Good afternoon gents,

This will be my first thread/post & hopefully the redundancy of this post catches someone’s eye. To start off I’m very knowledgeable when it comes to 20th century firearms & have a decent collection of WWII weaponry. All of which I can easily repair if need be.

1. 1940 G33/40 (945 coded/all matching/GI bringback)

2. 1944 byf K98kicon (All matching/GI Bringback)

3. 1942 Walther P.38 (all matching/GI bring back)

4. 1944 CZ 27 (all matching/GI bring back)

5. 1955 HRA M1icon Garand (no import marks/all matching)

6. 1943 Inland MFG Division M1 Carbine (no import marks/all “matching”/correct)

7. 1943 1903A3 (1903A4 Clone / weapon in question)

So, I have an idea of what my 1903A4 build is doing but I thought I’d pick your minds as well. It is a 1943 dated Remington (barrel wise but the date correlates properly with the serial number) 1903A3 that I recently purchased as a 1903A4 clone & have been returning it to an original state of a 1903A4. I recently purchased a USGI 1903A4 C-Stock (100% original WWII Remington manufacture 1903A4 stock / bolt cutout & all), replaced the Timney Trigger with a USGI 1903A3 Trigger/sear (where my problem lies), 1903A4 Bolt, a Redfield (Parkerized scope base), Redfield 3/4” split top rings, will throw the Weaver 330 (original) back on top & replaced everything that would have been blued when it came off the line in 1943.

When I replaced the Timney trigger with the USGI 1903A3 trigger assembly I ran into issues. When assembled as a full rifle the trigger can be compressed all the way until the trigger itself hits the rear of the trigger cutout in the trigger guard without dropping the firing pin but when the barreled action is outside of the stock the trigger will drop the sear, dropping the cocking piece, thus dropping the firing pin. I measured accordingly where the trigger stops when the weapon is assembled within the original 1903A4 C-Stock compared to it being a barreled action & the trigger group needs roughly 1/8” more of travel to the rear in order to drop the firing pin when inside the stock.

I then threw the barreled action into the USGI WWII manufactured Scant Stock I have & it has the same issue. To note; When the Timney was installed when I purchased I did not have these issues. If I remove the trigger guard while the action is inside either stock the trigger can be compressed enough to fire but not when the trigger guard is present.

The trigger is 100% USGI WWII manufactured & there is no evidence of said trigger having a trigger job & or then being refinished. The original WWII USGI Trigger assembly I initially purchased had a round faced sear marked “R” on the left hand side, a “4” inside of a Square on the right hand side, there is the proper hole at the bottom of the sear where the sear spring sits & the trigger itself was case hardened & marked “R” on the left hand side. I recently purchased another Remington NOS 1903A3 trigger (Marked R, 100% Blued) & punched out the case hardened trigger & threw this blued Remington Trigger into the same sear: I’m still having the same issues with this trigger. I’m currently waiting on two NOS sears to come in (one blued & manufactured by Remington / square face & the other blued made by Hadley / square face).

I also received a NOS Remington made (blued) cocking piece & installed that this weekend & the issues are still present. I ordered a blued Remington Bolt sleeve / safety (safety is parked) set up as well. Hopefully a sear replacement is the only thing needed but regardless I return everything back to its “correct” state if it is not so when purchased.

So, getting back on track. Weapon fires when the triggerguard is not present but it cannot fire when the trigger guard is present (too much length of pull within the trigger before it breaks so it hits the rear of the triggerguard/trigger cutout without firing). Bolt is solid, inside & out, front to back, nothing obstructing within the stock(s), trigger seems to have too much travel & the trigger guard seems to be the issue with this specific sear / trigger set up. Trigger guard is stamped, parked & marked “R”.

Lastly, I have two NOS USGI WWII manufactured sear springs & decided to cut one (x1) coil on the spring (thinking this could be the problem with this specific trigger) & this did not fix the issue either. This was just an attempt to see if there was too much spring tension & I would not run my “1903A4” as such.

Any help would be appreciated.


Semper Fidelis

Benny
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