Need help identifying M1903 stock

[Arcieri]

I cleaned the area around the rebuild stamp on a stock that came to me on a Rock Island 03 from CMP a couple of years ago. I know the stock has been through at least one rebuild since it has the SA DAL stamp. It appears there may be another rebuild stamp pretty much in the same location, possibly BAWL for Bernicia Arsenal? The stock is most likely not original to the rifle.

Also appears to be a stock cartouche there that I can't identify. Can anyone identify the cartouche mixed in with the rebuild stamps?

Thanks for your help.
Ray

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[Rick the Librarian]

Your stock appears to have the following:

1) JFC - J.F. Coyle

2) EHD - which I believe dates to WWI

3) BAWL

4) SADAL

A regular "road map"! Like to know where that rifle (or stock!) has been!

[firstflabn]

Nice closeups!

I have an 03A3 with a Remington 03A3 stock with the Benicia Arsenal rebuild stamp just like yours: BA - WL

Brophy shows the inspector's initials with periods, but I can't tell on my sanded stock. Mine also has a boxed OG. My receiver is from March '43 and has a replacement barrel, so my crackpot theory is that mine got used fairly early, sent to Benicia for repair during or soon after WWII, then went to Ogden for an official rebuild and storage after Benicia started to ramp down. The barreled receiver has not been reparked.

Would like to hear from anyone with a precise date range for the rebuild stamp and whether Benicia was a designated repair or rebuild center for 03/03A3 and associated dates. Benicia served the San Francisco POE outbound. Does it make sense they also processed rifles for repair on the way back from the Pacific as well? With two trips to the shop it is unlikely this metal got to Benicia in this stock, so these comments are general. And it's just as likely it was a range rifle, maybe on the western end of the country.

[Rick the Librarian]

You're right about Benecia being a "POE" for M1903s, but haven't seen it before on a M1903A3. I make a study of M1903s sent to Hawaii and the Philippines. Nearly all M1903s that I have seen with a HOD (Hawaiian Ordnanc Depot) and POD (Philippine Ordnance Depot) have the BAWL from Benecia.

[firstflabn]

Thanks, Rick. I understand Benecia had over 4,000 workers at their peak during WWI and then rapidly cut back. Again, if you run across anything related to that place I'd love to hear of it.

I should have said my BA - W.L. is in a box. The stock also has the mysterious US stamped near the left butt, but I believe it may have been you who postulated that might be 'unserviceable surplus' related to 60's disposal. My stock has been moderately sanded, but there is no trace of inspectors marks in front of the mag well. Is this, then, an indication it was a replacement stock? If so, the 10 year boy in me can really turn on the imagination dreaming up scenarios concerning heavy usage. Probably got run over by a jeep while being carried out of the supply room, needed a new barrel to replace the bent one, and a new stock in place of the splintered one.

[Rick the Librarian]

You mean the usual subinspection marks in front of the trigger guard? Not the "P" in back?

[firstflabn]

Correct, there are no subinspection marks visible in front of trigger housing - the numbers inside geometric shapes. Also, no visible cartouches on left side near cutoff (except for the BA-WL). It has two 'P' stamps behind the trigger - a sans serif P 7/16" high and a 1/2" diameter circle with a P inside probably serifed, but sanding makes that unsure. Maybe it's a heavy serif at bottom of vertical stalk of the circled P? The uncircled P (the most forward of the two Ps) has a rack number '109' stamped over it. I don't have access to an unsanded 03A3 stock to estimate how much wood might have been sanded away to see if cartouches may have previously been there.

If I didn't say it above, it is a pinned Remington stock with 3,475,xxx receiver and 12-44 (presumably) replacement barrel. It had bits of cosmo in the nooks and crannies when I got it. The stock was badly cracked, but thanks to candyman's prescription I repaired it; the repair worked and it shoots straight. My guess is it is an NRA or DCM 1960s rifle that somebody took apart to hurriedly clean, put back togehter without understanding the necessity of properly tightening the action screws, shot and promptly split the stock, then put it in the closet. At the wrist and also about 4" up from the buttplate somebody used a one piece dye stamp containing the word 'EASTOVER' in 3/32" letters (in other words, EASTOVER is imprinted with a single stamp, not a series of individual letters) to mark the stock. I got it from a gunshop in Massachusetts, so maybe it's a defunct military school - except that the stock is essentially undinged. Maybe some guy named Eastover did me a favor by damaging his stock and setting up a bargain buy for me many years later.

Arcieri, does your stock have similar proof marks behind the trigger guard?

[Arcieri]

Stock does have proof marks behind trigger.

I am grateful for the replies on the stock. It seems to be well traveled.

Ray

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