Where are all these refurb 03A3's coming from?

W

wogpotter

New member
They were everywhere dozens, of them, droves of them. Every table at the gunshow had dozens of these "rare" rifles. Who dumped out thousands of nice Springfield 03A3s all of a sudden?
 
About a year and a half ago, CMP wrapped up their bolt rifle sales. Ran out, other than occasional returns from veterans organizations, basically. So they skidded up all the various pieces and parts they had left and auctioned them off. Skids of deactivated drill rifles, barreled receivers, skids of stocks, skids of assorted random parts. Sarco bought a lot of it.

A lot of that had been assembled and came on they market.
 
Gibbs Rifle Co /Old Western Scrounger did the 1903-a4 repro,and some iron sight rifles are available.

I bought a receiver/bolt from AIM Surplus.The rec is reclaimed drill rifle,its appearance is fine and fully functional.

A parts kit from Sarco was useful,

I bought a really nice NOS original "C" stock from Northridge.I first bought a Sarco "C" stock and was disappointed.I do not think the wood was dry when they shaped it.It warped.The Northridge stock was expensive,but in the 40's or whenever this was made,they had better walnut and laid things out proper.

I bought a Criterion 03A3 replacement bbl,very nice,threaded,chambered,extractor a sight notches,parkerized.

E-bay had a repro Redfield Jr base and 7/8ths rings from New Zealand.I remachined the underside to fit proper.I'm not quite satisfied with the ring/wingage screw fitup,but I will fix that.

E-bay had a Lyman Alaskan.End result will be a nice fake 1903A4.Its almost done.

I have to grind a little more bolt/scope clearance,tune the trigger,and re-parkerize a few parts.Maybe today.
 
That wasnt the case when I bought Mine they were hard to come by, still I got a nice one and still think the 1903 A3 is the finest bolt action Service Rifle ever made. "I got Mines" LOL
 
I saw a REALLY BAD....BAD bubbafide one at a swap meet today. SC receiver, stock had been completely turned into a Rem. 700 clone, rust brown EVERYWHERE....guy said they are unbelievably rare and the $700 he was asking was "a heck of a buy" :rolleyes:
 
The ones I saw seemed to be from a single source, they were all identical with the exact same mis-match of colors on various parts. Someone, somewhere built/refinished or whatevered a mountain of these.

How can they be called "rare" when there must have been 3~4 dozen of them at a single small town gunshow with 150 tables?:rolleyes:
 
James River Armory...located in Halethorpe, Maryland, is putting out alot of refurbished O3A3 Springfields --- with new Criterion barrels --- along with German Mauser's, Garand's and M1-30 Carbines; that Mark also has refurbished. I see Mark {he runs James River} occasionally, test firing his guns, over at the AGC Marriottsville Gun Range --- located in Baltimore County, Maryland.

Mark also sells non-corrosive 30-06 and 8mm ammo for his vintage rifles.
 
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People have been refurbishing and selling 03s, 03A3s, K98s, Model 70s, etc, for decades. I knew a retired US Army armorer in the 1980s who was blatant about it, his whole garage was full of beat up old 1903s and 03A3s, and his upstairs room was full of like-new 1903s and 1903A3s. He called it his retirement account. If you see one in fantastic condition, it may very well be a refurbished rifle. There was a well-known company whose whole business model was selling refurbished military firearms. And refurbished Model 70s are notoriously common, so much so that if you see an "unfired" Model 70, it is likely a fake.
 
The ones I saw seemed to be from a single source, they were all identical with the exact same mis-match of colors on various parts. Someone, somewhere built/refinished or whatevered a mountain of these.
Click to expand...

Remember, original production '03-A3 rifles had a variety of different finishes on the various parts. Some parts were parkerized like the receivers and barrels, and some were blued like bolts, bands and rear sights. The finish on certain parts might be blued on Remingtons and parkerized on SCs. Usually, a rifle that has the same uniform finish on all parts has been refinished.

Remington 'A3: Note the blued cutoff, bolt and rear sight.
IMG_1942-XL.jpg


Bayonet lug and stacking swivel are blued also as are the buttplate, triggerguard and rear sling swivel.
IMG_1938-XL.jpg


Smith-Corona bayonet lug and stacking swivel. Note that the lug is parkerized and the stacking swivel is blued. The buttplate and rear swivel are blued on this rifle the same as on a Remington.
IMG_1965-XL.jpg


As where all the "new" ones are coming from, I too, believe that it is a byproduct of the parts dumping that was done by the CMP.
 
James River so called refurbished rifles are reclaimed drill rifles that had the cut off and barrel welded on. They cut offthe welds ,repark install new barrels etc
Aim also sells them
 
My "referbed" 03A3 came from a bubbaed sporterized find at a farm auction a number of years ago south of Kansas City. If I remember correctly, $150.00 for the rifle and about $150.00 for parts to restore. Seemed like a lot at the time but, cheap in todays world.
 
Berdan SS, when they are selling stuff, it is "rare", "scarce"or at least "hard to find"...and they are all "a steal" at over twice what they are worth.

When they are BUYING it from you, it's old junk and there are a thousand of them in his garage, all in better shape....and they will insult you with their offer.

And the stories they will tell about the pitting being from blood spatters, and who brought this rifle back from where...Put your feet up and get some popcorn.

It's sad that so many people still believe this crap.


mark
 
Very interesting I have a A303 also but I also have the box that came from the NRA .....and has never been fired since received from them....I'll post some pics later this week this is a very cool post.
 
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