I have in my collection, a late 1903, #1,533,083....that is 205 numbers higher than is listed as the end of production in 1938-39, which was 1,532,878.
some sources say production resumed in 1945 for a bit, but I do not have that link.
It has a 1938 barrel, in vg condition.It is in a rem 03a3 st stock, for now.
That would be a really interesting rifle to study piece by piece. The very last 1938-1940 rifles assembled are often a hodge-podge of parts that were on hand to finish the rifles and get them out of the Armory. If there really was a batch of rifles finished in 1945, they may have their own characteristics if enough of them were compared and studied.
Receivers built in this serial range were built as replacement parts.
In the docs at this time, I see large quantities of loose receivers going into long term storage and being shipped to other Armories to be used as replacements in rebuild.
So, the easiest way to understand this is, this receiver was fabricated to be used as a replacement part. Not much different than when SA manufactured any replacement part such as say a firing pin. Army Ordnance did not see any difference in a receiver than they did in any part on the M1903 at this time. They were just building parts as spares.
Right before WWII, there were orders to Armories by Ordnance to assemble any M1903's they could build completely out of spare parts that were already on hand. So these rifles would have been built out of a mix of new and refurbished parts. Whatever the armories could have dug up.
I do not remember ever seeing any orders to build "New" M1903 rifles in 1945 and I do not believe there were any. At this time, they were declaring the M1903 was obsolete and were in the planning stages of how to get rid of them all. Now they were rebuilding M1903's at this time getting them ready for long term storage and DCM sales, so if a M1903 had a unserviceable receiver for any reason during these rebuilds, loose receivers such as this would have been used. But I have not seen any evidence they were building any new M1903s at this time, only repairing the ones they already had.
The short answer is there is no real way to know when or who built that rifle, unless someday that specific serial was found on a document describing when it was built.
But I think the real key to understanding this is, we have all seen those armory packs of spare parts that Ordnance put in long term storage to be used at a later date. Those spart parts were built not with the idea they would go into new rifles at that moment. They were just built to be used at replacement parts at a future date. This receiver was built in an era that receivers were regarded the same way.
I have in my collection, a late 1903, #1,533,083....that is 205 numbers higher than is listed as the end of production in 1938-39, which was 1,532,878.
some sources say production resumed in 1945 for a bit, but I do not have that link.
It has a 1938 barrel, in vg condition.It is in a rem 03a3 st stock, for now.
Doesn't mean much, really but there it is.
Thanks for the information from your rifle.
S/N 1532878 was reportedly the last serial number of record struck in October, 1939. Receivers, however, were still in active production and almost 3,500 additional receivers were manufactured during 1939-40 and placed in Ordnance Stores. When the U.S. entered WWII, those receivers were pulled from Ordnance Stores and assembled into complete rifles. Your rifle's receiver was one of those.
The highest serial number known is S/N 1592563. The serial number, however, is a mis-strike with the third and fourth digits transposed.
Thanks for sharing.
J.B.
p.s.,
Please oblige us with the complete month and year date from your rifle's barrel. Thanks!
Last edited by John Beard; 07-20-2023 at 01:04 AM.
This late receiver rifle, came as a bubba sporter, hunting rifle, in a cut down 03A3 stock, with a short, Williams receiver sight..no sight base or sight leaf. 1950's stuff likely.
It was cheap.
Not drilled for scope mounts, just the Williams.
It has a complete Remington unpolished bolt, but the trigger guard, receiver and bbl 6-38 are Armory produced stuff...unremarkable. No sight base; removed or never had one.
Not drilled for scope mounts.
Finish is a nice smooth dark parkerizing..no star gage mark or number on the bbl.
I once had a loose, 3-39 Star Gage bbl with star gage #, but this is not one of them unfortunately.
It is now destined for an M2 stock with long Lyman 48 to make something out of it. I will polish an appropriate bolt and test reloads...but I have too many already....
PM
Originally Posted by cplstevennorton
