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I broke down my 1903a3 yesterday and found something that I'm not sure about. The contoured area of the barrel looks rough and is not smooth like you would regularly see on a rifle. Just wanted to see if anyone else has seen this or experienced this as well. Here are some picks of the barrel.
many 1903 Remington barrels were used until they ran out on the first part of production, likely yours is one of those unless someone has changed it.
The serial number on the receiver and the markings on the barrel seem to match, both March 43. My father and I have both shot the gun over course of the last 50 plus years that he has owned it. I just thought that visually the contour area looks kind of strange because it is so rough and I have never seen a barrel like that before.
I found several with the same contour on the drill rifles that I bought in the CMP auction.
Your Remington M'03-A3 is fitted with an unfinished M1903 barrel. As Remington phased out M1903 production and phased in M'03-A3 production, they continued making barrels for both rifles to the same M1903 contour until the M1903 was phased out. Your barrel is not unusual in the least.
J.B.