Hatcher Hole..again

[Doug Douglass]

I have an 1903 SA with a Hatcher hole... serial number 378152, minty barrel dated 1-10, S31 bolt, serif cut off, no volly notch, nice crisp two bolt finger groove stock, script P, cartouched AAJ in a box....and it is an old repark. Okay what is this if Hatcher holes started in 1939? A WWII rebuild using 1910era parts? USMC?

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[John Beard]

I have an 1903 SA with a Hatcher hole... serial number 378152, minty barrel dated 1-10, S31 bolt, serif cut off, no volly notch, nice crisp two bolt finger groove stock, script P, cartouched AAJ in a box....and it is an old repark. Okay what is this if Hatcher holes started in 1939? A WWII rebuild using 1910era parts? USMC?

You assume that your rifle is an original combination of parts, perhaps from an arsenal overhaul. That assumption is not always valid. Your rifle is an assortment of parts that could have been assembled anywhere and at anytime. And the Hatcher Hole could have been drilled anywhere and at anytime, but most assuredly during or after 1939.

There's a reasonable chance that your rifle's barreled receiver is USMC. The rest of it may or may not be USMC.

Hope this helps.

J.B.

p.s.,

While working as a volunteer at the CMP, we regularly replaced cracked stocks on rifles to restore serviceability. I'm sure some strange combinations resulted. And we had no monopoly on repairing rifles!

[Doug Douglass]

John....Thanks for the reply....the barrel and reciever physically appear to have been together since 1910...and the serial number matches the barrel date...to much of a coincidence to be a replacement barrel I think....to bad these 0ld 03's can't talk.

[John Beard]

John....Thanks for the reply....the barrel and reciever physically appear to have been together since 1910...and the serial number matches the barrel date...to much of a coincidence to be a replacement barrel I think....to bad these 0ld 03's can't talk.

I have no doubt that your rifle's barreled receiver is an original combination.

J.B.