New project! Update post 14

[highpower]

I have known about this rifle for a few months now and up until a couple of days ago I have been hesitating on picking it up. On Friday my son called me and said that he had picked up an original stock for one of these for cheap at a local yard sale. I immediately told him I'd buy it from him and went out and bought the rifle.

What is it you may ask?





Yep a genuine 03-A4.

The bad: It has been sporterized and the end of the barrel has been cut off and crowned to remove the front sight indexing groove. Of course it has been blued, but that is easy to rectify and I plan on sending the complete barreled action to Warpath Vintage in Colorado to have it parkerized once I have a correct barrel. The shame is that the barrel that is on it has a nearly perfect bore.

The good: it's a real 03-A4, it still has the correct 'A4 bolt, and Redfield scope mount although the 3/4" rings have been changed out for 1" rings. Now that I have access to an original stock, the restoration won't be all that hard. I realize that I will most likely have all the money in it when I am done, but this is a hobby for me and I get real satisfaction out of bringing these old war horses back to life.

My research shows that it is a fairly early 'A4 being the 8469th one produced from the start of 03-A4 production at serial number 3407193 and was made in August 1943.

I have nearly all the bits and pieces to restore it except for a correctly dated barrel and upper handguard. The barrel on it, probably the original, is dated either 3-43 or 8-43, (probably the latter), but it's been buffed pretty hard and it could be either date.

Anybody have a Remington 03-A3 barrel dated somewhere between 06-43 and 08-43 that they would like to sell? The finish isn't important as I am going to get it refinished anyway.

This is probably going to be something of a medium term vs long term project as I have most of the bits to put it together, lacking only the barrel, upper handguard, scope rings and scope. As soon as I have a barrel I am going to send it off for parkerizing. I still need to source the 3/4" scope rings and a scope, although I will probably just go with commercial versions due to the cost of the original military issue ones.

[SVT-40]

Neat! Have you considered just leaving the barrel as is? If it's agood shooter maybe that be a good plan, plus save a ton of cash, and hasten the project along.

Not telling you what to do, but it will never be original...

[highpower]

Neat! Have you considered just leaving the barrel as is? If it's agood shooter maybe that be a good plan, plus save a ton of cash, and hasten the project along.

Not telling you what to do, but it will never be original...

I know the originality was lost long ago, but I am afraid my OCD won't allow me to be happy with the chopped barrel. Sometimes it is hard to be me.....

[offrdmania]

There are a few 1944 barrels on eBay, a 1944 barrel on the broker and a 12-43 barrel, but the seller doesnt sell to California.

[highpower]

There are a few 1944 barrels on eBay, a 1944 barrel on the broker and a 12-43 barrel, but the seller doesnt sell to California.

I have considered this. If I did, that it would in essence make it the same as an arsenal rebuilt rifle. I might go that route if I am unable to find a correct barrel. Right now I will wait and see what might turn up.

I also have the option of buying a sporterized rifle that has the properly dated barrel and harvesting that barrel for this project. If I do that, I bet I could part out the rest of the rifle and get most of my money back, less the cost of what the barrel would sell for. Fortunately, Remington arms production was such that barrels can be dated from 0-3 months earlier than the manufacture date of the receiver, so I have a bit of leeway as to the barrel date.

In the past I have waited as long as 3-4 years to acquire the correct parts for a build, so I know how to be patient. I am sure one will show up sooner or later and while I am willing to pay a fair price for one, I won't allow myself to be gouged on the price. I guess we'll see how it goes.

I live in Tennessee so the unwillingness of people to ship to Commiefornia doesn't affect me.

[offrdmania]

I did the same thing when re-building my grandfathers Remington 1917. Luckily, even though it was sporterized, it still retained its original barrel length and rear receiver bunny ears. I brought it back to its 1/1918 originality. Took me close to 2 years while hunting down original parts. An original WWI stock was the hardest thing to find, most were rearsonaled, Pre-WWII

[loademup]

I have nearly all the bits and pieces to restore it except for a correctly dated barrel and upper handguard. The barrel on it, probably the original, is dated either 3-43 or 8-43, (probably the latter), but it's been buffed pretty hard and it could be either date.

Anybody have a Remington 03-A3 barrel dated somewhere between 06-43 and 08-43 that they would like to sell? The finish isn't important as I am going to get it refinished anyway.

Not a 1943 dated barrel, and not sure if this is a 1903A3 barrel (they advertise it as a 1903 barrel) at BRP for $275, but it is advertised as dated 1944:

https://www.brpguns.com/lot-1-orignal-1903-barrel-dated-1944/

I've bought parts at BRP.

[highpower]

Not a 1943 dated barrel, and not sure if this is a 1903A3 barrel (they advertise it as a 1903 barrel) at BRP for $275, but it is advertised as dated 1944:

https://www.brpguns.com/lot-1-orignal-1903-barrel-dated-1944/

I've bought parts at BRP.

It's an 'A3 barrel. In my internet searches so far, I have turned up two barrels that are almost the right ones, but both were dated 9-43. Just a month too late to be the proper barrel for a 8-43 receiver.

[loademup]

These "new, original 1940's production" G.I Surplus 1903A3 Springfield Barrels are currently advertised at Sarco, Inc.. Might be worth a call to see if any would qualify for your needs.

https://www.sarcoinc.com/1903a3-springfield-barrel-2-groove-gi/

[highpower]

Thanks for the heads up. Due to a internet buying frenzy, I now officially have all the parts to build this out, including a Weaver 330 scope and all the metal bits except for a barrel. I'm thinking that the Sarco barrels are cheap enough so that I might buy one to use as a place holder until I can get a correct 8-43 barrel.

With any amount of luck and the infusion of enough money, I might have this done in the next two months or so.

[loademup]

They had some more expensive 4 groove barrels available at one time, but sold out:

https://www.sarcoinc.com/1903a3-springfield-barrel-4-groove/#product-reviews-mn

Read the reviews on people who bought the 4 groove, a couple of reviewers said they were happy with the 6-43 and 8-43 barrels they received.

So I hope you find something in the date range you are looking for in the 2 groove barrels. Good luck!

[highpower]

What is kind of frustrating is that I have now found three (3) barrels dated 9-43, just a month too late to be to one I need. My research says that a 7-43 or 8-43 barrel would be correct for this rifle, I'm sure I'll turn up the right one sooner or later, I just need to be patient....

[Dirtlaw]

Enjoy!!!

[highpower]

I finally received the stock from my son and have been assembling it in order to make everything fits properly.

As I originally bought it:



Parts! Since this pic was taken, I scored a near perfect trigger guard and will use that instead of the one pictured. Scope is a commercial Weaver 330 and will have to do until I can find a more correct 330C. I refuse to pay what they are asking for a M73B marked Weaver 330C, so the commercial scopes will do for now.


The stock was a NOS WWII era replacement item and didn't have the bolt relief cut for the 'A4 turned down bolt. Note how the safety lug is not fully seated.


With a bit of very careful Dremel work.



While it's not 100% GI correct, it is pretty darn close. The bolt now closes properly and I have no intention of messing with it any more.



I couldn't resist the urge and assembled it, just see how everything went together you know.


The replacement barrel I have is not quite the correctly dated barrel, I need one dated 6-43 and the one I have is dated 4-43. I am going to hold out for a little while and see if I can get one with the right date. If one doesn't turn up I'll use the one I have as it has a pristine bore. Either way, I plan to send it off in a couple of weeks to get the receiver, scope mount and rings parkerized and the bolt blued as it was originally.

More updates to come when I have it back from parkerizing.

[SVT-40]

Great job!