Hello all,
I recently inherited some rifles which I'm looking to get insured and need some help trying to valuate one in particular.
This is a Remington 03A3 with serial number 4000158. It's 100% original with what appears to be either a well used original bolt assembly or a chromed bolt assembly. It's very bright indeed. See the attached pictures.
If anybody out there could give me a little insight I'd very much appreciate it.
Thanks,
David.
Stock has definately been sanded, bolt is not correct for this rifle. Could it be that the rifle blued and not parkerized?
Interesting. How do you know that the bolt is not correct for this rifle? Somebody did mention whilst I was at the range that it looked like a drill rifle however it shoots flawlessly. I'm not sure what to look for with regards to blued vs parkerized. Would additional close up pictures of any parts help?
Thank you!
That bolt is 1903 Springfield and is nickel steel, from the 1930's. One gas hole earlier, two gas holes later.
That rifle has been stripped of original finish and reblued, dulited or painted. If it is a DP rifle you will see the remains of grinding around the cutoff area (on-off switch) where welds were applied. Parkerizing does not take to the hardened weld areas which could explain the finish. Show us a pic of the cutoff, and take it from the stock and show us a pic of the underside of the chamber swell. That area would have been tacked as well.
Someone tricked it the rifle for sale or target work and it appears they did a nice job. If it is an old DP it won't have a high value-but lack of original finish does the same thing anyway, just to a lesser degree.
PD
Nice, early NS bolt. Rifle sure looks re-blued to me. Stock is sanded, as well. I doubt it is a Drill Rifle, looks like a 1950's DCM rifle.
Fantastic info, I'll be sure to recommend this site to my friends who shoot 03A3's up at our range here in Northern NJ.
My apologies if the pictures I've added are not all that you were looking for. Did you mean remove the stock and photograph the underside of the barrel? I can do this but wanted to make sure that was what you were looking for before I did.
---------- Post added at 10:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:01 PM ----------
The reason I thought the bolt was original was that it is also stamper with an "R" for Remington? and "32" for year? I was hoping the serial number 4000158 from around 1932 but as is quite apparent, I have not done my research here!
Receiver dates to Dec 1943 or Jan 1944. What's the date on the top end of the barrel behind the front sight?
Yes, if you could take a picture of the gun out of the stock, underside of barrel where it screws into the receiver, that would help determine if it's a DR.
Just stripped it down and took some additional pictures which should appear above with a bit of luck.
There are lots of numbers and markings all over the metalwork. Not sure what they might mean but perhaps inspection stamps?
The markings behind the front sight read "R.A. 9-43" so hopefully this is the original barrel to which the receiver is mated with. The rifling looks nice an sharp.
You have a fine shooter there with some civilian history pegged onto it. It would look great at the range. I do not think it is a recovered drill rifle.
PD
PD, I'd still like to have it insured. Do you think you could have a guess at the maximum somebody might expect to pay for one of these?
Thanks again for all the info.
Best regards,
David.
Also, you mentioned that the bolt was from the 1930's but do you know what version and manufacturer of 1903 it would have originally been a part of? As mentioned, it's stamped with a letter "R" and "32" (1932?)
Here for the bolt: http://www.vishooter.net/slc8_2008.html
dgp..An interesting side note. during WW2 the ordnance dept assigned blocks of serial numbers to the contractors Remington and Smith Corona. The serial number range 4,000,001 to 4.015,000 was intended to be used for the production of M1903A4 sniper's rifles. Due to an oversight production of standard M1903A3's ran into the serial number range assigned to the A4. When it was discovered about 3000 A4 receivers had been made with duplicate serial numbers which were then remarked with a leading "Z".
so your rifle is one of the oddballs that "shouldn't have been".
Regards,
Jim
ANJRPC
Hi Jim,
That is very interesting, I wonder if that means it has an A4 twin out there somewhere with a Z after the same serial number?
Is there anyway to tell if the barrel has A4 characteristics?
Thanks for the info,
David.
As a suggestion, don't use a white background for making flash pictures. The camera exposes the largest area correctly, which is the white sheet, and underexposes the rifle.
Nice shooter, collector value is nil. At a gunshow you would ask $700.00 and bargin down from there.
I'd send it to Chuckindenver for a repark job. He did one on a Remington '03 I had that a previous owner had blued. Looked great when he finished it.
The N.S. bolts were Springfield and were never used (new or rebuilt) in the A3's. As far as the R and 32, I've seen them with numbers under the handle, but can only speculate on the R, it's definitely not Remington. Barrels were all selected from the same production run, nothing differentiated them until they were selected to go on an A4, they were air guaged, when they met acceptable results they got a punch under the end and went to the finishing process. I believe the punch mark was to let the front sight guy know not to put one on it (it was in the middle of the machines surface for the front sight).
I don't think your rifle was a drill rifle but it has been pimped, in addition to the other things pointed out, the front sight is aftermarket. Lyman I suspect, should say in very small letters on the side.
Check the bolt, take it out and check the bolt body for serial numbers, roll the extractor around and check from the bottom. If it has a 7 digit (not sure if they ever used 4) number neatly electropenciled and being polished it could have been out of a NM rifle. I will send you a PM.
original rifle that has been polished and blued, stock has been refinished and sanded hard,...should be a good shooter.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dgp1000
Unfortunately A4 Z4000158 was one of 500 or so that were destroyed during the 90's.
Regards,
Jim
It would probably sell in the $250-300 range. Chuck would do a great job of parkerizing the metal, but he can't unsand the wood.
My "gun insurance" is a gun safe.
Neal
I think you would see it listed at $600 to $700 by someone who was willing to wait quite a while for the "right" buyer. It could sell quickly for $400. The cracked stock (at least it appears cracked on the left side) would be the big price hit. I'd insure for 700, as you can find similar examples that have sold at that price.