Possible USMC 1903, Rock Island Arsenal Serial #298156?

Good Afternoon All and Happy belated Fourth of July!
I’m a new guy here and have come into possession of a 1903 Rock Island thru the estate of a family friend. When I got the old warhorse, the stock had been cut down for sporting use, but all else was good to go. As I went down the rabbit hole, I found that it had some of the characteristics of a USMC 1903. It had a hand stippled butt plate, Hatcher Hole drilled, pea green coloring on the appropriate receiver parts and vice marks on the barrel. It bears serial #298156. It doesn’t have a Sedgley marked barrel, but SA Flaming bomb 9-42 stamped barrel. As I said earlier, the stock had been cut up, so I put the guy into an old Greek 1903 stock that I had in the bin.
Does anyone have any ideas on serial number searches to see if this guy falls into Marine ranges? I don’t have access to SRS, so any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Goopy
Pics will be forthcoming, after holiday trips are thru- for being an old timer, it still is a good looking rifle Greek clothes or not…

All of the characteristics you describe leave little doubt it was a Marine rifle.

Yours isn't a direct hit, but there are many Marine rifles around it, including one very clsoe:

298166 011731USMC
298471 092238USMC - CHICAGO
298474 092238USMC - CHICAGO
298791 091830USMC
298862 051931USMC
298867 041831USMC

It has been awhile since I have submitted this SA serial number 606103 for a check. Barrel is Rock Island RIA 5-18 (exc bore) receiver without Hatcher hole. Bolt is straight handle small s marked. I did install the rear USMC rear sight leaf

Thanks for any help RCSAttachment 131887

RCS, no direct hit on your rifle either, though the 600k range has quite a few Marine rifles. Here are the closest:

606386 082538USMC - SAN DIEGO (SURVEY)
606434 100426USMC - PHILA NSY (SURVEYED)
606641 011542USMC - SAN DIEGO

That serial range, barrel date, Additional Gas Escape hole, and barrel vise marks sounds very stereotypical of that era of Marine rebuild.

It sounds like a really nice rifle. :)

Thanks for the replies everyone!
Back in town and will put some pics of the old boy up in the morning; remember not to bash me too bad for dressing him up in a Greek uniform- it was the only complete stock I had on hand…

file:///var/mobile/Library/SMS/Attachments/d9/09/CD1D909A-C8F8-40C6-A926-87AFDFE4069B/IMG_1274.jpeg

If anyone has any further info on this 1903, please let me know. Also, if anyone has anything on the Eddystone, do the same. Enjoy the pics and thanks for the help this far!
Goopy

No doubt a Marine. Another present trait of a Marine rebuild is the enlargement of the gas escape hole in the bolt. Nice rifle.

I'll leave info on the 1917 to others who know more about them.

Thanks for sharing.

The handguard, lower band retaining spring, and cocking piece on your M1903 rifle need replacing with parts having potential Marine usage. Also, you need a stacking swivel on the upper band instead of a sling swivel.

Thanks for sharing! And good luck!

J.B.

Thanks for the replies fellas.
One quick question- what identifies a USMC cocking piece and upper hand guard? If you have any pictures please send them and I can start the hunt!

Your rifle's handguard has a convex profile between the rear sight and lower band. You need a handguard with a straight profile. And here's a picture of an acceptable cocking piece.

https://imgur.com/a/vt8XQjI.jpg

J.B.

Goopy, I personally wouldn't worry about that handguard. You see some in Marine pics.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...PKUaIhJh-1.jpg

What's the date and location on that picture? That looks like a post-WWII ROTC or parade rifle picture.

J.B.

Anytime you see a Marine with a Pith helmet, it's usually a boot camp photo from very early WWII or it was taken before. Pith helmets rarely show up outside of training, and are not common after the early stages of the war. So it's usually pretty easy to date them. The Marines switched to the M1 in Boot Camp in late 1942.

If you study the Boot Camp photos of Marines with the M1903 from this time period, you will find more pics of these handguards. This is not an isolated occurrence.

This photo is from Parris Island prior to the War and is a collection of photos from the Life Magazine and is available in one of their online archives. I believe without going back to date it, it's from 1940 or 1941. I copied this photo in 2016. This was whole series of photos about Marine life in Boot Camp taken before the war.

This photo was an inspection of boots. Here are couple more taken from the same inspection that I had copied. One thing I always thought was neat about this series is how high they wore their ties, and the metal device they wore behind the knot. Our regulations when I was in, the ties ended at the middle of your belt buckle. So I did find this series sort of neat.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...yWUfn71h-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...f4Igiywh-1.jpg

I have more pics of that style handguard in my files, but I really didn't taken much time to look.

But for instance I see a couple in this group photo taken in Boot Camp in 1942. You always see a mix of various styles in photos.

So Goopy, I would not worry about that handguard at all personally.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...xTQHrt1h-1.jpg

2nd Marine on the left and clearly dated August 1940.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...BgVkhpng-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...tdSUt4Fh-1.jpg

Outstanding pics!

All the handguards in your pictures correctly are straight-profile handguards. And I believe the handguard in the first picture may also be a straight-profile handguard, given that the picture was taken at an obtuse angle. The contract for the convex-profile handguards was not placed until late 1944 at the earliest. And the USMC used very few, if any, of those handguards. It was an Army Ordnance contract.

J.B.

Thanks Goopy!

I have found a lot of really neat things, such as these handguards, by searching the boot camp photos. I have seen quite a few of those handguards in the Marine pictures.

It's a really nice rifle. I hope you enjoy it. :)