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Thread: '03 Springfield w/prewar C Stock?

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    Legacy Member vp146b4's Avatar
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    '03 Springfield w/prewar C Stock?

    Just acquired a nice '03 Springfield, 944897 with 8/44 SA barrel in a nice
    C Stock. It has a naked P and a B struck in front of the floorplate and nothing in the cutout area. It also has a boxed AAHO rebuild stamp and a smooth buttplate. My guess is that the stock was added prewar and then rebarreled during the war.
    Three questions. Is the stock prewar? What is the B marking in front of the floorplate? Last, I know that squeezing the barrel against the stock will show some movement, but my barrel seems to move more than any other of my
    '03s. Will this affect accuracy?
    Thanks
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    1. Look in the recess for the cutoff - do you see an S or a K? If an S the stock was made, possibly before the war, at Springfield; if a K it is aof WWII manufacture at Keystone. If there is nothing there, if you can provide a picture of the stock, we can tell from the shape of the "small".

    2. The stock was almost certainly replaced during WWII. Very few service rifles had Type C stocks before WWII.

    3. No idea on the "B" - probably a subinspector mark of some kind. If the B was stamped directly on the floorplate, it is often a sign that the rifle saw service with the Greeks after WWII.
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    Even if the stock had been added pre WWII, it would have been separated from the rifle during post WWII rebuild.

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    A large "B" on the floorpalte indicates Greek use. They pinned the floorplate to the triggerguard. Sounds like a re-build to me.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Calif-Steve View Post
    A large "B" on the floorpalte indicates Greek use. They pinned the floorplate to the triggerguard. Sounds like a re-build to me.
    Steve,

    The "B" was described as being stamped in the stock, not the floorplate.

    J.B.

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    Sorry, did not understand that. "B" must be present on floorplate to be Greek rebuild. Didn't mean to muddy the waters.

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    Hey Rick,

    Have a theory about fairly large letters stamped in front of 1903 trigger guards and behind. Also behind the top tang of the receiver and numbers in front of the buttplate on top and bottom. All in the stock, not the metal. I have an AAG marked scant on a rifle and it exhibits these marks. Every 1903 that I have seen with these marks also has...AA with another letter marked on the left of the stock, Augusta Arsenal. Including an M1917 that I have, Augusta Arsenal rework mark, BIG. Think Augusta Arsenal practiced this marking process and nobody else. J.B. will chime in If all this is wrong. Think it's a possibility.

    Death to ignorance,

    LB

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