Going Rate for a CMP 1903

[tomk556]

Hi everyone. So I'm trying to cut back on the number of long guns I have and have gotten away from collecting. I have a CMP 1903 I'm considering selling. I bought it back in the early 2000s or so when a batch popped up. I recall it being a high serial number, C stock, service grade rifle. Way back when a smith head spaced and test fired it and confirmed it was fine to shoot. My dumb 20 year old self refinished the stock with linseed oil...

Does anyone have any tips on how to go about selling it and what its value is? I've only really sold glocks and what not. I'm not interested in making a ton and would like to see it go to a collector who will appreciate it, but am sure it's worth a bit more than the $400 I paid for it. I'll post pictures of it in the next few days.

[morrcarr67]

Not sure what your rifle is worth but I just sold a National Ordnance 1903A3 for $600. You're going to be able to get more than that for yours.

Sent from my OnePlus Nord N10 5G using Tapatalk

[bigbossman]

One of the Greek returns, yes? I wouldn't take less than $800 for mine. Gunbroker is your best bet, but try the marketplace first.

[highpower]

Does anyone have any tips on how to go about selling it and what its value is? I've only really sold glocks and what not. I'm not interested in making a ton and would like to see it go to a collector who will appreciate it, but am sure it's worth a bit more than the $400 I paid for it. I'll post pictures of it in the next few days.

Gunbroker is likely going to be your best bet for getting to most out of it. As for value, without pictures it is impossible to give you any sort of an accurate estimate. However this is a good time to sell as gun prices have gone crazy in the last couple of years. My best guess would be somewhere around a grand +/- $100.

[tomk556]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate your insight. Attached are some pictures. The bluing is in nice shape and a few of the stock cartouches are clearly visible despite my refinish job. Still a fair amount of cosmoline in places. I couldn't get a picture of the bore and don't really know how to grade or describe that: it wasn't all dark and pitted and the rifling was in decent condition.

I bought in like 2000-2002 time frame. Greek lot sounds right? I recall buying a bunch of 30-06 from the CMP around then that was Greek but it was in 8 round clips.

[tomk556]

And a few more pics.

[Dan_Eastvale]

Nice.
Just finished watching an episode from the Cody Gun Museum highlighting the 1903. No one to inherit the rifle?

[Mustang]

It does look like a Greek return (serial number ep'd on the bolt root), but it is in a scant rather than a "C" stock. Is there a "B" stamped on the floor plate? Is the floor plate pinned in place? Those are other indications of it being a Greek return.

Nice looking rifle. Hard to put a value on it...the price of 1903's and A3's have jumped lately. I would say at least $800-$1000.

[tomk556]

Nice.
Just finished watching an episode from the Cody Gun Museum highlighting the 1903. No one to inherit the rifle?

No, unfortunately no one to inherit at this point in life. It would be nice to hold onto, but it honestly hasn't seen the light of day in over a decade so it may as well go to someone who will enjoy it more. I'll likely regret selling later in life...

It does look like a Greek return (serial number ep'd on the bolt root), but it is in a scant rather than a "C" stock. Is there a "B" stamped on the floor plate? Is the floor plate pinned in place? Those are other indications of it being a Greek return.

Nice looking rifle. Hard to put a value on it...the price of 1903's and A3's have jumped lately. I would say at least $800-$1000.

Ah, okay it does have the B on the floor plate. I'll have to check to see about the floor plate. Looks like someone is taking it for a thousand but we'll see.

Thanks again everyone!

[sbo80]

it's nice, but as said it's a bit of a mismatch. Scant stocks never came on Springfield rifles. I suppose a refurb in the US could have done that, but I'd rather suspects the Greeks did it later. The barrel date is interesting. It's obviously a rebuild since it's a 1918 receiver. But according to the 1903 "For Collectors" book, by Joe Poyer, a '42 SA barrel shouldn't exist. According to his tables Springfield didn't make any barrels in 42 or 43. The replacement barrels that started up during the war were Remington, Smith Corona, and some subcontractors. SA didn't start back up until 44.

[Mustang]

it's nice, but as said it's a bit of a mismatch. Scant stocks never came on Springfield rifles. I suppose a refurb in the US could have done that, but I'd rather suspects the Greeks did it later. The barrel date is interesting. It's obviously a rebuild since it's a 1918 receiver. But according to the 1903 "For Collectors" book, by Joe Poyer, a '42 SA barrel shouldn't exist. According to his tables Springfield didn't make any barrels in 42 or 43. The replacement barrels that started up during the war were Remington, Smith Corona, and some subcontractors. SA didn't start back up until 44.

I think Poyer has been disproven on that. There are plenty of examples of SA 42 replacement 1903 barrels floating around.

In fact, years ago I bought a "parts lot" which included among other things, an SA 1903 replacement barrel dated 4-42. Still have it around here some place

[smle-man]

My CMP 03 has a mid 30s receiver and a SA 42 barrel.

[sbo80]

^thanks guys. I don't know much about 1903s (which is why I posted the source of my comment). Ideally a published book is more accurate than "some dude on a forum" on many points, but not always. I realize a lot of the specifics in many of these books are guesses based on incomplete, or even missing, records. It could be that the source records have errors, or maybe SA finished some incomplete barrels in 42 even though their contract ended in 41. Who knows. Obviously the stamp is there plain as can be, with 2 others on this forum alone having additional ones. Either way the history of these things just fascinates me, and actually the unknown mystery of some it makes it more interesting.