1903A4, GTG or no?

[pdxbohica]

I recently found a 1903A4 for sale and have a couple of questions:

1. The barrel date (2/44) does not match the receiver (8/43), the barrel has the punch mark in the flaming bomb, P on the bottom but no bottom punch mark. I believe that it is a replacement barrel from an arsenal rebuild;
2. The stock has the Benicia Arsenal [BIA / JPL] stamp on the left side indicating a rebuild, (P) on the bottom of grip but no other visible markings in front of the magwell or anywhere else (consistent with a replacement stock?);
3. M84 scope, which would be consistent with a post-war rebuild;
4. The sight base is unmarked, again, consistent with what would be issued;
5. There is no evidence of a front sight that I can see, however the coloring where the sight band would have been looks different.

Uniform wear on all of the metal, large bow trigger guard.

What does the collective wisdom and experience on the board think? Consistent enough to call it a genuine rebuild? Any other issues?

FYSA, I am currently deployed and cannot get hands-on with the rifle.

Thanks in advance.

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Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[rcathey]

The receiver markings on a genuine 03A4 are spaced such that they’re not covered up by the scope mount.

That’s the only thing to look for if you’re concerned about having the genuine article. Everything else is secondary.

[browningautorifle]

I can see a line of crud at the back edge of where the rear sight was, for instance. That says a sight WAS there to me.

[pdxbohica]

I can see a line of crud at the back edge of where the rear sight was, for instance. That says a sight WAS there to me.

So possibly (probably?) a re-barrel with a barrel that did have a sight? And at least in regards to this, not done through an arsenal rebuild, correct?

[champ0608]

This rifle at some point had a receiver sight installed, implying a front sight would have also been installed.

[browningautorifle]

So possibly (probably?) a re-barrel

I'd suggest a put together...perhaps. There's lots of info on here in forum to look at to give you a better idea about this one. Can you get more and better pics? Often a spurious dealer will give poor or lacking pics to complete a sale.

[pdxbohica]

See attached:

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Just noticed the whole on the right side of the stock ahead of the bolt relief...

[mark1]

The front of the barre looks to have been re-parked after the removal of the front sight. The rings are commercial not military. The receiver had a rear sight mounted as evidence of the two screws and the hole in the stock. I would suspect the stock is not a sniper stock but would need a picture of the bolt cutout area in the stock.

Receiver is a real A4.

[pdxbohica]

And the search continues.

Thanks for educating me on the things that I missed, there is so much to grasp, maybe some day...

[browningautorifle]

Hard to do proper searches while you're remote. You have your mind on other things so this is a distraction. Yes they're out there so you'll find one, you'll have the coin after deployment too. Keep us info'ed on it. We'd love to see it after you find it.