Cmp 1903a3

[John Rippert]

The Remington 03A3 that I ordered back in the middle of March showed up today. Serial 4167XXX with a RA flaming bomb barrel stamped 10-43. The barrel is fantastic, shiny and sharp with no pitting at all. The receiver has what I am assuming is the original green tint park and the bolt still has much of its original blue. The mag cutoff is blued and the safety is parked. Most of the parts I can see without taking it down are marked R. The wood is a straight stock(which I requested, I prefer that to the scant stock) with a Circle P and four other stamps just forward of the floor plate. There are a few dents here and there and the only real issue that the stock has is what looks like a box cutter scratch that starts on the lower band and runs back about a foot. Maybe it was at the top of a box that was opened with a cutter. Not a problem for me though. The trigger is very good as well. All in all, a very nice example of a mid WWII 03A3. If a get a break from painting the inside of the house tomorrow I will snap some pics of it as it came from the box. The only thing I have done so far is run a boresnake through it.

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[BruceV]

Sounds like your 03-A3 is a top drawer CMP rifle. Go ahead and take a break from the painting and shoot some pictures (the more the better)! Sincerely. BruceV.

[Griff Murphey]

Man you got lucky. One VFW or Legion rifle that was pampered!

[John Rippert]

"Man you got lucky. One VFW or Legion rifle that was pampered!"


I agree. Especially with the condition of the bore. Someone took very good care of this one and cleaned the bore properly. Many thanks to whoever did so.


A couple of quick pics.

[John Rippert]

Another pic with the stamps by the floorplate. It is very hard to tell what most of them are. From right to left we have a "A within square", a number "9X within oval"(not sure what the second digit is), a "13 in circle" that is offset 90 degrees from the other stamps and a "Z or 2 in triangle" with rounded corners on the triangle. These are the only stamps I have found so far other than the Circle P.

[Sgt. Rob P.]

Nice, looks great and a small bow triggerguard to boot. I prefer that type myself. CMP sent you a nice one!

Semper Fi, Rob

[Arisaka99]

Nice looking rifle. Some Olde English or Fairtrimmers would touch up that scratch; part of the reason it shows is the difference in surface finish color and the inner wood. It will likely be a great shooter! The marks in front of the trigger guard are standard inspection chops... there should also be an ordnance wheel, FJA and RA stamp on the left wrist for this SN range. If not there, the stock was likely "boned" at some point in its history; owners didn't like the unsightly marring of the wood by ordnance stamps on obvious spots. The parkerized barrel bands also indicate a probable re-arsenal, so the arsenal might have also sanded the stock as part of rework, although normally the rework stamp would be there somewhere on the left wrist or buttstock.

[Griff Murphey]

Charlie Company, 4th Platoon, 1st Squad. Probably Army. Funnily enough, my unit at Fort Sill Army ROTC summer camp in 1970 was C-4-2. Of course, we had M-14s, not 03A3's!

[John Rippert]

A closer look at the left side of the stock shows the remains of a FJA stamp, no box, that is partially obscured by a gouge. No sign of a RA stamp or the ordnance wheel.

Both the bands holding the wood are blued with one showing more patina than blue and the other still showing about 50% blue.