Another crate of "Red Star" Remington M1903s sees the light of day!

[Rick the Librarian]

As many of you know, many years ago, in the mid-1950s, an USAF officer named Will Levin imported about 200 Remington M1903s from the British government. About 1998, he sold 60 of these in five wooden crates to the Red Star Gunshop in California, therefore giving the generic name of “Red Star M1903s” to the entire set. Although a number were sold or given away over the years, Levin’s nephew inherited the remaining rifles, about 70-80, several years ago. Through posts on several military websites and at least three magazine articles, the details of these rifles have gradually come to light.

They were packed in crates of 12 (with one crate of only 8 rifles to make up the even 200). They still bore the grease and packing from the mid-1950s (although very little of the grass or hay-like material was actually present).

The most interesting fact is that these rifles are mostly in original condition and include a number of earlier Remingtons. Serial numbers ranged from one example in the 3,004,000 range to most being in the 3,020,000-3,050,000 range. They saw relatively little service and were probably the largest collection of original M1903s gathered in one place, except for possibly the Springfield Armory Museum. I was fortunate enough to be present in 2008, when we opened two crates of these rifles. I photographically documented the rifles in the crate and most of the rest of the collection for a magazine article written by John Beard and Terrell Mullins.

Terrell decided to open another crate (the last one he will open!), which he did the other day. He said that he had the same feeling that I did in 2008 – that he was opening a historical artifact, which had last seen the light of day in 1955. As with the other crates, the rifles were packed in two rows of 6 each. Even though there was relatively little packing material, the rifles were packed so tightly, there was almost no movement and very few dings or other marks evident when he examined the rifles.

Terrell discovered an interesting group of rifles and said they were probably in the best condition of those discovered in the crates. He examined all of them and they ranged from one rifle in the 3,017,000 range to one in the 3,053,000 range. All had the distinctive red band applied by the British to denote a different caliber than .303. His time was limited, so he could not look for distinctive markings or anything unusual, but, as I said earlier, he said they were the best of the bunch, as far as condition.

Below are some pictures Terrell took from the “opening”.

Since I know this will come up, Terrell has only decided to sell a few of the rifles. They won’t be cheap, but to say there is a “limited supply” is an understatement!!

















Note date on lid!

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Badger]

To add more color to Rick's excellent post, here's some tangential research information from an old thread and also a formal MKL article.

Red Star Remington Model 1903's - Library Article by Terry Hawker

The Red Star Remington Model 1903 Rifles - July 2009 thread by John Beard

Regards,
Doug

[ABPOS]

They're so dirty, who would want one?






Just kidding.

Thank you for sharing!

[Rick the Librarian]

I know you're kidding, but take it from me, they clean up just fine!!

Before:



After:







(And, no, I don't want to get into an argument about whether I should have cleaned it or left it alone!! )

[Midmichigun]

Outstanding.... I thank you for sharing this! Indeed, these are time capsules from the past....

[Promo]

Sorry for the question, but did these rifles receive any US military markings on the stock, such as the RLB or FJA cartouches? Or were there no markings because they went directly to the British military?

[Rick the Librarian]

They had all the "normal" acceptance stamps of those rifles that stayed in the States. Virtually all were early enough they had the RLB stamp. There were two "odd men out" rifles - one was a low-numbered M1903 that got thrown in with the other 199 rifles that had a post-WWI RIA stamp; another was in the 3,136,000 range that had a "spread" RLB stamp. But the vast majority were in the 3,017,000 to 3,053,000 range and had a "boxed" RLB.

[Chuckindenver]

nice score my friend..i know how much you like the red stripe rifles.

[Rick the Librarian]

I didn't add any - just reporting on them (don't I wish!!)

[emmagee1917]

Rick , I for one wholeheartedly support your decision to clean yours up.
It would be just downright silly to shoot it in the straw covered condition.
BTW , how does she group ?
Chris