Remington 1903 Springfield

[2A-Jay]

My 1942 Remington 1903 Springfield barrel Date 10-42. 95%original (Lower Band and Magazine follower not original to rifle.

[nicholst55]

Very nice! I always wanted a Remington M1903, but never did run across one when I had the money.

[Winger Ed.]

I had a later model, unissued, also a Remington, and made in 1944 as I recall.

It was as accurate as any heavy barreled, out of the box, factory rifle I've ever fired,
and it's understandable why they made 03-A4s out of them for earlier generations of snipers.

[2A-Jay]

I inherited my from my uncle a couple years before his passing. An '03 Springfield was the first rifle I ever Shot in Navy Boot Camp in 1971

Some day Ii will add an M1 Garand and an M1 Carbine to my gun safe as well.

[gnoahhh]

I had a later model, unissued, also a Remington, and made in 1944 as I recall.

It was as accurate as any heavy barreled, out of the box, factory rifle I've ever fired,
and it's understandable why they made 03-A4s out of them for earlier generations of snipers.

Apples and oranges. You are referencing M1903A3 while the OP has a dandy M1903.

Remington took over the old M1903 machinery from the Rock Island Arsenal which had lain in mothballs for 20 years, and commenced manufacturing of 1903's both for us and the Brits (who were desperate for anything that would shoot after the debacle of Northern France 1940). Springfield was knee deep in getting M1 production up off the ground and had neither the time nor inclination to resume M1903 production, so Remington stepped up. As production at Remington proceeded they were faced with increasing demands for higher production ( and the old Rock Island machinery was half worn out to boot) so they cooked up a bunch of cheap shortcuts to achieve that (use of a lot of stampings versus milled parts and loosened finishing standards for example), the government approved said shortcuts and the M1903A3 was born.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

But-- the M1903A3 was still a great rifle.

This was an interesting period of production. Remington initially made almost exactly the M1903 version, but as existing parts dried up they replaced some with stampings until the M1903A3 as commonly encountered was the end result. There are some interesting rifles from this time period that are sort of half and half. I have an almost unissued Remington M1903 that has stamped barrel bands, both upper and lower, and the stamped trigger guard magazine floor plate unit of a '03A3, but is otherwise '03 and is stamped US Remington, Model 1903, 3250XXX on the receiver. The barrel is marked RA 9-42.

[JoeJames]

I had one, but sold it. The butt stock was stamped NZ(broad arrow)D.

[bob208]

post 6 got it right . the only thing they were 03-a1. that morphed into the 03-a3 as production went on. I have a 03-a1 that has the beginnings of cut for the 03 receiver sight. it also has the full pistol grip stock. to use up the pistol grip stocks that had problems. they turned them into scant grip stocks. I have some of them also. if you look close they are made so they can be used with either the 03 sight or the 03-a3 sight.

the 03-a2 was a sub caliber device or use in large guns for training.

the 03-a4 was the sniper version. they are marked 03-a3 but the markings are moved so they can be read with the scope base on the rifle

[gnoahhh]

?

The M1903A1 didn't morph into 1903A3's. It was simply the 1903 Service rifle with "C" pistol grip stock starting in 1928 (March 15, 1928 to be exact). C stocks were to be phased in as stock blanks for the S stocks were used up- but there were literally warehouses full of S stock blanks and they weren't about to throw them away. The target rifles in service (National Match and Special target) got first dibs on the new "C" stock, and service rifles with "S" straight stocks were to be retrofitted during rebuild and repair. The demands of the Match programs and NRA sales used up most of the "C" stock production so not very many made it onto service rifles during the 30's.

Wartime specifications actually officially called for C stocks on 03A3's but since there there were still obscene amounts of straight grip blanks still in gov't warehouses very few made it onto 03A3's again. What they did do was attempt to use up straight stock blanks to make the pistol grip stocks but there wasn't enough wood in the blanks to completely form the pistol grip- hence the advent of the Scant Grip stock.

Dates and facts checked via Brophy.

[Eddie1971]

Nice rifle! I have a Remington 03 as well. Its seen some use but its all original, including barrel. Was made in 4/1942 when 1903 production was being ended for 1903A3.

[threedflyer]

Love it, thanks for sharing!!

[samari46]

When I had my 03A3 bubba rescue done I got lucky and found the milled magazine /trigger guard assembly and milled follower. That and found a complete A4 sniper bolt. Gave both to the gunsmith and he head spaced bolt bolts when he did the NOS barrel install. due to differences in both bolts the sniper bolt is a tad tighter than the issue bolt. Ain't complaining. Frank

[nicholst55]

The 'transition' Remington rifles mixing milled and stamped components were technically considered the M1903 Modified rifle. They eventually became the 03-A3.

[2A-Jay]

A lot of Remington 1903s came from the factory with RI Stocks and Bolt bodies (mine is one of them)

[georgerkahn]

Congratulations on one awesome rifle! As you probably know, Remington began manufacturing these using moth-balled Rock Island tooling in September of 1941, so yours (assuming rifle & barrel are same date) came off the assembly line roughly thirteen months after their production began! I believe their very first ones were serial numbered 3,000,000 with production including both assembly-quickening and materials saving improvements until roughly 3,300,000 serial number -- after which its moniker was changed to the 1903A3. In the time after a lot of changes, but before the name change to 1903A3, those produced were referred to as "1903-MODIFIED". Most likely the resolution on my computer screen, I cannot very clearly see your photo enough for me to pick out identifying marks...
Regardless, again, you do in fact have one handsome firearm, and I wish you all the best wishes with it. There are "tons" of books which were written on them, as well as much on the Internet.
geo