remington 1903A3, great find...I hope

T

tahunua001

New member
hello all. I spent my day sifting through huge amounts of gun parts at a friends house and left with a mostly intact Remington 1903A3 for $150. the bolt, barrel and receiver are all Remington with the trigger guard being the only questionable part. it has the S style stock without grasping grooves so I'm fairly certain the stock was never part of the rifle but upper and lower halves match at least so it comes together nicely. the serial dates to 1942 and the barrel is marked 8-44. it is still missing the floorplate and follower as well as front stock ring and rear sights. does anyone know where I could find these parts(all preferably remington stamped) right now the guns is pretty bad with a great deal of rust on the trigger guard and grime all around so I plan on taking pics after she's all cleaned up.

also just out of curiosity I was wondering what it might be worth when I'm done?
 
Last week, I put in an order to Numrich Gunparts for several 03A3 parts- Aside from the receiver- they have pretty much everything in stock.
 
ok a little update. after comparing the remington 1903A3 to my springfield 1903 I now notice a lot that's missing from this rifle. I ordered just about everything but the bayonet lug and rear sight from numrich. also I have determined that the bolt is an A4 style bent bolt to accommodate a scope my main concern with this is that it does not fully rotate like it's supposed to, will this cause problems or will it be fine? shaving off a little bit of the stock would alleviate the problem but I would rather not mess with it if it isn't a big deal.
 
1903_stockpic.jpg


S stock without grasping grooves is correct for the 03A3 Rem. Post the serial number and pic's of the stock cartouches.

Get the correct bolt and do not cut on the wood! The correct bolt well be marked with a R, I may have a one or two I well sell cheap, plus all the internal parts.

The floor plate is stamped. The Rem FP is smooth all the way to the front screw, the Smith Corona FP was a semi-circle stamp mark just before the FP screw.

ETA: I want to correct a mis-statement on the Rem floor plate, it has a straight stamp mark at the front screw and the SC is a semi-circle.

This is a Smith Corona floor plate.
DSC00105.jpg
 
Last edited:
my camera does not want to focus on the super fine details but I will describe it as best I can.
the bolt is a Remington turn down bolt and since the reciever is drilled with the rear sight removed I am almost wondering if this rifle was actually an A4. the magazine well/trigger guard does not have the semi circle so I guess that means that this is a remington part as well.

upon removal of the butt plate there is a P a T and a K in random spots(I don't know what those mean). just forward of the floor plate there are 3 cartouches. the one on the left is a triangle but it's right on the wood grain so I can't tell if there's anything inside it. just to the right of that one is a circle with a 7 inside and right below that is a diamond with a 1 inside.

here's some pics of the bolt, receiver and missing bayonet lug.

101_1528.jpg


101_1527.jpg


101_1526.jpg
 
Last edited:
An 03A3 can't be missing the floorplate, since the 03A3 trigger guard and floorplate is all one piece. If the trigger guard is there and the floorplate isn't, the trigger guard is not original to the rifle. Whether that makes any difference in this case, I don't know.

Jim
 
Oh... what the heck!

What is the matter with shaving a few inches of wood from an orginal '03 Stock? Then it will be more perfect, right?
 
Big Jim. said:
An 03A3 can't be missing the floorplate, since the 03A3 trigger guard and floorplate is all one piece. If the trigger guard is there and the floorplate isn't, the trigger guard is not original to the rifle. Whether that makes any difference in this case, I don't know.

Jim
Click to expand...

+10

It would be cool if it was one of the converted guards that takes BAR mags.


tahunua001, you can find 03A3 rear sights on evil bay pretty cheap, I think a complete sight runs 30-40+ bucks or so. From your photos it appears you only need to change out the bolt body, the cocking piece and bolt sleeve may be Rem.
 
Easy way to tell if it is an original 03A4

Post a clear photo of the rollstamps by the forward hole in the receiver. The s/n on an A4 would be offset so it can be viewed with the scope base on; we'll be able to tell from the photo. S/n doesn;t start with a 'Z' by any chance, does it?

If it is, how'd you like to quintuple your money? :D Also, the 03A4s were parkerized with the front sight off. Is the area ofthe front sight parked?

Re: the bolt not rotating, you mean when work the bolt and try to lock the bolt forward and rotate the handle down, it contacts the stock, yes?

03A4 stocks were relieved to prevent that
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top