'03 Sporter Questions

[keno]

A friend brought me a 1903 Springfield Sporter to evaluate. He thought he had found a Sporterized sniper rifle...groan...groan. I will post some photos later; however; I thought I would begin with my observations. First the serial number is 1235002. Receiver has a Lyman 48 peep sight and a G&H type scope base. Safety marked READY. Barrel marked SA (flaming bomb) 8- 21, star at 12 0'clock and has Marble front sight. Barrel and receiver line up marks are off...barrel mark is even with serial number...so this barrel did not start out on this receiver. Stock is quality nicely figured walnut, finely checkered and has a Schnabel fore end....unfortunately has a red Palace Cafe recoil pad. Grip cap looks like horn,,,but could be plastic. This rifle has been in someone's closet for a long time and my friend did not pay enough for it to warrant any intentional fakery. Anyhow...this rifle is much better than your average assembled from scrounged parts sporter. Again...I will get some photos posted later today. I would appreciate thoughts !?!?!?

Information

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[rcathey]

Looking forward to the pictures. This sounds right up my alley.

Initial thoughts: that serial number is too early to be an actual Springfield Armory Sporter so that lines up with your observations about the barrel being swapped.
Sporter parts were available though and it sounds like someone put one together.
I agree with you that this wouldn't be a "scrounged parts sporter," though. A nice stock, a sporter barrel, a Lyman 48, and a G&H scope mount...someone put a fair amount of cash into this project!

[champ0608]

I'd love to see pictures. In my observation, the 1.23 serial range was the first to have barrels with star marks on the muzzle, and those barrels tended to be 8-21 and 11-21 (based on a handful I've seen and kept notes on.) If the barrel isn't original to the receiver, it would be a heck of a coincidence or required A LOT of searching to find the exact right barrel.

[Herschel]

That is a very interesting rifle. There were many good gunsmiths back in the 1920's and 1930's that assembled 1903 actions into rifles that were sometimes near works of art.
The rifle is not a candidate for restoring to issue 1903 configuration due to the holes drilled into the receiver to mount the scope mount base and Lyman 48 sight. What you are referring to as the index mark may be the slot machined into the barrel to stabilize the original military rear sight. I say the barrel is the original on the rifle. There is too much coincidence in
the barrel date and receiver date being from the approximate time frame. The star guage mark on the barrel is a strong suggestion that the rifle started out life as a
National Match 1903. My estimate of the rifles history is that someone who wanted a fine sporting rifle bought a NM 1903, had a fine gunsmith convert it into a fine sporting rifle.
The gunsmiths name may be in the barrel channel. I would say let Bubba look at it but don't let him approach it with tools. When you post pictures some of us with Petrov's books
on custom sporting rifles may be able to compare the rifle with pictures in the books and get a pretty good idea of the gunsmith who made it. I agree with rcathey that someone
put a fair amount of money into the creation of this truly custom sporter.

[Sunray]

"...gunsmiths back in the 1920's and 1930's..." And long after W.W. II.
S/N says 1921. There's a list here.
US Model 1903 Springfield Rifle Serial Number Ranges - Muzzle First
According to these guys, the last serial number for an NRA Sporter was “1408446”. Doesn't mean somebody didn't make a copy. Doesn't mean it's a "fake" either.
*RARE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY MODEL 1903 SPORTER.
Some guys here discussed 'em back in '09.
https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=6114

[Herschel]

There are sporterized 1903 Springfields, many of which were made up by a owners or gunsmiths by simply replacing the wood with a Bishop or Fajen stock. There were others made by master gunsmiths, which I think is the rifle the OP started this thread about.

Then there are the 1903 NRA Sporters that came as new items from Springfield Armory with the 1922 stock (sometimes called the NRA stock) , a Lyman 48S rear sight, a slightly heavier barrel than the issue 1903 barrel and a beautiful rust blue finish. These were made from 1923 into the middle 1930's.

In my collection there is a custom 1903 Springfield made by Bruce Dawson of West Plains, MO. He used an original 1903 barrel which he slimmed down. In the rear end of the barrel there is the remnant of the slight groove that I mentioned in my previous post. The groove lines up with serial number on the receiver. The only thing that gives me pause in my speculation of the history of #1235002 is the star guage mark at 12 o'clock on the muzzle. All I have seen or read of were at the 6 o'clock position. FWIW

Additional comment
Thanks to Sunray for posting the link to the thread from 2009. I was surprised to see that I also participated in that thread as I didn't remember it. I am happy to see that what I said back then agrees with I said today.