Recent arrivals: RIA M1903 1908 & SC M1903A3 1943

[fernleaf]

I bought these two rifles in late September from a dealer in the US who exported them to me in NZ. I managed to get my sticky little hands on them just prior to Christmas...

First up is an M1903 made by Rock Island in 1908 (or maybe early 1909). This has all the early features I'd expect from a rifle of this vintage. It was advertised as 'parts correct' which gave me the idea it was in original condition, but some of these correct parts have obviously not been on the rifle since its birth. Not the sellers fault - more like me being buck feverish...

The rear sight, trigger guard and buttplate are all later parked, but most everything else 'looks' to be original...

Bore has been used - heavily.

Overall pretty happy with it - at some stage I'll look for parts to match the finish of the rifle.

I shot it today using a nice light load of 16.0gn TrailBoss begind a 155gn Nosler CC. I had some other light loads using some 135gn FTX and a starting load of H4895 to put through it, but I've never felt so apprehensive behind a rifle before so decided to give them a miss...

No doubt you guys will have more experience with these things that I - keen to hear your thoughts?

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