1903A3 sporter question

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I found my Christmas present , well reasonably certain , I found a Remington 1903a3 sporter on consignment in a local shop , the sporterising job looks very well done , deep blue , nice walnut Monty Carlo stock , sporter sights added with flip down rear and a tip off scope mount , bolt is polished and all the metal and bluing looks good

the safety tang is an after market one designed for a scope and is positive but easily flips off

no scope and a basic leather sling , sights look silver soldered on

the barrel looks to be a 2 groove that seems to match with the mid july 1943 serial number, the barrel is not clean but shows no signs of pitting from my look down it with a flash light

the bolt is smooth and glides easily

with the safety on the trigger could not be pulled , I did not dry fire it not sure that is safe in an 03

this is a consignment gun , he said it is an older gentelman that brought it in , to me it looks like some ones good hunting rifle that they may have just decided they could no longer use unable to get in the woods any longer.

the rear sight base is still in tact but the rear sight removed so the scope can sit low

my question is , what if anything else should I be looking for before I lay down my 300 dollars?

It seems like it would be hard to loose money on a 300 dollar 1903a3 in what seems to be very good shape

this will be mostly a rage gun shooting cast boolit loads I would like to find a load that both it and my M1 like but time will tell, I might take it hunting some although a majority of my hunting is shotgun zone

at 300 I guess I am tempted to say even if it the barrel was an issue it would be a good platform to re barrel

I have gotten some other very good deals at this shop and they let people set their own price

I looked at it on my way home from work and thought about it the rest of the way home cleared the funds with the wife and called and he has moved it off the shelf for me to pick up saturday


thanks for helping me think this through

[Ben]

Just about any clean 03 / 03-A3 sporter done properly will bring $300 quick.

Ben

[georgerkahn]

I agree with Ben, and can add that a good 2-groove barrel generally offers great accuracy! These are quite safe, too; only draw-back to mine -- if there is one -- is it does get heavy after a few miles' carry. But, many profess, "The heavier the gun, the lighter the recoil". Mine was made in May of 1927 from a 1903, and has a Williams receiver sight on it. I recall paying $350.00 for it several years ago. It IS a tack-driver. I'd have keen interest in 'your' 1903-03...
BEST!
georgerkahn

[opos]

I pick up nice, well done milsurps from "back in the day" (Old guy that used to build them in the 50's and 60's)...I am pretty careful about having the headspace checked before I fire one. I find most that have had the trouble done to make a nice sporter don't have issues but they are still really old guns...Any gunsmith can put a set of gauges in it in about 10 minutes and you will know if you are good to go...wonderful old guns and while not "as issues"..they are a real piece of history...I have no idea how many $20 03A3's and 1917 Enfields and 98 Mausers we restocked, put triggers in , polishd and blued and went deer and elk hunting with. My family would not have eaten near so well when we were in college without my trusty "Enfield deer rifle".

[leadman]

Sounds like you made a very good buy on that gun. I have a sporter that the guy was going to throw away and I restored it to a cheap sporter.
This gun is one of mine that will shoot honest moa groups with cast most of the time. I have even shot some groups less the 1/2 moa a couple of times.

I have 2 other CMP original 1903a3s and even with the issue sights 2 moa is possible on a good day.

The 1903a3 to me is the high powered rifle that is the easiest to use even for a lefty like me. Smooth bolt, well made magazine, accurate, reasonable weight, excellent parts availability, what is not to like.
I seldom shoot my Swiss K-31 just because bolt manipulation is so difficult for me.

We do need pictures when you get it home.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

going to pick it up tonight , wife said she needs some sewing time this weekend I think I need some casting time this weekend , I am running very low in c309-200r2

I really wish they would make their rifle bullet molds in 6 cavity

[nagantguy]

Great buy, love those old rifles that just look like they have a story to tell!

[Gtek]

Remove and always check the left bolt lug on an unknown to you rifle. If they have been cycled very hard repeatedly the ejector will wear into rear of lug and will cause intermittent ejection problems. Stock unaltered bolts are relatively cheap and easy to find, a forged and scope swept bolt can be not so cheap and of unknown bolt and quality. The rest of the small parts are pretty easy and cheap.

[94Doug]

I suppose you wouldn't tell me where in WI that bad boy is??

Doug

[Ben]

I love mine.
A 1903/A3 that has a 4 groove barrel ( the bore is in 99.9% mint condition) with a Lyman 48 rear and 17 A front. Chambered in 308 Win.

Laminated , wide fore end , target style stock.
Glass bedded, barrel free floated.

One of my favorite cast bullet rifles. You can bet that I won't be selling mine for $300.













Same target :

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

the stock wasn't inlet for the magazine cut off to move to the off position , but it is far enough to remove the bolt

trigger seems good , the throat seems tight , the dummy with the 309-200r2 bullet seated to the crimp groove was to long

but the bolt closes fine on the dummys with the 309-170rf

definitely a 2 groove

the scope mount will not take a modern scope any ideas for mounts that will mount to the left side of the receiver bonus if they can use the same holes

maybe I an get out tomorrow and try it with the iron sights

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

having picture problems I need to charge the camera battery and try again in the morning

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I suppose you wouldn't tell me where in WI that bad boy is??

Doug

sure thing Doug it is on my Dining room table

[Rick O'Shay]

Nice targets Ben. Impressive.

[Ben]

Nice targets Ben. Impressive.

That rifle is a joy to shoot !

On the day that I shot that group, I remember my friend looking through the spotting scope after I had fired the 5th round.

He looked at me and said , " You've just fired a tighter group at 50 yards with metallic sights than I can with my 12 X Leupold scope."

Ben

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

here you go both mid July models but one is 71 the other 11

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

What is it about the mount that won't allow a modern scope?

Mine is D&T on top and has Weaver bases. Worst case scenario for you would be to D&T on top and add plug screws to the off side. Regardless, $300 for an 03A3 barreled action with good barrel is a bargain.

the mount doesn't have room for the bulge around the turrets on the scope

[Gtek]

Find somebody in your area that knows about drilling those receivers and put a Redfield or Leupold one piece base on and all your troubles will be gone.

[W.R.Buchanan]

The one I got for my project gun turned out to be chambered and modified to .308 Norma Mag. It is probably going down the road soon as it is looked over by someone more knowledgeable than me.

The barrel was obviously rechambered, the bolt face altered, and the feed lips on the receiver opened up and modified to feed the larger round.

I can't make a .375 Whelen out of it. But after I refinished the stock I think I can get more than I paid for out of it.. It has a nicely altered bolt handle and the stock came out nice. It has a Lyman ramp front sight and the stock A3 rear sight.

And Gtek,,, Thanks for the offer on the take off barrel. if the gun wasn't converted to the larger round I would have taken you up on it.

Randy

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

Doing some more reading and found this link http://www.remingtonsociety.com/rsa/journals/two-groove BruceDrake had posted some time ago about how the 2 grooves came about it is a very interesting read about the testing , what got me was how long the barrels lasted one test rifle was shooting better at 16k rounds that I would have thought possible for a barrel fed jacketed rounds , I would seem that if it is the lands that wear and you make a lot more land surface area then it takes that much longer to wear


been sick all week , can't wait to get better and get out and shoot this gun