1st post....

[JB71]

Hey all, I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. I'll post something on the new member introduction thread but I picked this forum because it's where I'll spend most of my time. Some of you already know me from another Surplus forum but I've not posted here. I've been collecting firearms for years now and come from a family and extended family of collectors as well. One of my favorite firearms to collect are military surplus weapons and more specifically 1903's and 1903A3's. I don't have many but I'm working on it!

Here are a couple pics of my 1903 collection, for those who have already seen them I apologize for the redundancy.

Thanks for looking!


From left to right: Smith Corona 03A3, Remington 03A3, Remington 03A3, Springfield M1922 MI (converted to MII), Springfield 1903 Mark I, Rock Island 1903, Springfield 1903 National Match, (Bottom) Rock Island 1903


Left to Right:
Remington 1903A1, Smith Corona 1903A3

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[gunner]

Fine rifles! I am looking since a long time for good ones here, but they are very expensive or mix masters with bad made new stocks.

Regards

Gunner

[Harlan (Deceased)]

Welcome to the forum JB71.
Nice collection you have there!

~ Harlan

[Jim Tarleton]

Welcome. More pics please.

Jim

[Emri]

As Stated Above.........

Welcome !!!!!

Please do show us more.

Thanks,

Emri

[JB71]

Thanks for the welcome guys, here are a few more pictures of the National Match 03 and a little history behind it.

The rifle belonged to Major General Henry Randolph Westphalinger who received it after graduating West Point in 1924 . Major General Westphalinger went on to be the commanding General of the US Army Communications Zone Europe or “Com Z” and also served under MacArthur in logistics during the Korean War.

The rifle was in a wooden crate that showed the General's grade promotions over the years. The crate started out marked 1st Lt (I believe…it could have been 2nd Lt) all the way up to Major General. I remember looking at the crate as a young kid and thinking how cool it was to see General stars painted on it. This is the unfortunate part, my Mother tossed the crate away about 25 years ago while the rest of us were away for the summer as part of her house cleaning, thinking it was just some old worthless wooden crate.

The rifle was given to my dad by the General in the late 50's early 60's. He told my dad "This thing has been following me around for 35 years, it's time I let it go." The rifle was presented to him upon graduation and he had it since 1924 so it was in his possession from the time it was brand new till the time he gave it to my father some 45-50 years ago. It has been in it's original unaltered state from the time he received it to the time my father got it. My dad had it hanging on his wall for over 40 years. I'm not sure the last time it was shot but I'm pretty sure it's been a long long time, probably sometime in the 1930's. It has the Generals initials stamped into the tip of the stock, you can just make them out under a magnifying glass.

















Has anyone ever seen these sling markings before?? I'm stumped.




Here you can just make out the Generals initials H. R. W. under the magnifying glass.....way cool!

[JB71]

Ok,

Here are some more pics of some of the rifles pictured in the group photos

This is the Springfield Model 1922 MII it was originally an MI but sometime in it's past it went back to Springfield (or some other arsenal) to be converted to an MII.
















This is a Smith Corona 1903A3 that I had a barreled action only, however the barrel was completely shot out. I got it with the intentions of putting together a rifle that was all USGI but one that I could shoot on a regular basis without worry. So I decided to buy a SC barrel on line and have my action re-barreled and refinished. I had an old stock that had all of it's arsenal and proof stamps sanded off. I figured it would be a good candidate for me to try my hand at staining and refinishing. If I screwed it up it would be not much of a loss.

So, I found a barrel, put it on, found a bolt in my bolt bucket that head spaced correctly (most of them did by the way) as well as all the other parts needed to put a complete rifle together, (I've got a bunch of parts) and sent it all to a gun smith friend of mine to be parked and blued. I wanted to go with the two tone look of the original configuration but I also wanted it to have a satin finish so I opted to bead blast all the blued parts.

I then finished sanded the stock, applied a couple coats of Walnut stain and three coats of Tru-Oil. I wanted it to have a good weather resistant seal so I applied the Tru-Oil to all of the surfaces including the inletting. I didn't want it to be too shiny so I stopped at three coats.

The finished product came out better than I expected it to . It's a mix of SC, Remington 1903A3 parts as well as Springfield, and sub contract vendor parts (Bay Products bolt sleeve for instance) but it all came together and I have a rifle I can shoot and still keep it's USGI configuration.





















Thanks for looking!

[gunner]

Thanks for sharing!

Regards

Gunner

[JB71]

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