1903A4

[Calfed]

Several months ago I threw a couple of bids in at an auction. I kinda forgot about the bids, but last Friday the auction house advised me that I had won both rifles.One was for a 1903A1 NM rifle. SRS was able to confirm that it had been sold by the DCM as an NM and even found the original sales ticket. Unfortunately, it appears the stock may not be original to the rifle.

The other rifle I bid on and won was an 03A4. Based on my experience with the NM rifle, I'm almost afraid to post pics of the 03A4.




Description advised:

A US MILITARY .30-06 CAL KEYSTONE 'M1903 A4' BOLT-MAGAZINE SNIPER RIFLE, serial no. 3420685, Built on the M1903 A3 rifle, 24in. barrel, no fore-sight, the muzzle with 'R.A.' over the ordnance bomb and '3-44', fore-part with bayonet lug and 'R' mark, receiver with 'US REMINGTON MODEL 03-A3' marking, the serial number rotated to the right side of the receiver ring (correct for the Sniper variant to remain visible with the scope mounted) and mounted with correct later Korean war era Lyman 'Alaskan' B-prefix serial numbered scope, no. B4851 with rubber eye-piece, Parkerized receiver and barrel, R marked low profile concave bolt, stock with bolt notch and various letter stamps 'W', 'N', 'U', and also with the 'K' stamp for 'Keystone', steel buttplate with square stamp chequering and trap, in tidy overall condition

Information

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[browningautorifle]

I'm almost afraid to post pics of the 03A4.

Don't be afraid, we just want to see it.

[m1903rifle]

Don't be afraid, we just want to see it.

Looks good to me. Originality of the stock will depend on cartouches on the left side of the stock and in front of the trigger guard. The bolt cut out looks good, but a picture of the cut out with the bolt lifted will confirm.

[Calfed]

Looks good to me. Originality of the stock will depend on cartouches on the left side of the stock and in front of the trigger guard. The bolt cut out looks good, but a picture of the cut out with the bolt lifted will confirm.

Thanks. I'll take more and better pics and provide a better description when it arrives at my FFL.

[rugersworld]

Nice score!
I expect to see you shooting that at our match.

[Calfed]

Thanks, Matt. I'm going to miss the match this month, but next month for sure.

[Calfed]

The 1903 NM and the 03A4 arrived at my FFL. Both rifles look pretty good, but I can't take them home for 10 days, due to California's infamous 10 -day "cooling off" period. I was able to grab a few pictures at my FFL's place of business before they went into the safe.

The stock is in pretty good shape, has a "K" in the mag cutoff cutout and a few miscellaneous letters stamped into the side of the stock.








The scope mount looks legit and the scope is a B-series Lyman. It has fine crosshairs and the optics are clear.





The barrel is in great shape and gauges just under a "1" on the CMP muzzle gauge. it looked like a 2 groove.

Better pictures in 10 days.

[browningautorifle]

Very interesting rifle, very nice. 2 groove? Isn't that strange for an 03A4?

[Promo]

03A4 is reworked, bolt is not blued as it would had originally been. And the K in the stock identifies it as a replacement. Probably the barrel is a replacement also? 3-44 sounds anyway a bit late for a 3.4xx.xxx serial 03A4.

[Mike Haas]

Very interesting rifle, very nice. 2 groove? Isn't that strange for an 03A4?

Not at all unusual, especially for an arsenal rebuilt rifle such as this one.