Stock Question My First 1903

Found what seems like a nice 1903 Mark I this week. I am still new to this and was looking for a 1903 or 1917 to fill the gap between my Krag and M1 Garand. I’d heard of the 1903 and 1903A3 but to be honest I’d never heard of a 1903 Mark I. The seller gave me the whole story on the Pedersen Device, very interesting. According to the seller this Mark I is a 1920s vintage (11848XX). I assume like many milsurps the only thing left from 1920 is the receiver. With the exception of the barrel, every part I could see that had a stamp was stamped with an “R”. The barrel is stamped H.S. 6-44 with the flaming bomb and a “P” on the right side; which brings me to my question. If it is an arsenal rebuild and it certainly looks like it is why are there no markings on the stock? My M1 Garand and M1 Carbine have various stamps and cartouches. This 1903 has just the ghost of the circle with the “P” in it and that is all I see. I’m told that the original stock would have had a slight modification on the left side for the Pedersen cut out which this stock does not appear to have. I can’t pick up the rifle until next week so I have not had the chance to take it down and see if there are any marks under the action. Overall it seems in pretty decent shape. The action is smooth and tight and the bore is excellent. It does not look as though it was used much after the 1944 referb. I will take more and hopefully better photographs when I get it home. Again, it is my first 1903 so I’d appreciate any comments especially on the stock. With that lite “P” I suppose it could have been sanded and refinished but it doesn’t seem that way. It does look like somebody put several coats of Tung oil on it with the action in place as it almost looks glued into the stock in some spots.

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Is that a High Standard barrel? Nice shooter, but all real collector value gone. Sounds like you bought a story-gun. What did you pay for it?

Sorry I may have made it sound like there was a story. The seller just told me about the Pedersen Device. He didn't say anything other than that's why it had the cut in the receiver and was stamped Mark I. I paid $875 for it. Now he did say the receiver was a 1920 and I was guessing from the barrel date that it was a 1944 arsenal rebuild but you are right it may just be a pile of parts somebody put together. Impulse buy I'm afraid but yes hopefully it turns out to be a nice shooter at least. The barrel is marked H. S.

Id say you have a nice representative example of an 03, whether its assembled from various parts or what. If its a shooter, somebody did the hard work for you when they re-barreled it and if its right, and nothings buggered, even better. Most rifles of that sort fetch about the same or more around my parts of the country. The pictures are hard to get fine details but I bet there is something pleasing in there none the less. The worst impulse is the one when you grab something knowing it needs work and then turn it into a money pit which is even more disappointing. As far as the stock, maybe it was smoothed out during a rebuild period or a former owner but its still better than a re-pro IMO. Nice rifle I think, Brian

Thanks Brian. I may have gone a bit too conservative on the photo size trying to keep from eating up space and they turned out postage stamp size.

Most of the Mark I's were converted back to non-Mark I condition between the wars. The cut off and trigger parts which allowed it to utilize the Pederson device were removed and replaced with standard 1903 parts. Frequently the stock was replaced also.

Your stock looks like a replacement stock. As you note, it doesn't have any relief around the port on the side of the receiver. It also doesn't have any grasping grooves.

The real experts like John Beard and Rick the Librarian can tell you much more about your rifle, but it does look like a nice one to me. High Standard made great barrels and if it is still in good condition, your rifle should be a good shooter.

Even though not that many Mark I's were made, they do not seem to command much of a premium unless they still are in original condition and very few of them are in original condition.

As it has been stated, your rifle was overhauled, had all the Mark I parts removed and assembled from mixed parts. I see a few R-marked parts and the stock is either a Remington M1903 or M1903A3. You might have paid a little too much, but, if the bore is all right, you have a fine shooter. Plus, you just wanted an "example" of a M1903.

Yeah, I always pay a little too much. It helps if I think I'm just ahead of the game and in a few years someone will say, "I wish I could buy em for that now." I'm very excited to get it home. I will take some better pics and best of all get to shoot it. Thanks for the comments!

An online friend used to say, "You didn't pay too much, you just bought it too early". :D

Finally got a chance to shoot my 1903 and take it apart to really look at it closely. It looks like the original comments in this thread were spot on. It is in great shape, very little wear and as was stated earlier, with the exception of the receiver and the barrel, every part I saw with a mark on it was marked Remington. Since purchasing it I have seen several other 1903s in the same or better shape. It is a good shooter and again, as pointed out, maybe not particularly collectible but a nice example of a 1903. If anyone sees anything of interest in these additional photographs please comment I'd be interested to hear them.

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Originally Posted by Banjo1928

Finally got a chance to shoot my 1903 and take it apart to really look at it closely. It looks like the original comments in this thread were spot on. It is in great shape, very little wear and as was stated earlier, with the exception of the receiver and the barrel, every part I saw with a mark on it was marked Remington. Since purchasing it I have seen several other 1903s in the same or better shape. It is a good shooter and again, as pointed out, maybe not particularly collectible but a nice example of a 1903. If anyone sees anything of interest in these additional photographs please comment I'd be interested to hear them.

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That is a fine looking 1903, but you left out the most important part...how did it shoot? :)

Shoots great Calfed! Seems to only be limited by my old eyes.

Just crawl the stock a little more! Glad it shot well and plenty of R marked parts, nice catch.

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Originally Posted by Banjo1928

Shoots great Calfed! Seems to only be limited by my old eyes.

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Great! I've fallen behind on my range trips and need to get a few new ones out to exercise them.

Calfed, I think about 10% of total 1903 production (1903 - 1927) were MK I rifles, so I have never allowed a premium to be placed on a MkI receiver/rebuilt rifle. I have a 1920 dated MkI in my collection which still has all the correct MkI parts, including the stock.

I would agree ...there were enough Mark Is made that a rebuild is worth little (if anything) more than a "regular" rebuild.