Hello all,

My name is Mark. I recently found this site and acquired my first M1903. I believe it is a Remington M1903 Modified before they started making the A3 models. Anyways, I was looking for a shooter with a good barrel and not something too collectible that I would be afraid to take out from time to time. I also wanted the goofy ladder sights.

Anyways, here are some general shots. Ignore the mess. I sleep on my couch most of the time, though I have a separate bed.







The stock had a hairline crack that actually was a little bigger upon field strip. I decided to pin it myself because I didn't want it to grow. Again, I wasn't crazy about my first M1903 being a safe queen. I can get a nicer looker later when I know more about these rifles.

So I added two screws to the stock. Only one of the screw shafts was visible after cleanup and assembly. I had to work the stock after pinning to clear up any mismatches above and below the crack. I think I did an OK job for my first time. It is very rigid now and I don't have to worry about it growing anymore.







OK so now 2 questions:

1) My front trigger guard screw never seems to completely snug up like the rear guard screw. It gets tight (Actually pretty tight), but it doesn't feel like a definite stop as on the rear guard screw or for example the stock bands. The threads in the receiver don't look stripped to me. I know there is no real bushing in the front screw like the rear, so maybe I am just compressing the wood stock?

I noticed I might be able to get a longer front screw to maybe engage more threads. What would you recommend? Shoot it and don't worry? Put a little blue or purple loctite on the threads and call it a day?



2) Finally, to me the front sight looks crooked. I think the barrel is "clocked" (?) correctly. You can kind of see it from this outside shot. With the stock off the matching lines are clearer. The image below is a close up on the left side just in front of the magazine cutoff selector.










I plan on shooting it this weekend. If that is normal and shoots alright, I am OK. The look of the crookedness doesn't bother me. I am not expecting crazy accuracy out of this, but I don't want the rounds a foot or two to the right or have to adjust the windage all of the way to one side to compensate. I am ok with bending the blade on the sight to get it over the top of the barrel again if it would be an easy fix.


Thanks for your time. I am really excited about this rifle and being a member on this forum. Any help is appreciated.
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