Inherited an M1903 from my father

A big Hi to everyone,

I am new at all of this and hope to enjoy myself and someday be able to help others with some answers. I inherited an M1903 from my father who served in WW2 and then the national guards until retirement age. I know little about this rifle and hope to maybe gather some knowledge from others. It seems to be unlike most that I've seen with Redfrield sights that are very fine micrometer target sights. Anyway hello to every one and once I've figured things out I'll start researching this rifle.

Again HI all

If you can post pictures, that would be a good place to start.

Also mention the serial number and any markings you see.

If you post some good (in focus and good light) pictures, the members of this forum could no doubt give you a considerable amount of information on your rifle. There were some models of the 1903 rifles that came from the armory with Lyman #48 rear sights, but I have not heard of any that had Redfield sights factory installed. Nevertheless, it sounds like your father treasured his '03 and I hope you will too.

If you belong to a web hosting service, you can link from there to this forum.

Then your pics should come out like this:
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...IMG1039L-1.jpg

Welcome to the Milsurps.com. Please stay and enjoy yourself. Pictures! ;)

Thanks for the info. I am working on some better pics and will post when I have them and figure out how to.. I know the Refield sights are a Modification to this rifle just have no idea when made and who made them.

Here is info in posting pics. Can be found in the list of "stickies" on the main forum page.

How do I show pics from Photobucket, Flickr, ImageShack etc. on milsurps.com?

Welcome,

Emri

I will try to post a few pictures, they are not very good but what I have until I get my good camera fixed. Hope I can delete these once I have good ones. The SN is 3186002.:Attachment 33378Attachment 33377Attachment 33376Attachment 33379Attachment 33380Attachment 33381Attachment 33382

interesting I hope some one can school me on this odd one

more info is needed, serial number, barrel date ect, a picture of the complete rifle..

serial number is 3186002, I believe a 1942 model. I'll work on a usable pic of the whole rifle. Need to research where to get the barrel date and other info.. I appreciate all the input from everyone.

If the serial number is correct, it is a mid-range Remington M1903 - obviously sporterized. The barrel date would be (if the original barrel is still fitted) would be about mid-1942; manufacture date is about July-Aug. 1942.

Maybe post a picture of the overall rifle?

I believe that you have a Remington '03 (modified) by the serial number. The barrel date is located near the front sight, but it is likely that the aftermarket front sight that is on it has either partially or totally blocked the date. If you can see the date it will look something like this: RA over 5-42 (not that is is necessarily going to be that exact date).

While I don't normally like the idea of modifying Springfields, it should be noted that those Redfield sights that you dad had installed on that rifle are much superior than the stock sights that came on it. A Remington built rifle is as good as any '03 made and you can certainly shoot it as much as you want to. That is a truly great bit of family heritage that you have there.

Oops, I see Rick has beat me to it.

Here are some pics of the full rifle, again sorry about the quality:
Attachment 33384Attachment 33385Attachment 33386

stock is a 1922, .22LR stock. not ment for high power cal,s.

Try those pics again:
Attachment 33387Attachment 33388Attachment 33389

Your saying this Model 1903 should not be on this stock? Dont know much about any of this but that surprises me. I know my dad was a Marksman or Sharpshooter through the years in the National Guards and assumed that this might have been the rifle he used during those years, I even have several rounds of 30 cal. Match ammo. with this.
Thanks I'm learning a lot already.

The stock is indeed for a .22 Springfield. Very commonly used for high power '03 rifles. Looks like a nice 1950's style hunting rifle. Its a keeper, nice for you.

Thanks everyone for all the help so far. Doesn't sound like any of the mods would have been done prior to my dad having work done. Now I have a couple of questions that I hope fit here. Does this model take or use any sort of clip for holding multi rounds of ammo? I dont see how this would work out from clips that I've seen. Also is it safe to use off the shelf modern 30-06 ammo in this? I've read about this not being good for some of the older rifles.
Again I thank everyone for more info on this already than I've had for the few years that I've had this rifle.

