U.S. Model 1903, loaded question

[Chuckindenver]

went to a small show this morning, just a quick walk through, and i saw no less then 4 remington 03,s
and i wasnt looking that hard.
id like to see more pics of your 03,s Dan, i had a chance at some redstripe 03,s still in the bag,
wished i had the extra cash back then.

[sdh1911]

You are indeed the owner of the lowest production issued gun! The blind hole was a first run only and were the stock bolts w or w/o fingergrooves. As I;m sure you know, Remington made a formal request to upgrade the design with stampings etc. Later they re-designed it into the 03A3.

If a gun from 1,2 mil on has an A1 stock it is indeed a DCM gun, not general issued, they would not have the proper stampings and the complete gun should be stamped under the wool line with the 64,000 stocking #. The one I have is not and is complete with the circle P and SPG/SA, very rare, but not issued. It does not have the stock #'s or anything, but, has never been in circulation. It came directly out of Ft Benn. where it had been sitting in a room since the 1930's, set aside for scope testing where it was not used, I also have one N.M. that was used for scope testing and was verified for me by Bill Brophy and a few other fairly knowledgeable folks.

Your guns, the "1st" run Remingtons are indeed the rarest "issued" 03's-Steve

[Dan M]

Chuck, here are a few more for you:











They have NO proof act stamps. They are "Red Star" rifles, and I have copies of the original MOD release paperwork.

[Dan M]

3003744 spent some time in NZ:

[sdh1911]

Those are some nice Remingtons, Could you show pics of the tangs? SDH

[Dan M]

I just moved, and I have to locate my camera... it is in one of the boxes. Regarding the tangs on my Remingtons...

3003744 Not drilled NZ LL
3026063 Not drilled Brit LL
3042584 Drilled Brit LL
3044044 Not drilled Brit LL
3065710 Drilled

My other two Remingtons are 3169752 and 3170071 (my shooter)... taken in totality, they make a nice study of the decline of craftsmanship during wartime.

In my collection I have two original 1919 manufactured Rock Island M1903s, including a 1919NM and 3003744 is not much different.

[Chuckindenver]

nice looking lot, wish id kept some of the early rifles iv had over the years.

[Dan M]

Gratuitous Remington photo... It is all still out there!



Yes, that is a dozen lend lease Remington M1903s, in cosmoline, straight from M.O.D.

P.S. They are not mine.

[sdh1911]

I have made a mistake that may or not may make a difference, the sight base on the type one Remintons came with a grooved rear sight base as found on the origianal Rock Islands as well as a milled trigger guard, I have heard but never seen occasionally marked stocks with the RI from Rock Island on the very front flat end of the stock The type ones were produced from November 1941 to December 1941 with a total of 1,272 were produced, The first modification was to the stock being the removal of the finger grooves in April of 1942. These rifles were made to be issued to the troops, not the public If you have more than one of these true type one Remington 03's all I can say is your about as lucky a man I've ever incountered. From all the information I have read over the years states there were many requests from Remington to up-grade specs in early production because the tooling from Rock Island was in **** poor condition and not time effective. I've collected these rifles since 1976 and have only seen two of the true type ones', both were being sold as just plain old Remingtons. I bought them both, trading one for a M97 trench gun and keeping the other one until my son got ill and I had to sell the bulk of the collection.

The DCM sold a great deal of A1 replacement stocks#D1836 (and a whole host of other parts) specifically for the 03 up-grades to the public. They aslo built complete rigs (stock, target and about everything else between) also for sales to the public. DCM guns are usually identified by a #C64,112 or C64,114 stamped onto the barrel or receiver assembly. The stock replacement is sometimes marked with the D1836 mark by the rear sling swivel If a circle P is found on the rifle it would indicate that Springfield had installed the replacement stock. None of the true A1's "military or DCM" will have band slot inletting for the A3 hand guard. Hope this clears up why thats the answer is what it is, if you boil off guns made for the public, target shooters and snipers, your left with Generally issued guns. If you crunch the numbers of the changes and when they occurred this should be what you come up with-SDH

[Dan M]

The only thing that is consistent with Remington M1903s is their inconsistency. You will find grasping groove stocked rifles with round rear sight bases, non grasping groove stocked rifles with early lightened rear sight bases, serifed letter R marked parts where one would expect non serifed R markings stamped into them, receivers with or without a punch mark below the s/n, and rarely a missing US above the Remington name. Then there is the gas escape hole(s)... sometimes one, sometimes two in rifles in the same serial number range. You will find tangs not drilled through 3,05x,xxx s/n range... confounding collectors to this very day!