Unusual Springfield 03/A1-A3

[butcher41mag]

picked up this Springfield 03 back in the 90"s with origional sling and bayonet. showed this to another forum about 10 yrs ago...trying to figure out how and where this came from. notice no SN on receiver, has 03 A1 receiver and rear site, 03A3 barrel bands, lend lease stock, 1943 remington barrel. origionally thought it was a lend lease then armory rebuild, but could not have been lended out without SN...was told could not be issued without SN either???Attachment 104906Attachment 104907Attachment 104908Attachment 104909Attachment 104910Attachment 104911Attachment 104912Attachment 104913
anyone else run into anything like this?

Information

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[pickax]

Definitely not an arsenal rebuild with the scrubbed receiver. and straight handled bolt with Remington barrel.
What are the indications you see for a LL stock? The squared P proof indicates a Red River or San Antonio rebuild, but not with the above parts.

[P51Mustang]

John Beard would be the go to on this. It would not have been made like that and accepted with no serial. The P proof is [post WW2 as others have said.

[Roy]

Is there any evidence of any finish on the receiver, or of the finish being removed? it looks 'in the white' its hard to tell from the photo of the receiver but it looks like there never was a serial number.

[Sunray]

"...armory rebuild..." The lack of a S/N probably negates that. The Logistics techs would go into hysterics over that. No way to account for the thing. Make their heads explode.
"...The squared P proof indicates..." The stock was on a numbered rifle at some time.
What it really needs is a flourescope to see if there ever was a number.
The guys at M1903.com would probably know. No W's required.

[cplstevennorton]

I don't think it would be terribly hard to remove a serial and make it hard to tell it had one. I've examined dozens of m1911's that had the serial or US Property removed and then blended in with a cold blue or some sorts and you cannot tell it ever had one.

I've also seen pics of serial numbers removed on M1903's at the Archives. Rifles that were stolen, they removed the serial, and they were photographed in files when they were recovered, such as the FBI files. They look pretty much identical to this one.

When I look at this pic at an angle, it looks like to me it had a serial and it was removed. It doesn't take much metal to be removed and the serial is gone, then hit it with some brownells Cold Blue and it will look like it's still parked.

But to me at this angle, it looks like it was removed and then some type of cold blue added.

[John Beard]

The rifle's receiver is either a "lunchbox special", a Griffin and Howe receiver, or the serial number has been professionally removed. There's no way it could have been issued for military service without a serial number.

The barrel is a Remington M'03-A3 barrel that has had a rear sight professionally installed by a gunsmith.

J.B.

[P51Mustang]

I knew you would have the info JB.....

[butcher41mag]

all my previous research also suggested a lunchbox receiver, and parts build at a later time. i put the mic's on the reciever and don't think any metal was removed. it's a 4 groove barrel and shoots well. just one of those mysteries when dealing with military surplus.

[Promo]

Tough to tell from your pictures, but it looks as if the bolt handle is straight, therefore a pre WWI bolt.