Remmington 03A3 sniper rifle?

My father was in the Marines and gave me a Remmington 03A3 and it has parkerized metal on everything, it has the original scope mount but a Redfield 4x scope and the stock has been cut, so missing the upper wood and on barrel and about a foot of it on the end. I shot this rifle a few years ago and at 100 yards the bullet holes actually touched each other, he always said it was extremely accurate. I would like to return to original condition with scope, sling, stock and the piece at the very end of stock that I believe is for a bayonet. Anyone know where I could find original stock? I have tried to research it but maybe it's not worth it, anyone know value? I will try to post pictures, if I can figure it out. The stamp is RA 8 43 and model 3415588 which I believe makes it 1 of 28,000? The metal is in great condition.

Welcome to the forum. If you show us what you have with some clear decent pics, we can be of more help as to advising you on what you need to refurbish this one...and what you actually have.

if you look under my profile and view pictures by zadmat, I have pictures under Remmington 03A3, click and there are 5 pictures and if anyone needs more I can supply.

So, you have a barreled action and mount and rings...need about everything else. We have that here...mostly. There'll be others along shortly to help and tell you exactly what you need...then if you place a WTB here in the proper forum, you'll likely find what you need.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

So, you have a barreled action and mount and rings...need about everything else. We have that here...mostly. There'll be others along shortly to help and tell you exactly what you need...then if you place a WTB here in the proper forum, you'll likely find what you need.

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Thanks for the reply, WTB? I am new here and have no idea, but could guess, what to buy? I tried to research myself and look for stock, but want to make sure do it right, biggest question, is it worth restoring? I mean if the gun is worth only $500 restored when I am done, maybe I keep it the way it is. The local gun shops here are saying it's only worth $250 $300 as it is, of course they haven't seen it, just described it to them. Also how long does the chrome in barrel last or hold up? Sorry I have a lot of questions.

The Want To Buy section here would let you advertise and get the parts to refurbish it. If the barrel is good, it may be worth refurbishing, if you want to do I. If not, then maybe you can roll it to someone that would want to. The amount of stuff these guys have in hand is staggering and some of them have parts enough to rebuild it right now...others will weigh in and tell you if it's WORTH doing... If your chrome is good and it measure OK then it will be fine. Barrels were chromed to lend life and wear to the barrels. Our FNs used to be fine until you could see the chrome lifting at the commencement of rifling...very visible...

thanks for your help Jim, I have posted in the WTB section.

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Originally Posted by zadmat

The local gun shops here are saying it's only worth $250 $300 as it is

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That gunshop is blowing smoke hoping to con you out of your rifle. An original un-messed around with 1903a4 sniper bolt alone is worth more than that. The correct stock turns up once in a while on ebay. You shouldn't have any trouble finding the rest of the parts there as well. If your planning to go whole hog with the restoration your going to need a set of rings also, what you have now are 1 inch commercial rings from the 60's or 70's. They sometimes turn up on ebay, and the correct scopes too.

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Originally Posted by zadmat

I mean if the gun is worth only $500 restored

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It's worth more than that the way it is, and it will be worth considerably more afterwards provided you use all correct/original parts in the restoration. It's not going to be a cheap undertaking but with a bit of patience it can be kept reasonable. I'm not really up on what 1903a4 parts are going for at the moment but last account I had stocks were in the $300-$400 range, a correct scope about $1000 or so and rings probably $150-$200. The bands, screws, swivels, hand guard ect. are standard 1903a3 parts and not all that expensive, I figure another $150 or so. These are auction prices and you may be able do a little better by dealing with a individual rather than competing with the multitudes on the auction sites.
Also you mention the barrel is chrome lined. I may well be wrong but I've never heard of any original 03a3/a4 barrels being chrome lined.

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Originally Posted by vintage hunter

That gunshop is blowing smoke hoping to con you out of your rifle. An original un-messed around with 1903a4 sniper bolt alone is worth more than that. The correct stock turns up once in a while on ebay. You shouldn't have any trouble finding the rest of the parts there as well. If your planning to go whole hog with the restoration your going to need a set of rings also, what you have now are 1 inch commercial rings from the 60's or 70's. They sometimes turn up on ebay, and the correct scopes too.





