1903 marked under side receiver “use in sta 3 only

[Trackflg]

Hello all, first post , I think.
I have a 1903 with markings on the underside of receiver at flat piece just aft of forward mounting screw , stamped into receiver the words.use in sta 3 only. Serial number is1477971.would post a picture if I new how, I thought you 1903 guys would be interested. Maybe test gun ???? , looks to be a Greek return

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[cplstevennorton]

Is it possibly marked for SA use only, or something along those lines? I've seen the ones marked in that way about Springfield Armory, and I sort of guess that is what this one is.

[Trackflg]

No very clear ( use in sta 3 only) all letters are the same except the 3, looks as if they made a stamp that said use in sta only and filled in with number stamp for what ever station, ??? The wonder of it all. clueless

[Calif-Steve]

I had one years back. I was told by someone wiser than me that it for all intents a factory second. That only SA could work on it. Sounds reasonable to me. It was a nice shooter and ran very well.

[browningautorifle]

would post a picture if I new how

Check your PMs. I can post a pic for you.

[mark1]

It could be a Springfield test bed receiver that was later built into a rifle. Sta 3 could be station 3

[cplstevennorton]

I had one years back. I was told by someone wiser than me that it for all intents a factory second. That only SA could work on it. Sounds reasonable to me. It was a nice shooter and ran very well.

Was it a SA only marked receiver?

I actually found docs on them and it seems it's quite the opposite of a factory 2nd. They kept them at SA for the workers to get any measurements they needed while they were building new parts, or test parts off the assembly line on them to make sure they were machined or functioned correctly. SA would pull exploratory parts off the line from different lots to test them to make sure they fit. These SA only rifles were the ones they used the parts on to make sure they machined correctly. They also used the SA only rifles in ammo testing or accuracy testing, or any other testing that SA needed to do with a M1903.

I sort of doubt they would be using them for those purposes above if they were factory seconds. There is never a mention of 2nds I should say in the docs and everything points to these rifles being considered the standard.

I'm a sales rep for a manufacturing company and we do keep some of our product on hand so the engineers can study when there are issues with the line. But the only products we keep are basically the best examples of what we manufacture.

To me it would not make a lot of sense to keep a M1903 that had factory defects and then use that M1903 as a test pattern rifle or one to be used as the gold standard to compare the parts they were manufacturing.

By the way they were released in 1939 if I Remember the date on the document correctly. It said that SA was done with the M1903 and they might as well release the SA only marked rifles for the war effort.

[Doco overboard]

I’m interested in understanding what production / examination tasks occurred at station 3?
I have a rifle marked on underside SA use only that shot great groups with original barrel and custom sported stock/ Lyman 48 and globe F/s.

[mark1]

To know what or where station 3 is in Springfield's production process you would need a layout of their assembly line and stations where testing or fit was done.