Z SERIES 03A4

[JGaynor]

1. There were actually only two orders of M1903A4 rifles.

2. the first batch of 20,000

3. the second batch about 8,xxx.

4. M1903A3's and M1903A4's were both made in Remington's Ilion Plant but in different parts of the building.

5. When production started on the second batch of A4's production was also going hot and heavy on A3's in a different part of the plant.

6. The people making the A3's inadvertently overran their production into the serial number range assigned to the new order of A4s.

7. When the error was discovered the plant fell back on their SOP's to deal with the issue. i.e. When a duplicate SN was detected one of the rifles would have its SN altered with a "Z" prefix (at Remington).

This is where the occasional M903A3's with "Z" serials come from.

8. In most instances duplicate serials were occasional, random one-off events. In the case a whole batch of A4 rifles had been produced with serials already used on A3's. A3's which in all likelihood were finished, inspected, packed and out the door. So adding the "Z" to the serial would take care of the first 3,000 rifles in the second order but what about the remaining 5,000 units?

9. For the last 5000~ rifles a new SN block would be created (4992000 to 499859X) to finish out the order

Jim