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I remember a few years back, when you could pick up baggies of old cartridges at gun shows for a few dollars. Going through them provided a good evening's entertainment.

Here's a review I did on the book on Amazon. I was "underwhelmed" by some of the tall tales.

An interesting memoir by the son of the commander of the unit. However, I question just how true some...

Great! Looking forward to seeing it!

Nice "looker", that's for sure!

Yes, there were four types of receivers from RIA sent to Springfield Armory in the mid-1920s:

1) Raw forgings
2) completed receivers which were unmarked
3) completed receivers with "arsenal"...

These were usually done by foreign users like the Greeks or British - it wasn't U.S. policy to repair handguards - they'd just throw the old one away and grab another.

I've got a similar RIA, with a 12-28 barrel - 1,293,257.

I would say, based on the markings, the stock is a replacement. Type C stocks on service rifles were pretty rare until at least the mid-1930s, and often later. The two RA-P stamps are...

Generally agree with Chuck - the most common marking I see is a "spread" R L B. Looking at the right side of the rifle, are all the parts (trigger guard, lower band, rear sight, etc. marked with...

Is the receiver marked "Rock Island Arsenal" or "Springfield Armory"? If the former, it is a relatively rare piece; if the latter, not particularly uncommon. The rifle, as a whole appears to be a...

Google "Dawn of Freedom" on the Internet.

Dawn Of Freedom/Ano Hata O Ute (???????????????? - YouTube

It was a Japanese propaganda movie showing the "independence" of the Philippines given by...

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Attached are a nice group of military books, many at a fraction of even online USED prices!

A) Payment can be made by check or money order. I may have to hold checks until they clear...

Thinning through the “herd” of gun books – either ones I have duplicates or don’t use anymore. Most of these are VERY rare. Conditions are described as fairly as possible. Price doesn’t include...

There was never a "cutoff" by serial number, mainly because M1903s weren't usually finished by serial number.

There was an outfit who was selling "certified" Bataan M1903s for the (then) outrageous sum of about $800-1000 back in the late 1980d.

Believe me, a CERTIFIED M1903, M1 or M1917 that had Philippine service before WWII is HIGH on my list and I have yet to see a POD-marked M1917. There were about 220,000 of them which were sold to...

The NRA stamp was used when it was revealed that some buyers had sold their rifles to 3rd parties in violation of the agreement they signed when they purchased the rifle. Supposedly, some rifles...

Springfield continued to make at least some parts for the M1903 until almost the end of 1944.

You mentioned a 4-42 barrel in the OP.

The stock is a replacement from a later M1903A3. There were no RA stamps on M1903 stocks and you can see the "notches" for the M1903A3 retaining clip.
...

The RA is not from Raritan Arsenal - it was used on all later Remington M1903A3 stocks. Raritan Arsenal stamps are usually RA-P. The marking between the two stamps is probably an "ordnance belt",...

The marking on the barrel is a steel lot code - it indicates the origin of the steel used in making the barrel.

The drawing number is like a catalog number. It appeared on some M1903 parts in the...

It was mostly used during drill and inspections - no need to to stick your finger down and depress the follower, like in most bolt-action rifles.

I agree - production wasn't like a water spigot, where you can just shut it off.

About March, 1943. It isn't a M1903A4, is it?

If the barrel has an RA stamp over the date, it was installed by a previous civilian owner.

Records on individual rifles are pretty hard to come by.