Remington 1903 Restoration Questions

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becker_atc

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Joined long time ago, never posted much but lurk a lot. now have questions.

About three months back I picked up a Remington 1903 built in '42, according to online resources, about thirty minutes after was brought into my LGS. It is in a decent sporter stock but the barrel had NOT been cut and NO extra holes have been installed. Because of this I bought it and also it has an excellent looking barrel. It is stamped RA 1-42, would it be original?

I would like to put it back to military configuration (she deserves it right?!?), not necessarily exactly correct but close as possible without breaking the bank and still be able to shoot a match with it ect.

Questions-

Is the barrel in the correct time frame of manufacture for the receiver, serial number 3153504?

Will need a military stock and hardware, what type would have came on this rifle? ( "S" or "C" or ??)

List of specific hardware would help a lot!

The parts I am needing what would be a good source outside of ebay and gunbroker? I saw SARCO parts kits but I gather they are mostly Chinese repo parts.


Here are some pics of the rifle. Please excuse the poor lighting and photography...I doubt people in the apartment complex would like me taking them outside in natural light lol.

i607.photobucket.com_albums_tt156_cowboy_becker_20120426_182805.jpg


i607.photobucket.com_albums_tt156_cowboy_becker_20120407_132652.jpg

Has a little bit of pitting as you can see

i607.photobucket.com_albums_tt156_cowboy_becker_20120426_183056.jpg


i607.photobucket.com_albums_tt156_cowboy_becker_20120426_183144.jpg


Thanks in advance,

Becker_atc
 
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becker_atc

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Got them fixed. Overall i feel the rifle (barreled action) is in decent shape. Stock has a crack at the rear tang but seems fixable if some has or i acquire an 03 sporter soon (would go good with my remington 1917 enfield and my 1898 krag sporter). Have shot this rifle with some of my M2 ball spec reloads i make for my M1 garand and seems to shoot good with them.
 

Honeybee

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Numrich has all the parts you need to put it back origonal,,,it may be hard without the numrich military catalog because their new website sucks.
 

becker_atc

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Thanks! looks like the action was made in July and obviously the barrel in January. All but one of the 3.15mil serial numbers had June barrels. So I will guess that it was screwed onto the action in a arsenal rebuild.
 

MoBoost

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It's a wartime 1903 - pretty much anything that physically fits or can be made fit would be period correct. 1942-43 they were slapping them together with whatever was available, and during re-arsenal it got mixed up even more.

It is worth putting back to "military" configuration as long as the barrel is not "shot".

If you want everything correct to the "T" - get "The Collectable '03" by J.C. Harrison.
 

ldp4570

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It's a wartime 1903 - pretty much anything that physically fits or can be made fit would be period correct. 1942-43 they were slapping them together with whatever was available, and during re-arsenal it got mixed up even more.

It is worth putting back to "military" configuration as long as the barrel is not "shot".

If you want everything correct to the "T" - get "The Collectable '03" by J.C. Harrison.


This right here!!!!!!

My SC1903A3 ser. # is 3672999 with barrel mark of SC 4-43, with all parts i.e. bolt/receiver harware matching. Yeah she's a collectable, but much more fun to shoot!!!!
i151.photobucket.com_albums_s127_ldp4570_GUNS_203_DSCN2103.jpg

i151.photobucket.com_albums_s127_ldp4570_GUNS_203_DSCN2150.jpg

i151.photobucket.com_albums_s127_ldp4570_GUNS_203_DSCN2145.jpg

i151.photobucket.com_albums_s127_ldp4570_GUNS_203_DSCN2146.jpg
 
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Mitch Rapp

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I got the stock for my 1903 "un-sporterizing" project from Numrich, as the CMP was out of stock at the time. The small parts I got from a guy on http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/index.php?sid=5a1086b5c1bf11bab6803f963dba7dad


Post up what you need on there, and you may save some cash, and get all your parts at once, like I did. The stock I got wasn't a set, but the only thing I had to do was sand the handguad smooth. Make sure you don't get an '03A3 handguard.

You have a milled trigger guard / magazine floorplate which is good. They are supposed to help with the rigidity of the gun, and make it slightly more accurate. Lots of good info on the previously linked forum, and plenty of guys on here with some experience. Let us know where we can help, if you are near me you could come see mine if you have any questions about the stock. The one thing that can be tricky with a new stock is getting the right for-end tip pressure on the barrel. I ended up using a piece of gasket materiel to bed mine about an inch into the stock, and that made a huge difference. Went from verticaly stringing shots, to shooting MOA to sub MOA.
 

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