Debating a Smith Corona 1903A3 Purchase

[Salt Flat]

Jeff, These rifles were deactivated by the U.S. military so they could be used for teaching purposes and drill. The deactivation involved plugging the barrel and welding it to the receiver. The cut off switch was welded in the down position which make taking the bolt out impossible. Also the firing pin tip was ground off and the firing pin hole in the face of the bolt was welded up. The weld on the cut off was done with stainless welding wire. This leaves a bright color on the receiver where the weld is ground off. So these drill rifles were used for many years until the military surplussed thousands of them in the 1990's (not certain on the years here). Anyway they were dirt cheap and some people began "reactivating " these rifles. Barrels, bolts, firing pins cutoff etc were replaced. Old cutoff had to be ground down and removed. The area around the cut off was cleaned up by grinding or like yours it was machined to get rid of the stainless welds. Some look better than others. Yours was somewhat crudely done (rough machining). Also Check the under the front of receiver to see what's left of the stainless weld in that area. Rock River arms and Gibbs Rifle Co made many faux 1903a4 sniper rifles using these drill receivers. The picture I posted shows what it looked like when manufactured. Look it at closely and compare to your photo. The original machining was done with a shaped custom cutter while the Bubba machining was done with a simple end mill cutter and remove say a 1/16 " of material. Salt Flat

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[JeffreyJ5]

Jeff, These rifles were deactivated by the U.S. military so they could be used for teaching purposes and drill. The deactivation involved plugging the barrel and welding it to the receiver. The cut off switch was welded in the down position which make taking the bolt out impossible. Also the firing pin tip was ground off and the firing pin hole in the face of the bolt was welded up. The weld on the cut off was done with stainless welding wire. This leaves a bright color on the receiver where the weld is ground off. So these drill rifles were used for many years until the military surplussed thousands of them in the 1990's (not certain on the years here). Anyway they were dirt cheap and some people began "reactivating " these rifles. Barrels, bolts, firing pins cutoff etc were replaced. Old cutoff had to be ground down and removed. The area around the cut off was cleaned up by grinding or like yours it was machined to get rid of the stainless welds. Some look better than others. Yours was somewhat crudely done (rough machining). Also Check the under the front of receiver to see what's left of the stainless weld in that area. Rock River arms and Gibbs Rifle Co made many faux 1903a4 sniper rifles using these drill receivers. The picture I posted shows what it looked like when manufactured. Look it at closely and compare to your photo. The original machining was done with a shaped custom cutter while the Bubba machining was done with a simple end mill cutter and remove say a 1/16 " of material. Salt Flat

Thank you for the follow up. After reviewing various examples of drill rifles (and re-activated ones), I think I'll have to disagree with you that this is an example of one. It would appear the very early Smith Corona 1903A3s (perhaps others as well?) differed in the receiver as John Beard has stated.

I was able to locate an example that shows an identical machining method (albeit a different rear sight installed). When compared to the Springfield 1903 (Circa 1929) I have, the design seems very similar.

The "weld" originally mentioned on the cut-off lever is not weld; upon closer inspection it's most certainly damage. I found no other evidence of any welds inside or outside of the receiver that any modifications were made to convert this to a drill rifle.

I'll keep doing some digging (I ordered Joe Poyer's book a few moments ago) to see if I can definitively reaffirm the above, but perhaps Mr. Beard has some further insight.