just picked up this beauty

[Marines55]

a buddy called me last weekend and offered me a 1903 springfield that he had picked up really cheap at a local auction. i went over and this is what he pulled out of the rifle case. haven't had time to detail clean it, but i slipped out to the range today and put it through its paces. it performed flawlessly with amazing accuracy!

Information

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[JGaynor]

Very very nice!

[cplstevennorton]

this is like Deja Vu. Two weeks I got a call from a guy telling me he found a Marine Match rifle. So I went up to look at it. It was IDENTICAL to this one. Serial was in the 800k range buried in the Marine serials in the SRS. Stock and handguard had NM drawing numbers and the last four of the serial stamped just like this, same position. The bolt was parked, with a prior electropenciled number on it, then ground down, and the current serial electropenciled. Just like this one. It had a 11/42 barrel which is a common replacement barrel on Marine rifles. Globe front sight and lyman 48 rear. I mean other than the serials they were identical. The only difference this one's receiver had been drilled and tapped. It was in the Marine pattern on the receiver but the quality was not as nice as I've seen on the snipers.

But then you look at this one. There have been several Marine snipers found in the 1.46 range, which would have been NM team rifles before that. It has a B2 bolt which is common in Marine Rebuilds. You can see a prior 3 something serial, parked over, then ground, and the new serial on it. 7/42 barrel which I'm curious if it has vice marks on it. And I've heard people speculate that the star is a Philadelphia Depot Star.

The weird thing is, the rails and bolts are not polished like a match rifle. But the pad is behind the rear sight. And I almost bet if you open up that bolt, that flat part of the receiver has a punch mark like the match rifles have.

As far as I know the Marines transitioned to the Garands for Camp Perry when the National Matches started back up after WWII. And from the paperwork it sounds like the majority of the team rifles before the war were probably mostly used up in the Sniper Program. And they remained snipers after the war and were not converted back to team or service rifles.

So what the heck is this? It's so weird that I've seen two identical with so many Marine traits. I mean mirror images of each other. It makes me wonder if they didn't build some after the war for Marine or divisional matches or something? Or the same commercial gunsmith got his hands on some Marine 1903's and built match rifles out of them with parts.

I don't know what they are. But they are identical. lol

[Marines55]

Funny you say this. I was showing this to a friend over the weekend and he too said that it was a USMC National Match rifle. his "dead giveaway" was the EP renumbered bolt, extra hatcher hole on the left side of the receiver, and the drawing numbers/serials on the wood. further research is in my future!

[cplstevennorton]

I bet if you look at your hatcher hole it's going to be crudely drilled. As your serial should have been the tail end of the ones not factory drilled. And your bolt was at one time for sure a Marine bolt, being a B2 with a serial number parked over. But both Match rifles and Marine rifles use electropencil to mark bolts in that spot. So it could be possible a gunsmith picked up a Marine bolt, ground a bare spot afer refinishing it and then electropenciled a new serial. Do I think that is what happened, I don't. But it is possible. But my honest gut opinion is, that receiver is Marine too. Just because Marine receivers have been found around that range.

I have 1459600 and it was a Marine match rifle at one time too. That is why I find this one so interesting because I've really studied this block of serials. A 7/42 SA is not a common Marine barrel replacement but we have speculated some might have been. Do you know how to look for Marine vice marks on the barrel? I would take that handguard off and look for vice marks. If you don't know what they are, I can post a pic for you.

And I bet your receiver rail has a punch mark on it. They find these punch marks on match rifles, and I've seen a few on service rifles too. But every match rifle I've seen has had one. But do you have a punch mark on your rail? It might be deeper because mine is polished. It can be stamped about anywhere on the rail just like this that I circled. But I bet it has it.

[Marines55]

indeed it does have the punch mark on the rail. the 2nd hatcher hole was crudely drilled. i just popped the hand guard off and sure enough, there are some vice marks on the barrel that were parkerized over. they are located just in front of the rear sight sleeve. I also forgot to mention that there is a small area on the toe of the buttplate that is hand stippled.

the rest of the story on this rifle is that it came from a vet who was in Japan during the occupation. he apparently sent home a bunch of unissued Japanese and US field gear and Japanese rifles. he kept all of it along with this rifle in a large trunk for over 60 years. He was later employed at Letterkeny Army Depot here in PA. when he passed away, his kids found this stuff and sent it to auction where it all sold for pennies on the dollar.

[cplstevennorton]

Two weeks ago if you showed me this, I would have been like it's a former Marine rifle that a civilian gunsmith worked over. But now there are two that are identical in everyway. And both are full of Marine traits. It just can't be a coincidence.

I might try to see if I can pick that other up. If I do, I will post pics. Then you can see what I'm saying on how it's like Deja Vu. lol

Welcome to the forum by the way and Semper Fi.

[Marines55]

Semper Fi! thanks so much for the info, I am SUPER happy to have this rifle! If you get the other one you spoke of, please do post up some pics as i would love to see them!

[Promo]

Great rifle you've bought, but Steven already told you most on it! I would love to have such a piece in my collection. Looking forward to additional pictures of it - and if you ever decide to part with it, let me know!

Two questions to the rifle, are the screws of the triggerguard staked, and the screw holes of the magazine guard shortened? And does it now belong to you, since you only said a friend of yours picked it up locally.

As we're by the details, I loved the fact that it still has the dished knob for the windage adjustment!

[Rick the Librarian]

Interesting you should bring this up - I had #1489912 until a couple of years ago. It was sold to me as a "National Match" rifle, which is wasn't (I paid $750, so I didn't pay "National Match" prices!! )

It had a 6-42 barrel and was mounted in a Type C National Match stock with a DAL stamp and the serial number of the rifle it had been mounted, stamped below, 1402310. It had the "star" stamped on the barrel just below the date, as on the OP's example. It also had a BF 46 replacement bolt with the serial number etched on the top of the "body".

I checked with John Beard and he also identified it as a USMC target rifle. I had to sell it to buy a NM rifle 2-3 years back. Hated to see it go - my only USMC rifle, to date. Pictures below: