Rock Island 1903

[Navy Gunner]

Hi guys, I just picked up a Rock Island 1903. The wood is good, but the bore is questionable and the middle band is missing. I can source a middle band from flea bay, but i'm looking for a barrel. I know there is NOS in the states, if I can lay my hands on one. A couple of questions, is there a certain type of 1903 barrel I need and i'm trying to find out when it was manufactured, the serial # is 4xxxxx.

Navy Gunner

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[x westie]

I could be wrong,....but i don't think a barrel from a 03/a3...this rifle was mass produced in WW2 by Remington and Smith Corona... will fit a Springfield 1903.....you could try SARCO,,. GunParts...or Springfield Sporters..but these are in the U.S .lots of better informed 03 rifle fans on Milsurp will probably be able to help...

[sdh1911]

You have a fairly early R.I. my guess is Pre 1910. The stock should have an RI stamped on the front of the finger groove stock and may have only one stock bolt. The top wood should be hi-hump. If it hasn't been rebuilt after around 1929 there will be no hole on the drivers side of the receiver. All writing should have serrif style lettering. Now, if the gun is a re-build you can be quite flexible in barrel replacement, anything from the date of re-build back. A decent barrel will run you around $200 USD+. If the gun is a correct gun for the early date the barrel will be far more money. Sarcos is low on clean barrels for a R.I. as is most of the big houses down here. The CMP has them from time to time, your best bet would be to give them a shout. If you'd like an exact run down on your rifle, please post all the dates and nomenclature on the rifle and I'll gladly run it down for it. I used to collect them until they priced themselves silly. At one point I had well in excess of a 150 1903's, boy, those were the days-SDH

[Navy Gunner]

I located a NOS 1903 barrel, its a WW2 RIA 2 groove barrel. The 1903 I have was rebarrelled and has a 44 marked barrel. I assuming that the new barrel will fit? Any comments?

[Bulls-I_24]

What does NOS mean?

[GUTS]

NOS stands for "new old stock" which means it is from the correct period but in new, unused condition.

[Calif-Steve]

You are wrong. This is a 400,000 RIA? It should have a 1928/1929 SA barrel on it. A WWII 2 groove can be fitted but you will need the sight bases and a very good gunsmith. Ship it off to Chuckindenver and have Chuck look around for the correct barrel. They do pop up. Good luck. If that fails Chuck can fit that barrel for you, cheap.

[John Beard]

This original posting is more than three years old. Surely this matter has long since been resolved.

J.B.