03a3

Bolt should be black, yours is parkerized, not original. Not a Smith-Corona bolt, either as it is a Remington bolt.

Is it worth restoring to the way it should be or just leave it alone and enjoy it? The guy I bought it from said his Uncle bought it in the 1950's. I thought he said his Uncle paid $18 for it. I picked it up and 2 Browning auto 5 shotguns as part of a trade. I have about $1000 invested in the 3 guns. The Gunsmith I use for my projects can do a great job of parkerizing and his fees are not bad at all.

Mike, I think the Remington bolt is not a sub-contract one - I do believe the number identifies it to mid-production, if I remember what John Beard told me once.

the 8 marked bolts were made by across machine.
being completely parkerized says its been rebuilt at least once.
only the receiver, barrel rear sight base, and safety lever should be parked, the rest should be blued.

I took the 03A3 out and fired 3 rounds through it to see how it shot. I was very suprised with the accuracy. The 180 grain round nose fed and shot great! I might have to shoot a deer with it next season. If you guys want to hear a sad story, my Grandfather was in WW2 and he had a thing for picking up guns. He carried an 03A4 sniper rifle for a while in the back of a truck he was driving. He said it got really beat up bouncing around. He wanted to send it home but no U.S. weapons could be sent home. He did manage to send several Mausers, a Drilling and even a Luger pistol home. Until last year he still hunted deer with one of the Mausers. My Grandfather is on the left side of the "table" 3rd from the front.