RIA USMC 1903 rifle - a LN, DHT receiver!

[Kirk]

John Bear graciously provided information, in an article authored by himself & C.S. Ferris, about Low Number, Double Heat Treated RIA rifles!

Common lore says that only RIA receivers 285507 & after were DHT. John says that when the SHT problem was recognizes & that many receivers were brittle, RIA was ordered to halt production. When they did, there was about 15,000 finished receivers on hand, all serialized & marked. 5000+ had already been heat treated - SHT. The rest, almost 10,000 had not been heat treated. When ordered to resume production using the new DHT process, RIA destroyed all the SHT receivers. The untreated receivers received the DHT. No records were kept as to the S/Ns of the destroyed receivers or of the DHT receivers; they were not in sequence. Therefore, the Army lumped all the LN DHT receivers in with existing SHT receivers and established s/n 285507 as the first DHT receiver. So, in reality, almost 10,000 LN DHT RIA receivers were made. John also said many of these went to the Marines, including this one. Since it and the bolt are both DHT, I took it to the range.

Bear in mind that this rifle was neglected and grades as "Fair" condition. There are many spots of rust & pitting on the outside. The bore also rates fair. After a thorough cleaning, the bore is surprisingly bright but shows both wear and some pits. MW measures 2 & TE goes 4; headspace is perfect.

I've had several requests to post photos of both parts & the whole rifle. Shown here are some photos of parts & angles not posted before.

Information

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[Lancebear]

Hey Kirk,

It's a fine rifle...how'ed it shoot?

LB

[Jim Tarleton]

See what I mean!

Jim

[Calif-Steve]

Part of the problem was not following regulations for manufacture of the '03. Each steel batch had to checked with a pryometer to verify the heat of the hot steel. Instead, the production crew looked at the color of the hot steel and produced their forgings from the color of the metal. The change-over to the DHT process accompanied a use of pryometers for all batches of steel. Serial number 285,507 reflects that complete change over. The 10,000 receivers properly made into DHT receivers were, nonetheless not properly made. Rock Island at least knew their serial number production to the exact number, Springfield had no real idea and settled on 800,000 as a "best guess".

[PeteDavis]

Thank you Kirk. That's a real rifle.

How'd it shoot BTW?

PD

[Kirk]

It groups OK, especially for a cast bullet load in a worn barrel with poor eyes & using the aperture. The flyer may be me. John Beard reminded me to check the bedding under the upper band. Pressure at the tip is supposd to be 5-10 pounds; on this rifle, the wood stands away from the metal; I can compress the tip & make it touch the barrel but when I release pressure, it springs away. The solution would be to put a shim between the receiver tang & stock.

[Don W]

Kirk,

What is the barrel I.D. & date and the steel lot code of the barrel???

Thanks, DW

[Kirk]

The barrel is a SA 12-27 & the heat lot code is R I 2 I'd posted some other pictures at RIA USMC 1903 rifle - Military Surplus Collectors Forums