Dad gave me his Remington M1903A3

[Mossy Man]

Posted this in the wrong forum earlier, but here's the right place:

Well my dad gave it to me today.

The receiver is stamped U.S. Remington Model 03-A3 with a serial of 4130XXX. The barrel is stamped 9-43, so it was manufactured in September of 1943. It's a surplus, I don't know if its ever been fired.

It seems to be missing the front barrel band screw, but the stock seems to be in pretty decent shape. I cleaned it previously and today gave it another good clean. The receiver seems to be in good shape, the action is smooth and the rifle bore seems clean and the rifling looks good.

Here's the pics:





Should I shoot it? Do you guys think it's safe to shoot?

What kind of loads should I use? Standard .30-06?

It looks like the sling is attached wrong too. I'll fix that.

Thanks for the comments.

[skibuff]

Super cool gun!!
I was given a 1925 '03 sporter from a family friend.
The barrel was real rusty I had to run a brush on a drill thru it to get most of the rust out. Took it out and it shot way better than expected. The first shot thu it I bench rested it with my head away from the gun and had a heavy leather glove on.

Make sure you check the Reciecer serial # to make sure the reciever is the same year as the barrel. I read that some of the eailer 03's had some problems with the reciever exploding.

Kev

[OldShooter32]

Sling is upside down -- Need to get a leather one to really be PC (period correct) but it's all about shooting.
Get some Greek '06 from CMP and I am sure it will be happy, presuming the bore is good.

[Mossy Man]

Sling is upside down -- Need to get a leather one to really be PC (period correct) but it's all about shooting.
Get some Greek '06 from CMP and I am sure it will be happy, presuming the bore is good.

thanks.

gonna fix that right now

[Mossy Man]

also, what store-bought (think walmart, big 5) .30-06 would work?

[jigenax]

also, what store-bought (think walmart, big 5) .30-06 would work?

Any would work. I like to use American Eagle 150 gr FMJ for casual shooting.

[Geologyjohn]

Don't worry about the serial number issue noted in an earlier post. That was for early manufacture (Springfield and Rock Island) 1903 models, not WW2 era 03-A3 models. Over the years, I have commonly seen that the front band screw is missing from some of the 03-A3's that I look at. In fact, mine is identical to yours, right down to the missing screw. I wonder if someone in the old days determined that the rifles were more accurate without this screw? As in screwing up the harmonics when the rifle is fired. Can any of you 03-A3 guys help me out here? ...nice rifle by the way. A hellava gift that you will treasure the rest of your life!

[pro-nra]

I don't know if its ever been fired.

Should I shoot it? Do you guys think it's safe to shoot?

Thanks for the comments.

Nice rifle and a cool Dad for him to give you a rifle like that.

I'm fairly certain that this rifle is not brand new and it has been fired for sure. With a missing upper band screw, wrong lower band (its for a 1903 as it is milled) it has been fired. Even ones still in mummy wrapping has been fired at least one time during proofing.

I wonder if someone in the old days determined that the rifles were more accurate without this screw? As in screwing up the harmonics when the rifle is fired. Can any of you 03-A3 guys help me out here? ...nice rifle by the way. A hellava gift that you will treasure the rest of your life!

Urban legend. IMO the reason you see a lot of missing upper band screw is one they are easily cross threaded and two since it separates form the upper band it is easily lost. IMO the way to improve the accuracy on an already inherently accurate 1903/03-A3 rifle is to bed both the action and the trigger guard housing and float the barrel all the way through and install a Timney trigger.

[Jeff L]

Nice looking rifle. Bill Ricca sells 03 gun parts.

http://www.billricca.com/03_springfield.htm

If you're concerned about the safety of the rifle, you could always have a gunsmith check it out, especially the head space.

[bruceflinch]

Good Looking Rifle! Have fun with that!

[mosinnagantm9130]

Wow, great gift! Nice 03-A3.

[morrcarr67]

Very nice. I want one real bad.

[killathrilla]

That rifle is SICK!!

[7.62x63mmUS]

Also your sling is mounted on the stacking swivel (or the front sling mount was moved to the stacking swivel position). The sling should be mounted on the lower band and a stacking swivel on the upper band area.

[Mossy Man]

Anyone know the approximate value of this rifle?. Assuming I fix the sling and barrel band.