Possible USMC 1903, Rock Island Arsenal Serial #298156?

[John Beard]

Your rifle's handguard has a convex profile between the rear sight and lower band. You need a handguard with a straight profile. And here's a picture of an acceptable cocking piece.

https://imgur.com/a/vt8XQjI.jpg

J.B.

[cplstevennorton]

Goopy, I personally wouldn't worry about that handguard. You see some in Marine pics.

[John Beard]

What's the date and location on that picture? That looks like a post-WWII ROTC or parade rifle picture.

J.B.

[cplstevennorton]

Anytime you see a Marine with a Pith helmet, it's usually a boot camp photo from very early WWII or it was taken before. Pith helmets rarely show up outside of training, and are not common after the early stages of the war. So it's usually pretty easy to date them. The Marines switched to the M1 in Boot Camp in late 1942.

If you study the Boot Camp photos of Marines with the M1903 from this time period, you will find more pics of these handguards. This is not an isolated occurrence.

This photo is from Parris Island prior to the War and is a collection of photos from the Life Magazine and is available in one of their online archives. I believe without going back to date it, it's from 1940 or 1941. I copied this photo in 2016. This was whole series of photos about Marine life in Boot Camp taken before the war.

This photo was an inspection of boots. Here are couple more taken from the same inspection that I had copied. One thing I always thought was neat about this series is how high they wore their ties, and the metal device they wore behind the knot. Our regulations when I was in, the ties ended at the middle of your belt buckle. So I did find this series sort of neat.

[cplstevennorton]

I have more pics of that style handguard in my files, but I really didn't taken much time to look.

But for instance I see a couple in this group photo taken in Boot Camp in 1942. You always see a mix of various styles in photos.

So Goopy, I would not worry about that handguard at all personally.

[cplstevennorton]

2nd Marine on the left and clearly dated August 1940.

[Goopy]

Outstanding pics!

[John Beard]

All the handguards in your pictures correctly are straight-profile handguards. And I believe the handguard in the first picture may also be a straight-profile handguard, given that the picture was taken at an obtuse angle. The contract for the convex-profile handguards was not placed until late 1944 at the earliest. And the USMC used very few, if any, of those handguards. It was an Army Ordnance contract.

J.B.

[cplstevennorton]

Thanks Goopy!

I have found a lot of really neat things, such as these handguards, by searching the boot camp photos. I have seen quite a few of those handguards in the Marine pictures.

It's a really nice rifle. I hope you enjoy it.