m1903 refurb

[ssgross]

Hello. I have a late 1942 m1903. From what I have seen on the inter webs - production was fully turned over to the 1903a3 in early December 1942, and my number puts it in late sept. or early oct.
It's in fantastic condition, but with much dried grease. The barrel matches the serial date (9-42), and looks never or rarely ever fired - bright metal came out after wiping out with broil, and my borecam shows tool marks on the lands still! The stock looks NOS scant as there are no markings/cartouches.

My first question is on cleaning up the rear sight. I have it all disassembled, except for the leaf spring in the base. Plenty of crud under the raised rear end.
How to remove the leaf spring? It looks like there is a nipple on the spring fitting into a hole in the base - but pushing on the bottom or tapping with a punch on the bottom doesn't do anything. Last resort is to soak in penetrating oil and call it a day, but I would rather remove it, clean, and re-lubricate with a good forever-long lasting grease for posterity.

Second question - the finish is worn off the face of the ladder to the point if I question whether these were left bright, or blued, and the same for the windage graduations. Should I reblue it? Leave it bright? I'm thinking of bluing it, and then filling in the markings with a dull grey model paint to I can see it better, but not make it overly jenky lookin'. EDIT - Liberty Collectors shows used sights with black finish and whitened graduations.

My goal is to get it shooting (almost there). Long term consideration is a Hi-Lux USMC unertl and c-stock. I already have the latter from a different project. Last question - would the mounts hold sufficiently with lactate, without being soldered as well? I'd like the minimal option of switching back to its original configuration (sans the barrel and receiver tapped holes of course).

Information

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[AFJon]

A couple of suggestions for you get a "China marker" in white to fill in the marks. It's reversible.

Find a sporterized 1903 that has been drilled an tapped so you don't turn a $800 rifle into a $300 rifle.

[ssgross]

I'm not too concerned about that. It seems to be a parts rifle already. I haven't seen any 1903a1's with usmc unertls come up for sale - ever - neither original nor reproductions, in the $300 range. All i've seen is some maybe-original-maybe-knockoffs at the usual big auction houses in the 5k-20+k range.
I realize on many forums this is a very heated topic, and I don't really want to jump into here as it's not the point of my post. Plenty of other threads for it. I already have multiple rifles m1903{'',a1,a3,a4} and other milsurps in their original configurations with as many original parts as possible to make serviceable because i do care about preserving history, and I love shooting history. I've been waiting on the right sporter to bring back to life, but they have all been overpriced when taking into consideration the increasing cost of parts as good surplus in some cases is becoming more rare. I was kind of hoping that this one would have a real sewer pipe on it so I could justify re-barreling - alas I was pleasantly disappointed.

Back to one of my other questions - does anyone know the best way to remove the leaf spring on the rear sight base?

[Sunray]

Remington made '03's starting in September 1941. They had been replacing the expensive, time and resource consuming, milled parts until at about serial number 3,330,000 the '03A3 was officially recognized. Smith Corona only made '03A3's staring in 1942. Mostly with no marks on the parts. So the S/N matters.
"...remove the leaf spring?..."You really do not have to disassemble the thing that far. Just take off the stock and drop the whole thing in a tub/vat/container of mineral spirits(Cheap. Easy to find and won't try to burn your house down.) for 24 hours. Then clean it as per normal and re-grease/oil. Do not dump the resulting sludge down any drain. It's toxic.
Putting a scope on it will not make it shoot better. Nor will its value increase. The value will far more likely decrease.
"...whitened..." That is a peace time NCO quirk. Wasn't done in war time. However, like AFJon says, a white grease pencil will work. So will Testor's model paint or white out.
"...with lactate..." With what? Lactate is the conjugate base of lactic acid.

[browningautorifle]

That is a peace time NCO quirk.

Sounds like a sour grapes officer speaking in this comment, probably not a real one either. White highlights on sights are done by shooters to be able to see their graduations clearly. Usually when eyesight is starting to decrease.

[cplstevennorton]

. Long term consideration is a Hi-Lux USMC unertl and c-stock. I already have the latter from a different project. Last question - would the mounts hold sufficiently with lactate, without being soldered as well? I'd like the minimal option of switching back to its original configuration (sans the barrel and receiver tapped holes of course).

None of the original Unertl Snipers had the mounts soldered to the rifle that I have seen.

I'm trying to figure out what Lactate is though. lol I'm not sure what you mean by that.

But the originals were drilled and tapped and screws hand tightened.

I was hoping I had a better pic, but this is the best I have on my computer without taking a new one.

[butlersrangers]

The spring for the leaf is simply held in a dovetail in the movable-base by tight fit & friction.

Remove the rear-sight leaf (from the movable base) by driving out its pivot pin.

Insert the point of a round punch into the manufacturing hole of the leaf spring. Hold the punch firmly in place, perpendicular to the spring.
Tap the front side of the punch (low and near the spring) with a plastic mallet. This will move the leaf spring to the rear and out of its dovetail.
This does not normally require much effort.

[AFJon]

Auto correct wasn't the Ops friend Loctite becomes lactate.

[cplstevennorton]

Auto correct wasn't the Ops friend Loctite becomes lactate.

Oh that makes sense. lol

Yeah on the originals, they didn't use loctite. I'm not sure if they had that back then or not.

The Marines didn't do this on the Unertls, but they Marines would sometimes stake screws so they wouldn't move. The other thing mentioned they would clean the threads with gasoline, and then dip the screws in water and install them. They would then rust solid. But that was more on their Match rifles and not the screws on blocks for a sniper.

[ssgross]

f'ing autocorrect is right...lactate loctite! I suppose, cplstevennorton, that one could lactate on the screws as well to make them rust in place as you mentioned. Of course loctite wasn't around for use on the originals. I could have sworn I read a guide about soldering the bases. which is why I asked...I know for certain this is the process on the enfield no4t over in the knowledge base. Glad this is cleared up for posterity here.

All is well now. All cleaned up. I cold blued the ladder and and touched up the bolt knob blueing. All turned out very nice. Now on to the range to see what it can do.
A question about stocks - it came in an unmarked, unworn, scant stock. From what I have read, it would have had a c-stock when it left the factory. Is that correct?

For what it's worth, not too long ago (early 2000's) marines (at least me and my friends) would wipe the back of our a2 sights with very light clp, sprinkle over some foot powder, and lightly wipe it into the grooves with a clean patch. worked great for range day and came back off with one swipe of a nylon brush...which was very much needed to keep the armorer from throwing a fit when turning it back in at the end of the day. This trick certainly wasn't limited to just peace time either. I'll try the marker - I wanted something a little less jenky than foot powder.
It would be an awful waste to purchase that much mineral spirits just to clean one tiny tight spot. Not arguing with the trick - worked wonders for my mosin when I bought it still packed in cosmoline.