Very safe indeed. Any standard '03 5 round clip will work. However, as a hunting rifle you really don't need a clip.

I took a look and can see the front edge of a 5 to the left of the front site and the tail end of a 2 on the right so maybe the 5-42 was not to far off on the date of the barrel. Maybe it is orginal to this rifle.

Thanks

If a 5-42 barrel, it is almost certain to br original. Barrel dates tended to be as much as three months "older" than the indicated manufacture date of the rifle.

couple things...you have the term Clip and Magazine cunfused.. a clip holds the ammo in line to be feed into the box magazine..
a detachable magazine holds ammo, and can be installed and removed into the weapon.
te 1903, has a small guide notch to hold a clip {stripper clip} with the cut off ON, and the bolt all the way back, ammo is pushed from the clip into the rifle, and the clip is then removed.
second...the stock ...originaly came from a Springfield model of 1922. .22LR, a 1903 will fit obviously, however, the 22 cal stock has no recoil bolts installed..and they in time may crack or split, what i and others have done, is glass bed the action area to prevent this..your rifle may have already had this done..
originally your rifle was in in a standard S stock, with handguard and metal hardwear.

Thanks chuckindenver and everyone else... I will have to tear this rifle down to see if it has had the glass bedding done to the action if not I'll read up on what/how to do this and maybe apply this to the rifle. I've not researched enough to even know which models use which clips and which ones will use a magazine.
I first decided to try checking things out here because my rifle looked different than any I could find and I read the following and wondered could this have been an official Mod. of some kind:

The Unmatched Match Rifle (Oops!)
Model 1903A3 National Match
National Match competition resumed in 1953 after interruptions by WW2 and the Korean War, but no National Match rifles had been made since the 1930s. Popular belief was that the M1 Garand could never be made into a match grade rifle. Therefore, Ordnance Officers hoped that some of the thousands of unissued M1903A3 rifles on hand could be easily converted for use as National Match grade rifles. Only 140 out of a planned 200 rifles were modified in 1954, when it was pointed out that the basic design was useless! Although using the finest micrometer target sights available, the specified mounting location allowed the choice of two sight positions. In one, the sight interfered with bolt operation. The other prevented use of stripper clips needed for loading during rapid fire. Springfield engineers quickly (and quietly) stopped this project before embarrassing themselves further.

I am very thankful for all that I have learned already and will keep digging into this, learning, cleaning the rifle up and doing what I can to improve it and plan to keep this in the family as long as I'm around..
Thanks again.

your rifle is a 1903 Remington ...not a 1903A3 Remington.. and not a 1903A3 NM...

Poor mans match rifle. I want one!

M1903s were very common and relative cheap back in the 1950s and 1960s. In many cases, the new civilian owner sporterized them. There was (and still is, to a certain extent) a large number of aftermarket parts (rear sights, stocks, etc.) available to customize M1903s.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike D

Poor mans match rifle. I want one!

---

I agree! :D

I'd be proud to own it!
A nice example of what it is -& isn't!

I appreciate all the feedback that I've gotten about this rifle. I have another question that may belong elsewhere on this forum but I'm not sure so here goes. I assume that the redfield sight that is on this rifle needs an Aperature which seems to be missing. Does anyone know what model this is as I'm trying to find this part, if it is truly needed. Here's the sight again.Attachment 33579Attachment 33580

I'm thinking the Redfield parts are standard and around. Any of the very large gunshows will have rear sight guys with your part. That is how I would go. It would help if you bring the rifle with you.

Aperature thread size is pretty much standard. Brownells has them.

World's Largest Supplier of Gun Parts, Gunsmith Tools & Shooting Accessories - Brownells


Emri

Before bedding or otherwise modifying the stock keep in mind that by itself is worth considerable money along with the barrel band and buttplate. You could probably replace it with a more suitable yet similiar looking stock and come out ahead in the process.

Nice looking rifle. I am sure your father would be glad that you appreciate it.