a sporter stock such as yours.
The various markings on your barrel are steel lot codes and inspection marks put on as the barrel went through the various phases in it's making.

Finally, looking at your particular rifle, I would say it was done by a skilled gunsmith that knew what he was doing and did it well.

You could put it back in a military stock but you would need to spend about $300 for a stock and hardware to do it and you would still not be close to original. Add another $150 to have it bead blasted and parkerized and your up to $450, still not original. Buy a 1903 barrel with front and rear sights and your out another $350 or more.

The very best thing you can do is leave it as a very nice sporter that it is and go shoot some moose.

Kurt
 
Interesting... More or less a certified replica from Remington?

I didn't know there was so much to these rifles.
Click to expand...
no not really, it is not really common knowledge since these rifles are colloquially called Springfields but they were manufactured but the US armories at Rock Island and Springfield during WWI, During WWII Springfield was busy making M1s and Rock Island had shut down so the US government contracted with two civilian companies; Remington and Smith Corona to build the 1903 which given some modifications became the 1903A3 and 1903A4 to ease production and allow scope mounting. remington didn't build certified replicas, they built actual 1903s, 1903A3s and 1903A4s and did a number of refits post war.
 
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