Which 1903A3

[barnabus]

Im looking for my first 1903A3. What mfg seems to be best as far as quality and resale between remington and smith carona.

[nicholst55]

The Smith Corona rifles are much less common than the Remingtons, and demand a higher price.

[ascast]

yes, like SC's are about 400k and R's are in the millions. Lots of R parts out there, like barrels. I have a case of them. Never have seen an SC off for sale. Lots of little changes in the early war production stuff. Be sure it;s real if asked a "rare item" price. Tons of books and on-line info to read up. You will see far more Rem out there.

[georgerkahn]

Im looking for my first 1903A3. What mfg seems to be best as far as quality and resale between remington and smith carona.

You ask a three-second question which might be deserving of a three-hour answer -- ranging from quality, aesthetics, availability of parts, and a good many other parameters. My dad used to profess that the reason there are 147 different brands of beer on the store shelves is because their are 147 different groups of people who KNOW that the one brand they exclusively buy and consume -- IS THE BEST!!!

So it appears with most military rifles. My number one criteria would be the CONDITION -- e,g, are you desiring a shooter or a wall-hanger? Then assuming you locate one which was not abused in the seventy-plus years since it was manufactured, you need to ascertain there are no anomalies to in any way possibly make the rifle unsafe. After that, one can go to the nnnnnth end seeking cartouches, all matching parts, furniture quality, and the like.

If two rifles -- one each in the manufacture you mentioned -- were available, I'd JUMP AT the Smith Corona. 'Specially if it has a barrel made by Smith Corona! I have a 1903A3 as such -- Springfield (Smith-Corona) 1903-A3 .30-06 (serial # 3,700,xxx) which was made in July of 1943 which sports a May 1943 Smith Corona barrel -- so I admittedly am biased...

That said, however, either brand would surely enhance any person's collection!

geo

[Gewehr-Guy]

I shoot at our CBA military cast bullet matches, and the member that seems to always have the highest scores uses a Smith Corona. His rifle has an early six groove barrel which he considers superior to all later 2 and 4 groove barrels. I am always looking for one of those, but he says they are very scarce, having been made by another barrel supplier before SC began producing their own barrels.

One of my best shooters is a Rem deactivated drill rifle that I rebarreled with a new 2 groove, shoots cast very well.

[Larry Gibson]

Smith Corona's are generally considered to be "best" for quality and resale. However, as geogerkahn says, the condition is most often the deciding factor. My SC is in excellent "as issued" condition [it was only arsenal inspected, not rebuilt] and it shoots sub moa with match loads using 175 gr MKs. I shot 20 rounds through it before I found out it was "as issued".

[square butte]

I believe High Standard made the early 6 groove barrels on the Smith Corona's

[TNsailorman]

I had a S C back several years ago but never shot. Let a local gun dealer sell it and give the money to our local gun club. I bought a 1903A3 in 2004 from old match shooter from Michigan (I think, memory?). Here are some pictures of targets and rifle.

[TNsailorman]

More pics. .
I forgot to mention this a 1903A3, a Remington all the way with a 1943 2 groove barrel replacement barrel(?). I use to roll soft drink cans set on end at 100 yards (small end toward me) 4 out of 5 shots with regularity (marksmanship was the rifle -- not me). I am 81 and I doubt I can do that now. Front sight was changed by the man from who I bought the rifle. I would have rather had an original front sight but it cannot be changed now as he turned down the barrel slightly to fit the globe sight on it now.

[Dom]

Serial numbers below 800,000 are considered unsafe due to improper heat treat.

[TNsailorman]

That is on Springfield 1903 manufactured rifles, S C and others had different numbers and I remember the "dangerous"serial numbers offhand. james

[barnabus]

Serial numbers below 800,000 are considered unsafe due to improper heat treat.

