AIM Surplus 03A4 clones

[Chuckindenver]

i saw and held 2 repro A4,s made by gibbs, guy selling them was pretty proud of them, and how cool he thought they were.
and heres my take..in one word??JUNK.
in many words.
receivers, recovered drill rifles, not an issue, but they should be advertised as such,
bases, same maker as the China made Redfield base being sold in the plastic bubble packs.
rings..same thing made in China, and they look it, they dont fit right.
bolts? pooo poo, they could have done a better job.
stocks? they look ok, not bad, not outstanding.
barrels? they are OK, dont like the cheesy GIBBS mark on the end.
scopes??not bad, still China made, and marked as such, better then the rest of the rig.
fit and finish??fair fit, poor finish,, is likely painted and not a phosphate like it should, done to save money and hide the weld marks on the receiver.
sling. poo poo, bad reproduction, keepers wont stay in place, could have done a better job.
all in all, the price they are asking is fair, would i want one? no.
dont think id take one to the range. safe? maybe. accuate? doubt it.
for a guy that doesnt want to spend the buck on a real one, ok.
for the guy that doesnt want or know how to put one together, ok.
i say a better job could have been done..
funny thing.
the seller offered some Redfield bases on the table, to fix the bad ones on the rifle.
so i commented. they are the same base, minus the R mark, he argued, no they are made in the USA,
so i picked one up, turn it around, and had him read to me what it said..
MADE IN CHINA..
hmmmmm, could i be wrong???

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[Lancebear]

Chuck,

Bought the last copy of Guns & Ammo's latest surplus magazine Friday evening from the local newstand.

The Gibbs rifle is on the cover and the first article is about it, written by Garry James. A firearms expert that I respect, remember "Tales of The Gun". Watched every episode...more than once. He has an amazing collection and had a very good short lived magazine a while ago featuring many original antique firearms and extras.

Well the article is several pages long and tells the story of the 03A4 and only really gets to the real deal about the Gibbs rifles in the last few paragraphs.

A shoot with amazing results after dialing in the rifle. It is mentioned that Gibbs reclaimed Remington receivers etc. And the fact that Pedersoli made the four groove barrels. And the hardwood stock is walnut "Finished". Chinese mystery wood.

Guess Gibbs snafued him or maybe on the hook along with Guns & Ammo? Don't waste your ten bucks on this book...they ran outa' ideas and have several articles about obscure, to us, antique European arms...could hardly read it. Even used two large articles from Garry's old magazine.

Think the crew here could do a hundred page magazine just on surplus '03's and people would eat it up.

Chinese Junk...it's not just a ship anymore.

Death to Chinese cr%p, and the lying that goes along with it,

Lancebear