It's worth more than that the way it is, and it will be worth considerably more afterwards provided you use all correct/original parts in the restoration. It's not going to be a cheap undertaking but with a bit of patience it can be kept reasonable. I'm not really up on what 1903a4 parts are going for at the moment but last account I had stocks were in the $300-$400 range, a correct scope about $1000 or so and rings probably $150-$200. The bands, screws, swivels, hand guard ect. are standard 1903a3 parts and not all that expensive, I figure another $150 or so. These are auction prices and you may be able do a little better by dealing with a individual rather than competing with the multitudes on the auction sites.
Also you mention the barrel is chrome lined. I may well be wrong but I've never heard of any original 03a3/a4 barrels being chrome lined.

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So by rings you mean rings on scope? Thanks a lot by the way I appreciate your thoughts greatly. My Dad has since passed and so I can't ask him for help. I don't know if he cut down the stock or it was already that way and doesnt matter either. I thought it would be great to make it original, I guess finding an original picture of one with the correct markings and hardware would benefit me. Also the 1903A4 confuses me as the rifle is a Remmington and it feels like 1903A3 is meant more for Springfield, not trying to challenge at all just don't understand. The research when using 1903 points more towards Sringfield and from what I read. I really am afraid of buying wrong parts.

The barrel I believe is chrome as when you shine a light down it, it about blinds you, maybe it isn't and maybe the barrel isn't original? This is why I ask as I don't want to throw stupid money at it if it isn't original.

Go to vishooter.net there is a lot of information on the rifles. Production dates etc.

A lot of general shooters out there refer to any 1903 based rifle as a "Springfield" Springfield made the 1903 model as did Remington. The model 1903A3 was made by Remington and Smith Corona. The 1903A3 rifles destined to be snipers were called "1903A4" rifles and marked as a normal 1903A3, but offset on the receiver so that the markings could be read with the scope base installed. Never heard of chrome lined barrels on the 1903A3 issued rifle. Be prepared for a BIG $$ investment to return to original sniper quality.

thx gsimmons

Check the stickies section at the top of the 1903 forums as well... ;)

M1903/1903A3/A4 Springfield Rifle Forum

Vi Shooter's Web Pages - Extensive Information on M1903 & Variants

Regards,
Doug

thx, it may not be chromed its just extremely shiny, i mentioned it to someone and they said it was probably chromed, i have yet to have the gun inspected. I think I understand a little more now.

also the scope mount says redfield.

zadmat,

Well worth restoring, as its the real deal to start with, as Vintage Hunter states parts are out there, the cost is all down to you, maybe the scope and Rings are the biggest outlay, Just remember the original scopes fitted were off the shelf weaver 330C scopes and only when purchased under contract were they marked M73B1...... keep a lookout on ebay etc.

Its worth a mention on the M1903 forum too, or at least mention the rifle you have and tell them its on the restorers corner...... you never know what parts etc folk have stashed away.

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Originally Posted by bigduke6

zadmat,

Well worth restoring, as its the real deal to start with, as Vintage Hunter states parts are out there, the cost is all down to you, maybe the scope and Rings are the biggest outlay, Just remember the original scopes fitted were off the shelf weaver 330C scopes and only when purchased under contract were they marked M73B1...... keep a lookout on ebay etc.

Its worth a mention on the M1903 forum too, or at least mention the rifle you have and tell them its on the restorers corner...... you never know what parts etc folk have stashed away.

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Thanks bigduke6, and especially for the pointer on the scope, and i have just posted on the 1903 forum, didn't realize they were related for sure! Still learning and from what i have researched they are hard to find parts for also when it comes to sniper, glad to hear you agree I have the real deal, I was wondering myself.

Zadmat If there is any way for you to swing one of the original A4 stocks we saw on the auction site I would do so quickly. Originals are few and far between and you could literally wait years of another one to surface. About the only source for these are takeoffs from sporter projects and a few that were left over from the governments destruction program in the 1990's (600+ rifles!).

The two incontrovertible features that nail your rifle as an A4 are 1. the serial number and 2. the location of the receiver markings. Since your rifle shows some signs of an inservice rebuild the parts may have become mixed. i would not be overly concerned and i would ignore completely any suggestions that A4's were configured one way or another because of the wishes of some branch of the service. There was a war on - no time to send functioning weapons to Santa's workshop for tinkering.

Regards,
Jim