My new (old) 1903 Rock Island that I just got.

[Fred G.]

This is the follow up on my 1903 Rock Island that I briefly touched upon yesterday in another posters thread titled; "Should I get this RIA?"
There you can read my thoughts on this rifle and where it sits within the framework of Double Heat Treated Rock Island 1903's, even though its serial number is below 285507, which is the often quoted and official first receiver at Rock Island that was double heat treated.
So, here are some photo's of it for your enjoyment and consideration.
Along with it, in some of the photo's, is a 1903 Springfield Armory rifle of mine that has, like the Rock Island Arsenal 1903, a barrel date of
7-18. Both of these rifles are similar in that they still retain quite a bit of their original finish on the metal and the walnut stock. Neither of them have been cleaned, sanded, abused or updated with later type parts as far as I can tell. The Rock Island 1903 has a Springfield front barrel band, rear barrel band, safety, and maybe a few others. John Beard tells me that the barrel and receiver are in all probability original to each other even though the receiver was made in early 1918. John tells me that he believes this rifle was likely issued to a WWI unit (too late to go over seas like many 03's with barrel dates this late) and that upon receiving their rifles, the men broke them down into parts and cleaned them, assembling their rifles again from the separate piles of cleaned parts. This is probably true and accurate. However, I'm left wondering why this rifle, though having a Springfield circle P (firing proof) under the wrist, also has a capital "L" (inspectors stamp) on the left side of the wrist. This L was an inspection stamp that was used by Ora E. Lindsay in 1917 and possibly 1918 who was an inspector at Rock Island Arsenal. These single letter stamps were used early on before the more detailed stamps within boxes could be obtained. I'm wondering if it is possible that Rock Island Arsenal could have, around the end of the war or just afterwards, sent some parts to Springfield Armory to be assembled into complete rifles there. This of course would predate the later 1927 or 1928 assembly of such rifles at Springfield Armory using Rock Island parts. This is just an idle thought of course and I will certainly bow to John Beards assessment on this rifle over my questionable hypothesis. John Beard tells me that this rifle is very likely one of the few thousand that were assembled using early Rock Island receivers whose serial numbers fall below the established 285507. These receivers, were double heat treated at a later time and used to assemble complete rifles for testing and issue. Anyway, it's all covered in my earlier post on that other thread that I mentioned. Oh yea, the bolt is an earlier Rock Island bolt with a D1 on the end of the safety lug, which would indicate that it was made in 1912 or 1913.
OK, here are the pictures of it that I promised...

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