RIA 1903 Springfield Build

[Rick the Librarian]

According to John Beard, Receivers sent from RIA were from 375,000-430,000+ - 375,000-405,000: About half of these were sent to Springfield; from about 405,000-430,000+, about 75%+ were sent to Springfield and finished there.

A good place to start to get more information on this interesting variation is C.S. Ferris' Rock Island Rifle Model 1903 book published about 10 years back and still available online.

The most interesting (to me) variation of these "hybrids" are the "high number Rock Island rifles. These were receivers marked with "Rock Island Arsenal/Model 1903" with a Springfield serial number in the 1,290,000 range. Supposedly, about 1200 of this variation were manufactured.

"For the record", four types of receivers were sent from Rock Island to Springfield in the mid-1920s:

1) raw forgings
2) completed but unmarked receivers
3) receivers with "Rock Island" but no serial numbers
4) receivers with Rock Island and RIA serial numbers

Here's a few pictures of the "high number" RIA/SA hybrid I have:









---------- Post added at 06:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:17 AM ----------

RIA/FK is actually Frank Krack, inspector (actually chief of small arms inspection), 1941-46 - Brophy was incorrect.

A large (1/4") S is evidence the stock was originally manufactured at Rock Island during the 1904-1913 period.

Information

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[EddieB]

According to John Beard, Receivers sent from RIA were from 375,000-430,000+ - 375,000-405,000: About half of these were sent to Springfield; from about 405,000-430,000+, about 75%+ were sent to Springfield and finished there.

A good place to start to get more information on this interesting variation is C.S. Ferris' Rock Island Rifle Model 1903 book published about 10 years back and still available online.

Thanks for the info and the pics Rick. Great info.