What can you tell me about my Remington M1903 - round two!

[ringer706]

I just picked up my first M1903 yesterday and I was hoping you all could help me learn a little bit more about her. I'll explain what I've found so far down below, but on the surface, it's a Remington model 1903 S/N 3304XXX, has a 10-42 marked barrel with RA and flaming bomb and P on the underside. It has a refinished straight stock with a single P mark behind the trigger, though I have not been able to find any other marks. I believe they were probably sanded away. I'm looking to know first, how close to a correct rifle am I, second, where can I go to find correct parts and third, around what is it worth?

As for all the details I could find on the gun working from muzzle to butt plate...
Clean bore gauging about 1-2
2 groove barrel
front sight marked R but sight band around the barrel is unmarked
marked 10-42 w/ ordnance mark, RA and P
Front band marked H on the bottom of bayonet lug
no markings found on top handguard
what appears to be a U marked on the rear barrel band
A28, F and an odd either 6 or 9 marked on the barrel under the handguard
windage knob marked R
sight base marked R
sight ladder marked R
sight slide unmarked, has apature sight
hole drilled through left side of receiver but not right
punch mark located about 1/2" below the 0 of the serial number
parkerize finish is a light gray to slight green
unable to find marks on trapdoor, spring, follower
only a number 2 marked on the lower receiver near the top of the magazine well
trigger and disconnecter marked R
magazine switch marked R
bolt, extractor safety and firing pin mechanism are marked r
extractor arm and firing pin catch (the tang that is held back by the disconnector marked 4
no markings on buttplate or sling mount
the stock has been sanded and had a finish put on it. there is a square cut on the right side right below the rear receiver ring, looks somewhat crudely cut. The left side has a slight indent cut in the middle of the receiver. It almost looks like where the ejection port of a Pedersen Device would go. This cut looks well made and original. The stock also has finger grooves.

I know that might be kind of a lot of info to throw at you all at once but I'd rather be thorough than skip details. Any help would be greatly appreciated and any links to publications about build details or a grading book is a big plus. Pictures are also inbound. Thanks again!

Neal

Information

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[Mike D]

Neal - Sounds like you have a typical mix-master. Nothing wrong with that. If it functions fine, why go to trouble of replacing parts? It sounds "correct" for a rebuild.

A 10-42 dated barrel is four-groove.
"H" on the upper band means "hardened". It is original to a Springfield Armory M1903.
Besides the "U" on the lower band, a Rem band would also have an "R". But your rifle might have had a stamped band, originally.
The finger groove stock is not original.

With a late serial #, your rifle would most likely have some stamped parts. Definitely a straight, non finger-groove stock.

Sounds like it looks better than it did originally, my opinion. Looking forward to photos.

Welcome to the forum!

Mike

[Rick the Librarian]

To add to what Mike said, the A28 is the steel lot code. The stock sounds like a M1903A3, if there are "slots" cut near the forward end of the receiver on each side.