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I just picked up an unmolested 03a3 remington ser. #3845xxx with an R marked barrel dated 6-43, stock has crossed cannons, RA and FJA stamped on the side and 4 markings on the bottom that appear to br 1 in a circle, 3 in a circlr a 93 in a box and a 37 in a triangle, gun retains 95% green finish and stock is near perfect with a really dark color any opinions? try the link for pics. Pictures by rschmidt34787 - Photobucket
Pics required. You did not mention ALL furniture (excluding receiver and barrel) being blued which would be required for unmolested condition.
yes bolt is blued the bolt release or mag cutoff appears to be polished, trigger guard and mag floor plate are blued trigger appears black at the moment, bottom of stock has a circlr P and F
after removing all the cosmoline I would rate this thing as 95% or better, there is dried cosmoline in the chamber area, barrel looks like a mirror and there are absolutely no marks on the feed ramp or bolt face, the stock does not have a blemish other than a few rub marks and no wear at all to the nicest green park I have seen in a long time. question is should i clean up the stock or leave it alone?
I'd carefully clean it. They look very nice. I used RLO on mine and it looks like new.
Hope to see some photos of yours.
I added some new photos of mine to try to show more of the details of how the different parts were finished, and you can see the stock here.
Remington 1903A3 (displaying original configuration and finish)
~ Harlan
pictures added to OP
Thanks for the photos of your rifle!
And your rifle does indeed appear mostly unmolested. I will make you aware, however, that your rifle has a replacement bolt sleeve in it.
Hope this helps. Thanks again for sharing photos! :wave:
J.B.
I noticed that, however it is marked R along with the firing pin, the only other part that that is not marked id the stacking swivel everything else is marked R, the rifle was actually completely covered with very old and very dried cosmoline , the entire rifle took hours to clean . the firing pin, actually the whole inside of the bolt was packed full of it. the firing pin is marked R but is parked, is that normal?
If you look very closely, you may find that the stacking swivel is marked "R". I have seen stacking swivels with very, very thin "R" markings.Quote:
Originally Posted by bob34787
Firing pins are not normally parkerized. Exceptions exist, but they are extremely rare and appear on much earlier rifles. I note that your rifle's firing pin appears to be from an earlier rifle. Since the bolt sleeve has been replaced, the parkerized firing pin is also probably a replacement.
Hope this helps.
J.B.
thanks for the reply, how would a person tell between early and late firing pin , my serial no. is in the 3,800,000 range dated 6/43
OK just stripped the bolt, the cocking piece, firing pin, safety are all parked in what I call WWII green same as receiver , and marked with an R the bolt sleeve is parked the same color but of course is stamped with a G for smith corona. the cutoff lever is marked R and blued, every other part of this rifle has an R stamped on it somewhere, even the spring for the handguard has an R on it, now is it worth it for me to replace the sleeve , safety, and cocking piece to be all correct or is it good enough.
Your rifle looks great! The bolt shroud and cocking piece are the only ones I see that that were originally blued. The safety SHOULD be parked.
If it were mine, I would replace those two pieces with blued ones. They are inexpensive. Of course, you would need ones in excellent condition to match your gun. Again, my opinion. I like the combination of parked and blued parts.
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yes I just ordered a sleeve, now I need the cocking piece, the pictures really do not do this rifle justice, it truly looks new in person