Rod Bayonet 1903...

My good and lovely wife brought me home an early Birthday Present today. It's an early 1903 Springfield of the type not seen any more. I'm thrilled beyond words. Wow. I'd been wanting one of these rifles for over 40 years. The barrel is 2/10" longer than a normal barrel, so I guess that means the rifle is still in its original 30-03. Wow. How cool is that? Ain't she something?

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Beautiful rifle! That's really something special. I would imagine an incredible few of those rifles survived in completely original condition like that.

Yea, they've got to be rare. Don't know about how many though I've read that there might be 100 around. It seems to be assembled long long ago from Original parts that used to be available as surplus. Wow, somebody had the foresight to do so. Anyway, it must be in 30-03 caliber because the barrel is 2/10" longer than what I guess a converted rifle has in 30-06.
Glad that you guys like it!

Very nice rifle.

Thanks Bill.

OH MY G*D Fred! What a nice rifle. I'd like to come over and bring my little cotton gloves for a look see...I'll bring the BBQ and Bourbon...?

very nice...love it...awesome lady you have, and she has a great eye for quality

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

OH MY G*D Fred! What a nice rifle. I'd like to come over and bring my little cotton gloves for a look see...I'll bring the BBQ and Bourbon...?

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Heck yea Jim! Come on over! Man, looking through the click up peep sight gives one a unique and clearer field of view around the outside of the peep. Interestingly it seems a better sight for my eyes. Wow, I'll be up all night playing with this new toy. The rod bayonet seems to rattle a bit in the forearm.

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Originally Posted by chuckindenver

very nice...love it...awesome lady you have, and she has a great eye for quality

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Thanks much Chuck. Actually she didn't know what it was but knew that I'd been thinking and talking about it since I stumbled on it before the auction. I feel lucky that we got it for very little.

Great find Fred!

Thanks! I'm glad that you liked it! :)

Wow Fred, that's top of the line in 03 collecting rebuilt or not, but what makes you think it's built up from parts?, Ray

Fred, I did not notice the rivets (2) that hold the handguard clip, your handguard may have been fabricated a long time ago as it does look nice.Attachment 54810Attachment 54811

Wow! Those are really Great photo's of a clip close up! Now I can see that they're like the clips on a Krag hand guard. That being the case, would there be a cut out on the stock forearm to receive the clips? My stock doesn't have any such feature as far as I can remember when I took the stock off again last night. I'd better look again.

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Originally Posted by rayg

Wow Fred, that's top of the line in 03 collecting rebuilt or not, but what makes you think it's built up from parts?, Ray

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Ray, After looking at the rifle, I've concluded that whoever put it together had taken an original 30-03 barrel that had a 1905 rear sight mounted on it and they carefully removed the 1905 rear sight base from the barrel sleeve and mounted a Krag 1902 rear sight on it, carefully contouring the front end of it to resemble that on a 1903 sight. The amazing thing is that the person used a 30-03 barreled action with a 1905 rear sight sleeve and reconfigured it to the original Rod Bayonet configuration. Those early 1903 Springfield rifles that still retain their 1905 rear sight bases, leaves etc. and that are still in the original 30-03 caliber are extremely rare today. Such early and unaltered 30-03 caliber 1903's with their 1905 rear sights can be worth $25,000.00 today in fine condition.
This must've been done a long time ago when such 30-03 barrels with sights were still around and so nothing was thought about altering them. After all, if one wanted to recreate an 03 as close as possible to original rod bayonet configuration, it made sense to use an original 30-03 barrel.
That's why the rear sight sleeve on this rifle is the original 1905 type, having never been removed.
I can live with all of that. After all, the rifle has a 30-03 caliber barrel on it.
The updated 1903 front sight was removed and a rod bayonet front sight was mounted, the front sight positioned appropriately closer to the muzzle and the very rear of the barrel spline that was sticking too far out from the rear of the rod bayonet front sight base was trimmed back flush with the back of the sight base. This of course is why the front of the original barrel spline is recessed back a bit from the front of the Rod Bayonet front sight base.
The rifle will require a RB follower, early follower spring (it has an 03A3 spring now), an early butt plate (Krag type) with the small trap and with assembly numbers applied, a solid rear band (this one is the split type that came out in 1906), proper RB stacking swivel, a safety with seriffed letters, a RB type retaining screw for the cut off (threaded its entire length) and an early RB trigger guard and floor plate. There is also no rear guard screw bushing in the stock. This being a damaged surplus and original RB stock meant for field replacement, that makes sense.
I think that in time, I'll be able to locate these parts. All in all, it's a nice looking rifle and is certainly worth more than I paid for it, which was remarkably inexpensive, especially considering that it is still in 30-03 caliber.
By the way, the specific type of Krag rear sight leaf that is on the rifle now was actually used for a time to mount on the early RB 03's and so could be considered correct for this rifle. The elevation slide on it is certainly the type used exclusively on the RB rifles and was not used on the Krags.
The specific sight base with the ears was certainly a Krag 1898 or 1902 feature and so its very front was reshaped to comform with the shape of a 1903 RB sight base. The give away is the mounting screw still in place, something not present on a RB sight.
All that being the case, I'm lucky and thrilled that the rifle is in 30-03 caliber!

Try as I may, Brophy doesn't seem to want to show me what the rivets look like...got pics?