It’s amazing this still gets applied across the board to all mfgs as misinformation

[Streetwalker]

I have a 1944 Remington 03/A3, two groove barrel, that I use for match shooting. My load is the RCBS 200 gr. SIL bullet cast from wheel weights, 20 gr. of Rel.7 sparked by a magnum primer. This load is a dream to shoot and will clean the ten ring on the NRA SR1 target used for 100 yd. reduced course match competition. I have used this load in a number of 03A3's and they all shot well with this load. The barrels included both two and four groove variations. I did notice that the Smith Corona's seemed to be better finished and have less tooling marks than the Remington's. I love those 03/A3's!

[TNsailorman]

NOT misinformation at all. There is doncumented history by both the U.S. Army and the NRA of some problems with "low numbered" 1903 Springfield, not 1903A3's though. I don't consider all the low serial numbers "dangerous" and that is why I put it in parentesis to emphasise the fact. They should be approached on a one on one basis as some continued to be used well by the army after some problems arose with them. There were a small number of blown receivers and it was determined that the heat treating process was wrong and it was changed. Without exhaustive tests of all the early 1903 rifles, it would have been impossible to tell which were dangerous and which were safe. So they used the 800,000 serial number because that is where they changed the heat treatment. Read Brophy if you are one of those people that contiue to discount the existence of a problem. I would be more inclined to say "caution" with those numbered so. I would not recommend loading them at the top end of the load ladder. But it is up to those who own them to make up their own mind as; after all; they are the ones who will be pulling the trigger. If I wanted to run 50,000 psi loads, I think I would find another rifle to do so. They probably would make fine cast boolit shooters. just my .02 and not binding on anyone, james

[Larry Gibson]

Serial numbers below 800,000 are considered unsafe due to improper heat treat.

This thread is about M1903A3s. None were made with low serial numbers and all are properly heat treated. The LSN "warning/caution" does not apply.

[TNsailorman]

For my part I apologize to the OP for "topic drift" but once it drifted and once it was labeled as " miss-information" I decide maybe for the sake of younger shooters who might not know better to try and set the record straight about it. I also stated that there was not a problem with 1903A3 rifles. Maybe I did not explain i twell enough. james

[Rich/WIS]

I'm on the CMP forum and several years ago when the CMP was selling A3's there was a lot of discussion on Rem vs SC. Consensus was he SC rifles were a bit more accurate but this was anecdotal as there was no serious experimentation between a sample of both types shot under controlled conditions. I have had quite a few A3's through the years and with one exception all were Rem manufacture, and if there was a descernable difference between them and the SC I didn't see it. As far a "collectability" the SC was made in smaller numbers and so wins if you are looking for a collector. As a shooter the condition of the bore, fitment of the stock, etc is a factor in which would shoot better. If you plan to use cast bullets the 2 groove barrels are ideal as they provide maximum support for the bore riding portion of cast bullets. Only A3 I still have is a CMP Remington that I put a CMP C stock on to make it a bit more user friendly. With factory sights it will easily stay around 2 MOA with M2 ball duplication loads and 3 MOA with cast, which is the limit of my eyes. When I've let shooters with better eyes shoot it they can shave a MOA off my groups. Handle both if you can and buy the one that feels best and I don't think you will be disappointed, or buy both and give us a side by side comparison of how they shoot.

[Larry Gibson]

I put a new Remington [RA 9-43] replacement barrel which came new, in paper wrap on my DHT SA action to build my M190A1 National Match rifle. Such replacement barrels were chambered short and required finish reamed after indexing to receiver. I still have a SC 11-43 barrel.

Target is at 50 yard pistol target shot at 100 yards. Shot two sighters, made sight adjustment on Lyman 48 (1/4 moa adjustments) [down 3, left 3. Should have only gone 2 in each direction] then shot 20 "for record". Load is the NOE 30 XCB over 20 gr Alliant 2400. runs 1890 fps.

[higgins]

My 2-groove Remington A3 does quite well with 311041 sized .310 with a gas check and lubed with either LLA or 50/50 grease lube. Another good bullet in my rifle is the Lee 311-155 made for 7.62x39 also sized .310.

[Bigmancrisler]

I have a july of 43 smith corona 03A3 that shoots great. But I also have a SA 1903 from 1918. I don’t think you can go wrong with either.




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