A British Remington M1903 ...

[Nick Adams]

Nick, ***

***
Now, let me "brag on" #3,024,801. It is very similar to your rifle, as far as specific features. It is still one of my favorite rifles and my first really "nice" M1903. I got it about five years ago from a really good friend, who gave me a great deal, in exchange for some help I gave him in identifying some other M1903s he had.

It has a 1-42 Remington barrel and a decent RLB inspection stamp. It is one of the "Red Star" rifles. The only flaw is that it has a replacement handguard. You can see from the picture that the red band doesn't match up. The handgurd was replaced during British service. This was far from unusual.

You can see it doesn't have the British proof marks because, as you learned in the article, it (and 199 others) was imported "out of the ordinary".

It has the "4-3" stamp, as well as the four subinspector symbols ahead of the front tang.

It came covered in grease, but not the "deep" grease found on the CMP rifles, and I cleaned most of it off in an evening. It was in excellent condition and had seen little or no wear. The bore is almost perfect.

As you can see from my "signature" to the left, I use a picture of this rifle as my "avatar", so you can see how much I like this rifle. (OK, I had to give a little "dig" abou my afghan!!)

Love your avatar, Rick (The afghan is nice too).

Your 302 is indeed in excellent condition. I wish my cartouches, RLB inspection stamp and that mysterious "4 3" number, et al, weren't so worn. These areas don't appear to have been sanded down, just worn over the years. Maybe it saw hard service in Britian. There's no indication that the previous owner ever tried to restore it or even clean it up.

However, after cleaning the barrel for three days, and then having shot and cleaned it several more times, I can report that it's in excellent condition - a shiny bore with well-defined grooves (a 1-10 twist, 4-groove barrel, in fact). The crown is also excellent, and all pitting is confined to the outside of the barrel, near the front-sight band.

Hey, Rick: I'd still like to know if my 302 has an odd-ball extractor, with John noting that the "R" was stamped on the top rear area. Can you check where the one on your 302's extractor appears and let me know. John's earlier comments made me curious.

Thanks, and thanks again to all for the help and information!

[Rick the Librarian]

Just checked and mine has a serif R on the top rear, just as John said.

[Nick Adams]

Just checked and mine has a serif R on the top rear, just as John said.

Interesting - 'cause John said it was typically stamped on the bottom in the rear. The location probably doesn't matter for valuation, though, as long as there's an "R" stamped on it somewhere. Thanks for checking.

[Rick the Librarian]

Oops! Guess I misread the earlier posts.

[John Beard]

Interesting - 'cause John said it was typically stamped on the bottom in the rear. The location probably doesn't matter for valuation, though, as long as there's an "R" stamped on it somewhere. Thanks for checking.

The photos I have on file of S/N 3024801 do NOT show an "R" on the top rear corner of the extractor. The data sheet I have indicates the "R" is on the bottom rear corner of the extractor.

Rick's been sniffin' the bore cleaner again.

J.B.

[John Beard]

Without going into a lot of detailed explanation with respect to Remingtons, one can only determined when design changes first appeared, not when old designs ended. Remington was very slow about phasing things out.

And I'll clarify one other thing which may be confusing you. There is no such unique rifle as a Remington "modified" that appeared in later production. All Remington rifles were designated as "modified" before production even started.

Hope this helps.

J.B.

[Hal O'Peridol]

Just checked and mine has a serif R on the top rear, just as John said.

Rick, picked up MAA a couple of days ago. Durn nice photography!

I did finally get a 03A3, but no 1903 yet.

Mark in Blaine.

[Rick the Librarian]

One of the humorous things about Joe Poyer's book on the M1903 is his careful deliniating of the exact of "Remington M1903" and M1903 (Modified) rifles -- 133,444 of the former and 214,641 of the latter!

[Nick Adams]

One of the humorous things about Joe Poyer's book on the M1903 is his careful deliniating of the exact of "Remington M1903" and M1903 (Modified) rifles -- 133,444 of the former and 214,641 of the latter!

I believe I saw the Poyer book on the stand at one of the shops last week. I'll check it out next time I'm there. They also had one called something like, "The Collectible '03" - or is that also a Poyer title?

Rick or John: Is there one particular '03 reference book you recommend over the rest?

[Nick Adams]

The photos I have on file of S/N 3024801 do NOT show an "R" on the top rear corner of the extractor. The data sheet I have indicates the "R" is on the bottom rear corner of the extractor.

Rick's been sniffin' the bore cleaner again.
J.B.

Just to be sure I wasn't in error, I pulled out the bolt on my 302 and checked it again, right after Rick posted on the location of his.

The mark is not a scratch, wear mark or dust mite. There's most definitely an "R" impressed into the top of the extractor at the back corner, as it appeared in the last series of pics I posted.

I then checked the bottom rear corner also and there's nothing there but shiny wearing. John suggested that location was something new in his experience, so unless someone chimes in I'll assume that a Rem 1903 extractor with an "R" stamp into the rear top corner denotes an oddball, not what would normally have occurred.

Thanks, John ...