Curious about Remington 1903A3

[Ridolpho]

Thought I'd add a few photos that capture the green parkerizing colour. To sum up the dope on this rifle:
1) March 1943 barrel date agrees with serial number (it's a 4 groove barrel in excellent condition).
2) Uniform light green parkerizing (including on bolt) indicates rebuild with no evidence of use post rebuild. Everything appears to be Remington but, as pointed out by an eagle eyed member, the bolt sleeve, which appears to be Smith Corona.
3) There is evidence of an earlier (dark parkerizing?) finish on the bolt handle which has the number 8 stamped on top, "R" on the underside, and some hazy numbers stamped on the back off the handle (5 & 6- see photo).
No responses have suggested anything about marks indicative of where or when the rebuild was done and I'm now a little nervous about the history of the gun. I believe I'll hold off on shooting it until I've located some headspace guages. Does anyone have any info about where proper rebuilds were done utilizing parkerizing of this distinctive colour (only Remington?)? Has anyone ever run into an amateur rebuild where this colour was achieved?
Thanks to all that responded to the original post. I'm a newcomer to Springfields but have started to get interested in them and have a couple of books on order.


Ridolpho

[Neal Myers]

I think it unlikely that you will be able to determine any history of a specific rifle. Yes, some "Springfield" rifles were issued to front line US troops early in WW2, but any Remingtons would have been 1903's, not 1903A3's, which were produced later in the war. It may have been used by a stateside unit, or held in reserve.

It could have been rebuilt at any US arsenal. The greenish phosphate finish has changed over time, with color changing due to contact with oil & grease. Skilled gunsmiths (read: like Chuckindenver) can reproduce the color today with tints.

When these were rebuilt, they often had an arsenal rebuilt stamp on the stock:

In additional, an original stock would have had another proof P stamped on the grip area.

Many 1903A3's were sold to the US National Rifle Assoc. members in the 1950's by the Director of Civilian Marksmanship; some were brand new, some like new from rebuild. I would guess that's where yours came from. If loaned to a veterans organization, they were still US property & should have been returned to the US military, unless they were stolen.

[Ridolpho]

Neal: Thanks for your comments- pretty much sums up everything I was wondering about. I've gone over the stock very carefully and see no evidence of a rebuild stamp on the stock and there is only a single proof stamp on the grip. Due to the parkerized bolt assembly it's clearly been rebuilt but that appears to be as much as can be said about the history. I am curious now about why the originals had the bolt blued. As everyone knows the a3 bolt is pretty crude and bluing would seem to be a strange finish for it. In a recent "Guns & Ammo" Surplus Firearms mag a Mr. Hacker states that early a3's "were parkerized with a dark finish, although toward the end of '43 the parkerizing was changed to a light grey-green shade, which can also be found on arsenal repaired examples". As I mentioned there are spots on the bolt handle where an earlier dark finish is apparent and it's not bluing. I'm led to wonder if the parkerizing wears off rapidly on a bolt leading to the re-parking of the bolt on a very little used gun. I guess I'll see how rapidly the green stuff wears off as I use this rifle at the range.

[Harlan]

It's definitely been through an arsenal rebuild. The color of the park from rebuilds is different from the original park. The Arsenal rebuilds usually look a little brownish that's unique. (Especially the bolt) There were quite a few that didn't get marked - there were also some that went through rebuild they didn't touch at all but they got the rebuild stamp.

One of the top, and most knowledgeable 1903 collectors told me there was a behind doors deal to keep SA open and they 'rebuilt' many A3's that were still in new condition and that's why there are so many reparked A3's that have no wear.

Not a bad thing at all to have an arsenal rebuilt 1903A3 - It's still in it's military trim. Much better than if it had been refinished in civilian hands - that brownish park would be hard to duplicate. My 1903A3 below is my favorite shooter of all my guns and it accurate as any gun I've seen.








This is one of my others that still in original shape. Notice the difference in the parked parts from the reparked part above. Also, you can see the blued parts well.