Pawn shop 03A4

[Pvt.Joker]

Hi. I picked this up at a pawn shop recently, and am looking at deciding whether it's cost effective to try to restore it or not. Bubba got a hold of it first, sad to say, and he did a number on it. From what I can tell, he bedded the stock, sanded it and opened the trigger area for a Timney trigger that was installed in it (since replaced), changed the bolt body but appears to have left the original bolt guts intact, swapped out the butt plate for a Winchester shotgun recoil pad (since replaced with an SC butt plate until I can get a good Remington one), and swapped out the original scope and base for a "nice" BSA scope and split mounts.

On the positive side, it IS a fairly early serial number- 3410587- and is a real 03A4 receiver. The barrel date is odd; it has a 12-42 Remington barrel on it that has the original park over the sight area, and the "P" underneath but I haven't found the punch prick on the bottom yet. It seems kind of early, but then again who knows? All the bands are marked "R" and it hasn't been parked as a rebuild. It will never be an "all-original" rifle again, but I would like to figure out what I need to at least make it a correct one, either "as-issued" or perhaps as an early Vietnam issued rifle would be. One thing was interesting; the magazine body has the name "Charles E. Holmes" and the date "6-65" on it. I don't know if that is when Bubba "improved" it, or if this might have been someone who carried it in Vietnam and perhaps then brought it home, and later "fixed up his old gun from the war". The pawn shop owner said that an older gentleman brought it in, but I have no way of knowing for sure who the person was in 1965 whose name went on it.

Here's some pictures:

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.