Quote Originally Posted by ArtPahl View Post
I am one of the old guys who actually bought 03A3 rifles from the DCM for $10.00 + $4.50 inspection and packing. When the notice appeared in the American Rifleman magazine, (I think around 1960) the guys I hunted with all sent in for one. We got 5 of them. We bought them to use as hunting rifles, and so, converted them to sporters very much like yours. I now own 4 of the original 5. My friend left me his in his will and I bought my brother's from his estate. Over the years, I've purchased other 03A3 sporters as I've found them. I now own a total of 8.

Your rifle looks very nicely done. Of course it did start out as military surplus but many of these rifles were never issued. There was a whole industry centered around converting these surplus rifles to hunting use in the 1960's. One of my rifles has a trigger guard/magazine box like yours (they were advertised as made by Sako). We commonly ditched the stamped guards and replaced them with milled 1903 guards. The stocks were replaced with a Fajen or Bishop, etc. Sights were replaced, scopes mounted, bolts forged, barrels replaced, shortened, re-bored, or re-chambered. I don't recognize the stock manufacturer on your rifle. The metal parts were polished and blued--some of the late 03A3's were pretty rough (they were made from Dec., 1942 through Feb., 1944).

I would encourage you to remove the scope base to determine the maker (Remington or Smith Corona) and the serial number. With that information, forum members here will be able to pin down to the month and year your rifle was made. You have a fine hunting rifle with the added bonus that it is a piece of war-time history. Enjoy!!
Very informative look-back in time from someone who experienced it first hand. I'm 61 years old and missed out on what was happening in the 60's from an adult's viewpoint of the gun world. From your post and rcathey's, I can confidently concur that the build was most likely done in the 60's. This is very important information for me and thank you for it. One thing better than owning a firearm like these would be owning 8 of them! lol I have fallen in love with this rifle and because I am giving it away, I found myself digging in and looking for another one for sale. I feel a passion for them setting in and this feeling is not new to me. It has happened to me with other guns many times before and does not stop until I get one home, on the bench and working on it to my satisfaction.

I'm thinking about taking the scope base off when we go out shooting after Christmas to get the iron sights adjusted before we focus on getting the scope right. I have to see if he has another scope in mind for it before we start the process. I've been looking at various ammo also that I have to get for it today so we can find out what it likes. All I know is that I can give him some background on it from the help here and am chomping at the bit to shoot it for the first time. I am so busy and it is always dark when I get home from work during the winter months.

The safety does not appear to be original on this rifle and probably was changed due to the scope being added to make it functional. It does clear the scope but I have to pull back on the firing pin a tiny bit to get it to engage. It looks like to me that this is intentional because it needs a small bit of spring force to hold it into position? When the safety is off it has play in it because there is no spring and ball detent to hold the position securely and is loose and floating. Maybe someone here is familiar with this modification?