Unissued M1903O3A3's

[Scott in Indiana]

The Wikipedia page for the M1903 rifle contains the following statement.

"In 1977, the Army located a rather large cache of un-issued M1903A3 rifles which were then issued to JROTC units as a replacement for their previously issued M1 Garand and M14 rifles, which were then returned to Army custody due to concerns about potential break-ins at high school JROTC armories."

Is there more information available pertaining to this event like where the cache was located and how many were found, etc? This probably helps explain why so many high serial numbered O3A3's are found in like-new condition today.

Information

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[John Beard]

I'm skeptical about the statement's accuracy.

I am not aware of any M '03-A3 rifles issued to JROTC units that were not first demilitarized into drill rifles.

And I am not aware of any preponderance of unissued M '03-A3 drill rifles. Drill rifles that I've seen are overwhelmingly overhauled or well-used rifles.

J.B.

[Rick the Librarian]

Wikipedia does not have a patent on accuracy. I made several corrections in thei M1903 Springfield listing. The originator must have gotten his info from Poyer or some other "reliable" source!

[Chuckindenver]

ok,
well, i doubt any JROTC ever were issued M14,s maybe, and Garands very few, and were issued well after the 03,s and A3,s but doubltful.
however..
the JROTC were issued 1903A3,s and 1903,s for drill use. and the rifle were modified for drill use,, not demilled.
to demill, is to cut into 3 parts, modify for drill use, is to weld, and plug the bore so a live round cant be fired.
but,. yes, many many new unissued A3,s were modified for DP.
over the years iv seen many, that were still crispy, and likely had never seen DP duty as well.
some of the barreled receivers i got were still full of grease, and new original bolts that had been welded shut.,,what a shame.
but still, in the military eye. a 15.00 rifle is cheaper to modify, then buying new {toy} rifles at 18.00 per rifle..
most of those had location tags, from the CA ROTC highschool units..and never were issued, likely the stocks were removed for rifles in use...hard use.

[David]

John/Chuck:

Back in 1978 I had sent DCM a very early case hardened 1903 receiver right at the end of their program where one could be turned in and for $15 (I think) they would send you a serviceable receiver back. After waiting several months I contacted them and was told yes, they had gotten my receiver, no they did not have any more to exchange and by the way they could not find my receiver in their stocks.

A few days later one of the DCM employees called me and advised that they had located some 03A3's that were being turned into drill rifles for ROTC and they had arranged to pull one and send it to me. Was that OK... sure it was!!

When the rifle came it was a flat new from stock Remington 03A3 that from every sign had never been issued or fired beyond proofing. No wear, no rebuild marks, correct match of blue vs. parkerized parts, everything marked R that should be, etc.

So, along with what Chuck says, I am inclined to give credence to the story cited in the first part of this thread. In my case, I just got lucky!

[Phrogpilot]

I personally dont doubt the accuracy of the article. I have seen a number of M1903/A3 Drill rifles that were in PRISTINE condition. They looked like unissued rifles were used to turn them into Drill rifles, and then not used at all after than... Quite a shame... (on that note, I have also seen an unissued WIN-13 that looked to be brand new before it was turned into a drill rifle. it also was unused...)

[Chuckindenver]

also, some rifles, both 1903 A3 , M1 garand, Krag, 17,s and M14,s were and are still being used for Honor guard, salute rifles.
the bolt guns dont need any real modifications, but the gas operated rifles sometime were modified for blank firing.
some of these rifles, are in great shape on the outside, and crusty rusty on the inside.
but then, iv seen them like new inside and out, all depends on how well, and who took care of them.

[Thaine]

"well, i doubt any JROTC ever were issued M14,s maybe, and Garands very few, and were issued well after the 03,s and A3,s but doubltful.
however.."

However, when I was a student in the Houston ISD, all of the JROTC units had M1s. That was 1961-65 time frame. So schools were issued the M1 in significant number. Ours were fully functional and the prize accessory was to have a blank firing adapter so when on one of the 2-3 yearly weekend "manuevers" that were held, you could empty a full clip at the "bad guys".

[Calif-Steve]

I went to High School in Hawaii, graduated 1964. Honolulu had a very large JROTC program and we had nice Garands at all the schools. My High School had 500 Garands. The Senior Cadets drew a rack of 10 rifles and fired the Train Fire I Course at Schofield Barracks in 1964. It was huge fun and I fell in love with Garands right then and there.

[John Beard]

ok,
well, i doubt any JROTC ever were issued M14,s maybe, and Garands very few, and were issued well after the 03,s and A3,s but doubltful.
however..
the JROTC were issued 1903A3,s and 1903,s for drill use. and the rifle were modified for drill use,, not demilled.
to demill, is to cut into 3 parts, modify for drill use, is to weld, and plug the bore so a live round cant be fired.
but,. yes, many many new unissued A3,s were modified for DP.
over the years iv seen many, that were still crispy, and likely had never seen DP duty as well.
some of the barreled receivers i got were still full of grease, and new original bolts that had been welded shut.,,what a shame.
but still, in the military eye. a 15.00 rifle is cheaper to modify, then buying new {toy} rifles at 18.00 per rifle..
most of those had location tags, from the CA ROTC highschool units..and never were issued, likely the stocks were removed for rifles in use...hard use.

The high school JROTC where my children attended had M14's.

J.B.