New to me 03a3, original?

New to me 03a3 that I think may be original. Your thoughts would be apprecated. Photos here:

http://s61.photobucket.com/user/boba...46447163249473

I've taken it down and as far as I can see it's 100% Remington with the reciever and barrel parkerized, most everything else is blue. Bore is perfect and extreemly bright. It does have the OG stamp, but I've read that some as new rifles have the OG marking. Oh, it came with the sling too.

Barrel is dated 12/43 and reciever dates to 1/44.

Is it safe to shoot, and should I?
Thanks,
Bob

Looks 100% original/correct to me. One of the last 7,000 or so made and probably went straight from the factory to reserve. It is safe to shoot, but as an original rifle in excellent condition, I'm not sure I would.

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Originally Posted by Rick the Librarian

Looks 100% original/correct to me. One of the last 7,000 or so made and probably went straight from the factory to reserve. It is safe to shoot, but as an original rifle in excellent condition, I'm not sure I would.

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Thanks for your comments. I am inclined to run 5-10 rounds through it and then clean it up and add it to the collection. I am thinking it's worth $1300-$1500, is that correct?

Awe, don't be afraid.... Shot that bad boy that's what it was built for!!! Not to be a safe queen. But it is yours an if your one of those guys who likes to fondle a rifle and once in awhile cock & dry fire it. Well.....

Certainly worth $1000+ at least. I have my "shooters" and and those AI fondle. This would be one of the latter, but that is my opinion. You'll get a lot of different ones.

Nice rifle! Definitely shoot it. I would, just to show it off at a range. A dozen rounds, once a year, is not going to hurt it or the value...unless you drop it on some pavement. :lol:

Mike

Don't shoot it and it's value will stay ahead of inflation; shoot it and it should almost stay even with inflation. They were made to shoot when they were $17, not $1500.

Thank you Johnny. I'm still enjoying the RR demonstration pistol your advice helped me buy last year. Thanks for your comments on the 03a3.
Bob

Hey! Those are pics of my rifle;-) I have one just like it with perhaps less moving parts wear. I paid $800 about 2-3 years ago and have never fired it. It sits in a gunnysock in one of my safes. I wouldn't take $1500 for it now. I agree that shooting your rifle could lessen its value. I also have 03's that I shoot. Nice find!

Shooting is not going to lower the value significantly. It's a nice rifle, but......the barrel has some rust (left side, in front of the barrel bands), the upper barrel band is a little rusty, & the action screw slots have been ruined by use of a cheap screwdriver.

Neal

Hi Neal,

Good points. I did pull it out of the safe and the rust on the barrel was some sort of orangeish grease, it almost looked like it had sawdust in it. The rust on the upper barrel band looks much worst in the photos....the screws are trashed :( and there are one or two others that are the same. Is there a place I can pick up original screws that will match the rifle?

I need to touch up the stock slightly as well, what should I use?

Bill Ricca may have the screws:
Bill Ricca's 03/03A3 Parts and Accessories

And, Numrich is worth a try.

Neal

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Originally Posted by bczandm

I need to touch up the stock slightly as well, what should I use?

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Don't use anything on that stock but Raw Linseed Oil, light coats rubbed in with the palm of your hand, wait 24 hrs between coats. Very nice gun. Regards, Rick.

I like it and think you should use it the way it was meant to be used. It is no virgin. I would shoot it in a heart beat.

It is a rifle in good condition, but looking at the bolt body and bolt face, it has certainly been used and is by no means what I term "armory mint", so I do not see why further careful and occasional use should make any difference to its value. It's not an automobile, there's no mileage counter, and what counts is how it performs and avoiding dinging it up at the range.

P.S: Looking again at the wear marks on the action components, dinged upper band and chewed-up screw slots, indicating that it has been dismantled on at least one occasion ... are you really, really sure that is the original stock?

At one time the rifle was absolutely brand new, and more than likely it was a NRA/DCM sale rifle and in as new condition when sold. At the time they were sold they were not collectible and the owner shot it just like any rifle he would have bought at a store. Today it is highly collectible, and the better the condition the more collectible it is. Making it a shooter will put more wear on it, so no need to continue the process of of putting needless wear on it.

There are any number of things that have value today way beyond what they were originally made for. Silver coins were made to spend, but does anyone still spend silver coins?