**PICS ADDED** Finally acquired one of my great white buffalo! Springfield M1903

[FCOD]

Update:

Here's some pictures of my new beauty. The rifling is strong, but a little glazed and the muzzle wear gauge indicates .3000. I did notice upon bringing it home that the stock is either cracked, or has had a repair job. I'm still trying to determine if it's okay to shoot like this. If not, I might have to keep an eye out for a new stock.

All in all I'm very happy with my purchase despite the imperfections.







Original:
Been building up my C&R collection lately, but one thing I hadn't yet acquired was an M1903.

Finally found a great condition M1903 that came from an estate sale and the metal as well as the wood are also in great shape. My understanding is that it was covered in cosmoline, but was recently cleaned up. The bore is glazed, but has very strong rifling and my muzzle wear gauge barely fit in the muzzle. The serial is 1,03x,xxx which to my understanding is above the range of serials that were possibly affected by the flawed heat treatment.

While I would have preferred an A3, I am very excited for this and will post pictures in ten days when I pick it up.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

While I would have preferred an A3, I am very excited for this and will post pictures in ten days when I pick it up.

Congrats, they are great rifles and great investments. A lot of people prefer the look of the 03 over the A3, with the only real difference being the better sights on the A3. Shoot any 30-06 ammo without the picky needs of the Garand = WIN

[FCOD]

The rear tangent sight on the Mk1 is definitely something I'll have to get used to as it has a very shallow notch which is why I wanted an A3, but with as long as I've been looking for one locally I didn't want to be too picky and miss out.

I reload my M1 ammo and have loaded a pretty substantial amount of 150 grain M2 type ammo, but I'm glad that I can shoot whatever ammo I want through this.

[FCOD]

I do have a question for the pros. I would say the rifle is in about 90%-95% condition overall (wood, bore, steel, etc). The one flaw that I saw is that the bold handle at some point had either rust on it, or air pockets in the forging.

Can I replace the bolt body without any issues, or would head space likely be an issue, or should I be okay with it dropping right in?

[morrcarr67]

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

[FCOD]

Pictures added! Tell me how I did!

[huntingsocal]

Looks like stock is both cracked and had brass pin repair job.

Hard to say if crack is stable or not. Maybe shoot it and monitor to see if it gets worse?

[FCOD]

Looks like stock is both cracked and had brass pin repair job.

Hard to say if crack is stable or not. Maybe shoot it and monitor to see if it gets worse?

It's really hard to tell with my eyes let alone through a picture, but there appears to be a brownish resign that follows that crack. It has a metal recoil lug, so I'm not too worried about it exploding into my shoulder.

[Aces and 8s]

That is beautiful. Enjoy.

[rdfact]

And a Mark I to boot. Pretty cool.
Is there an elongated cutout on the left side of the receiver?
Check out this video on the Mark I with the Pedersen device that turned the bolt action 1903 into a semi-auto with a 40 round mag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLzdGPzHL8U

ETA:
Here's a video from Forgotten Weapons on the Pedersen device.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znvzXr3cLD4

[musketjon]

Yes, head space would be a major concern if the bolt is replaced. Get a new one for looks and keep the old one for shooting--problem solved.
Jon

[FCOD]

And a Mark I to boot. Pretty cool.
Is there an elongated cutout on the left side of the receiver?
Check out this video on the Mark I with the Pedersen device that turned the bolt action 1903 into a semi-auto with a 40 round mag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLzdGPzHL8U

ETA:
Here's a video from Forgotten Weapons on the Pedersen device.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znvzXr3cLD4

Yes. It has the long slot in the side. Thanks for the video. I had heard very little about the Petersen device.

[FCOD]

Yes, head space would be a major concern if the bolt is replaced. Get a new one for looks and keep the old one for shooting--problem solved.
Jon

Decided to just keep the factory bolt and not worry about it. The barrel says 1-19 on it so I figure the overall condition isn't bad for being nearly 100.

I also found a very faint circle-P embossing on the stock.

[highpower]

1-19 dated SA barrel would be correct for a Mk1 with that serial number. I have a Mk1 that is roughly in the same serial number range with a 1-19 barrel also.

Your stock is a WWII replacement. An original stock will be relieved just below the Pederson ejection port and will look like this:


If that was the original stock, it would be well worth stabilizing the crack and saving it as they have become rather rare. As it is, I would be on the hunt for a new stock that isn't cracked. The longitudinal crack behind the receiver is common on stocks that weren't fitted correctly or were shot with the action loose in the stock.

Look also to see if it still has the original Mk1 cut off as the spindle and cut off are different between standard '03's and Mk1's.

This is a Mk1 cut off. Note the "WJS" cartouche typical of Mk1's:



Standard '03 and '03-A3 cut off:

[FCOD]

Thanks for all the great information. Any reason I should be concerned test firing this with the current stock?