A British Remington M1903 ...

[JimF in CT]

Just to throw my all-correct 3.019 in the mix..... the "R" is on the BOTTOM rear of the extractor. --Jim

[Rick the Librarian]

Just to be sure I wasn't in error, I pulled out the bolt on my 302 and checked it again, right after Rick posted on the location of his.

The mark is not a scratch, wear mark or dust mite. There's most definitely an "R" impressed into the top of the extractor at the back corner, as it appeared in the last series of pics I posted.

I then checked the bottom rear corner also and there's nothing there but shiny wearing. John suggested that location was something new in his experience, so unless someone chimes in I'll assume that a Rem 1903 extractor with an "R" stamp into the rear top corner denotes an oddball, not what would normally have occurred.

Thanks, John ...

I think my "directions" were confused (nothing new in that!) and the R is where John remembers. When I get some time, I'll take a picture and post it.

(I've been delivering mail six days a week - no time to inbibe bore cleaner or anything else!! Retirement - HAH!!)

[Chief]

So do we call you "Rick the Mailman" now?
regards,
Chief

[Mike Haas]

I think my "directions" were confused (nothing new in that!) and the R is where John remembers. When I get some time, I'll take a picture and post it.

(I've been delivering mail six days a week - no time to inbibe bore cleaner or anything else!! Retirement - HAH!!)

Rick - Are you..the reason the USPS is going bankrupt??

[Rick the Librarian]

Hay, I PAY for all those M1903s I ship and receive!!

Here's a VERY poor picture of the extractor on my Remington 3,024,801. The serif R is to the rear upside down.

[John Beard]

Just to be sure I wasn't in error, I pulled out the bolt on my 302 and checked it again, right after Rick posted on the location of his.

The mark is not a scratch, wear mark or dust mite. There's most definitely an "R" impressed into the top of the extractor at the back corner, as it appeared in the last series of pics I posted.

I then checked the bottom rear corner also and there's nothing there but shiny wearing. John suggested that location was something new in his experience, so unless someone chimes in I'll assume that a Rem 1903 extractor with an "R" stamp into the rear top corner denotes an oddball, not what would normally have occurred.

Thanks, John ...

You assume correctly. You have an oddball. But, Remington "oddballs" are very commonplace!

J.B.

[John Beard]

Rick or John: Is there one particular '03 reference book you recommend over the rest?

Brophy's book on the Springfield 1903 Rifles is far and away the best on all but the WWII rifles. If you have more interest in the WWII rifles, then Campbell's book, "The '03 Springfield's Era" is the best. No good library is complete without BOTH books.

Hope this helps.

J.B.

[Emri]

Brophy's book on the Springfield 1903 Rifles is far and away the best on all but the WWII rifles. If you have more interest in the WWII rifles, then Campbell's book, "The '03 Springfield's Era" is the best. No good library is complete without BOTH books.

Hope this helps.

J.B.

Early rifles, don't forget John's (and Nick Ferris's) book on the subject. It is out of print now, but shows up frequently on the auction sites.

FWIW,

Emri

[Rick the Librarian]

...as well as Nick's excellent book on the Rock Island M1903.

(And William Brophy's Arsenal of Freedom, which gives (Fiscal) year-by-year reports on activities at Springfield Armory, much of which centered around the M1903)

[Nick Adams]

Thought I'd "bump up" this old post just in case anyone's come into a British Remington "red-stripe" 1903 in the last year or so.

John and Rick's posts were extremely helpful in vetting the particulars of my red-stripe 1903, which I'd inadvertently stumbled across in the dark corner of a local shop's used rifle rack.

Below are a few shots of my redstripe 1903 at the 2010 Springfield bolt action match
during the Nationals at Camp Perry.

I actually had several competitors and one official ask me if mine was one of the Remington red-stripes they'd read about in the Man at Arms article.

A Brit-Rem M1903 goes to the Nat'l Rifle Matches.