Remington 1903A3 new purchase questions

[EddieB]

Purchased a Remingtion 1903A3 arsenal rebuild there is a lot of good but there is also some bad (I may have overpaid). The good, clean two groove barrel, all parts are R marked and to my knowledge parts look correct. The bad, it looks like someone either attempted to clean the stock or spilled something on the stock and there is a lighter patch on an otherwize beautify stock. I will include pics below.

Now for the Questions

When I looked up the serial number (41215xx) on OldGuns I get 1942, looking the number up on vishooter I get December 1943, which one is correct? I am thinking it is 12 1943 especially since the barrel is dated 12-43.

Is there something I can do to restore the color of the stock (maybe applying some oil)? I know there is no going back, but I would like it to look less obvious.

And the final question, how much does the issue with the stock change the value of the gun?

Thanks for any and all input/help.

[John Beard]

Answers are as follows:

(1) Your rifle was probably shipped in late December, 1943, or early January, 1944.

(2) Get some Birchwood Casey Water-Base Walnut Stain, dilute it down with water until very thin, then apply to the stock in steps over a period of time until you get matching darkness. If the stock is coated with oil, then you may need to use some odorless mineral spirits to dissolve the oil and get down to bare wood that will absorb the water-based stain.

(3) I speculate that the stock discoloration doesn't de-value the rifle more than 20%, if that much.

Good Luck! And thanks for sharing!

J.B.

[EddieB]

Thanks John.

Thanks for all the info, I will definately give the stain a try. I paid 900, was that to high?

[SkyKid]

Don't worry about the cost
You have a really nice rifle

[martin08]

These trade regularly over $1,000. No overpayment here. Very nice gun.

[John Beard]

You committed a criminal act of theft if you bought that rifle for $900.

J.B.

[EddieB]

Thanks for the feed back everyone, glad I got a good deal. It has been a few years since I purchased a US rifle and wasn't sure about the prices. Unfortunatley it seemed that ALL surplus has kinda gotten out of hand. Thank goodness I started collecting years ago. Recently I have been getting into modern handguns, can't say the prices are better, but it is fun. I can't wait to take her out to the range.

[cherokee5425]

Very nice 03a3. I don't think 900.00 is that bad, remember, they aren't making them anymore. That and the fact that even finding one that hasn't been molested is getting harder and harder.

[CincyM1]

You did good. Nice rifle. If the barrel is in good shape, you can't get one from the CMP for that price. The last one I got from the CMP was a "rack grade". The bore gages well but obvious pitting in spots. Remington in A Smith-Corona stock. $750 plus tax.(BTW, if anyone out there needs a Smith-Corona stock without arsenal rebuild stamps, I'd gladly trade mine for a comparable Remington.)

[Nehalem Man]

Even though your rifle has the Ogden "OG" arsenal stamp, I do not believe it to be a re-build.

Your rifle was produced in the final days of 03-A3 production. Production stopped at the end of February, and a great many of those late rifles were sent directly to storage at the Ogden Arsenal (according to Bruce Canfield). M1 production was hitting a peak at that time with Springfield and Winchester combining to produce a Garand every 27 seconds, so the older bolt rifles were simply not needed at that moment.

Everything that I see in your photos looks correct. Parts that should be blue, are blue. Parts that should be Parkerized, are Parkerized. Ogden checked it into inventory, put their OG stamp on it, and then boxed it back up without any repairs or modification.

I have an identical rifle in my collection. I will post up photos later for a comparison.

-E-