Just received a 1903 springfield.... I think???

B

Bob S

New member
Recently, my family was given an old gun that used to be my great uncles. He was a WWII vet and qualified as an expert rifleman from the tales I have been told. Anyway, we now have what looks like a 1903 Springfield rifle, but I'm not 100% sure. Here is a brief description. Its a bolt action rifle with the following markings on the reciever. U.S. REMINGTON Model 03-A3 Serial Number 4120XXX. It has a very nice looking adjustable rear peep sight with an open blade front sight. Also, underneath the rifle behind the trigger guard is a letter "p" with a circle around it stamped in the stock. Also, on the left side of the stock is stamped "RA" then a strange circular symbol, then "FJA" in a box.

The rifle is in Excellent condition, with 100% of the bluing intact as well as almost perfect wood (only one small ding in an otherwise perfect stock) So here are my questions:

1. Is this a 03 springfield that is just made by remington?

2. Is this rare, or fairly common?

3. What is the approximate value?

4. would shooting it hurt it's value?

Any other background info would be GREATLY appreciated.. as you can tell, I know nothing about springfields!
 
Yes, you have a Springfield. The 1903A3 was WWII production. It differed from the 03 and 03A1 in that it doesn't have a hinged floorplate and some of the parts that were machined on the earlier version are stamped.

They were made by several different contractors during the war years. While not rare, they are definately not as common as they used to be. I sold one about 5 years ago and wish that I hadn't.

I'm sure someone else will be able to give you production figures for the various manufacturers.

HTH
Jeff
 
Originally posted by Mike Irwin in a duplicate of topic (since deleted)- Schmit

Bob,
Nice gun.

Answers to your questions...

1. It is a later variant of the 1903 Springfield. the -A3 is the model variation. The 03-A3 was designed with an eye toward simplifying manufacture, using stampings, cutting down on the frills, etc.

Very good guns. I have two of them, one has been heavily sporterized, the other has had the stock cut back, but nothing more.

2. Relatively common. Several million were made by Remington and Smith Corona. There may have been other manufacturers, as well.

3. I've seen them going at shows for $300 to $600. Your mileage may vary.

4. Nope, not much. I shoot mine. Hunted deer with them for years.
 
The circle is the Ordnance Acceptance stamp; the FJA stands for Col. Frank J. Atwood, who was commander of the Rochester Ordnance District where Remington (at Ilion) was located. His initials were applied after the rifle passed final inspection, as he was technically responsible for quality.

Shoot it if you want, but don't hack on it. "Sporterizing" it will make a $600 gun into a $200 gun and you will pay for having it done.

Jim

[This message has been edited by Jim Keenan (edited May 15, 2000).]
 
Clarke Campbell's "The Smokeless Era", as well as Brophy's "The Springfield Rifle" are both good references. Bruce Canfield "Collector's Guide to the 1903 Springfield" is good too.
 
Congrats on a nice piece! Especially since it has some personal history.

The receivers and barrels of M1903A3's were parkerized. Bolts, extractors, bands and other parts could be blued. Original assembly rifles will often be mixed blue, green and grey parkerizing. Arsenal reworks may show 100% matching parkerizing. Parkerizing that has been oiled and well rubbed may appear to have a sheen approaching a medium lustre bluing.

On M1903A3 stocks if it has small squares, triangles, or circle stamps containing numbers and letters in front of the trigger guard it is an original Remington or Smith-Corona stock. The 2 brands do have different markings unique to each. These are inspection and QC marks. They are NOT present on an arsenal restocked rifle unless they reused an original stock.

While common, all WW2 rifles are going up in value, especially since we just passed the 50th D-day (1994) and "Private Ryan" movie. A good, correct, original 99-100% M1903A3 can still be had for around $450.

From my looking at M1903s of all variations, and using an original M1903/M1919 throat erosion guage, I have never seen an M1903A3 with throat erosion exceeding 3 (out of 10, with 7 being the service limit). This is because they were not generally first line issue. Because of this they can be very good shooters if bedded well. Many were sporterized for this reason and some sporters by well known custom gunsmiths are very collectable in their own right.

That said, I urge people never to sporterize US military rifles. If they want a sporter, they could sell it to a collector and probably get a new rifle or a sporter for less money while preserving history.

[This message has been edited by 700PSS Shooter (edited May 17, 2000).]
 
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