1903 Markings Help

[crazy_frank]

Hey guys, any ideas what these markings mean/indicate? I'm pretty sure the cartouche is an SAA, which is San Antonio Armory? I've never seen the stamps on the rear sight, H A A. any ideas? The front sight hood/protector appears to have a P with a circle around it. The bayonet lug also has an H (Hardened?).
Thanks for looking,

[ccandgc]

BA is Benicia Arsenal, AA is Agusta Arsenal....don't know if this is possible, interesting place for those markings.

[smle-man]

I believe those are assembly marks and have nothing to do with any of the arsenals. The stock looks like an SA stamp.

[highpower]

I can't read the cartouche on the stock, so I won't hazard a guess. The 'BAA' on the rear sight base is not an armory mark, maybe done after the rifle left government service. Rifles that were repaired at government arsenals were stamped on the stock in the wrist area, It is not unusual to have two or more stamps on a stock indicating that the rifle had been through multiple rebuilds.

Here is a 1906 vintage '03 stock that has three stamps on it. Very faint is the original cartouche "JFC" then over that "BA-WL" for a rebuild at Benicia Arsenal and over that "POD-D" showing it went through the Philippine Ordnance Depot. All some time before WWII.


'H' on the bayonet lug indicates it was hardened, all 1903 front bands have this mark. The markings behind the front sight are as follows:

SA, indicates the barrel was made a Springfield Armory

Flaming bomb is a US ordnance mark

3-28 is the year the barrel was made, not necessarily the year of the rifle.

The fact that there is no punch mark in the center of the ordnance bomb indicates to me that most likely the barrel is a replacement. Barrels that are original to the rifle will have the punch mark showing that the barrel passed final proof when it was installed.

Punch mark inside ordnance bomb:

[Flyin Brian]

'H' on the bayonet lug indicates it was hardened, all 1903 front bands have this mark. The markings behind the front sight are as follows:

SA, indicates the barrel was made a Springfield Armory

Flaming bomb is a US ordnance mark

3-28 is the year the barrel was made, not necessarily the year of the rifle.

The fact that there is no punch mark in the center of the ordnance bomb indicates to me that most likely the barrel is a replacement. Barrels that are original to the rifle will have the punch mark showing that the barrel passed final proof when it was installed.

Punch mark inside ordnance bomb:

I'm not a 1903 expert, but I did see 2 things in your post that may be incorrect:

1) Bayonet lugs made prior to 1908 do not have the H stamp.

2) Many original 1903s do not have the punch mark in the bomb on the barrel. There have been quite a few threads over the years on various Forums discussing this. I have an original 1934 made 1903 that does not have the punch mark, and I have also got a loose 1943 03-A3 barrel that has never been on a receiver and it does have the punch mark... so the only answer is that you can't rely on the punch mark to judge whether it's a rebuild or not.

Brophy's book describes the punch mark as what you described above, but it is in the section regarding rebuilding and inspecting, so maybe it wasn't done in the period prior to WWII?

[highpower]

Good points. The "H" was added to identify the later front bands, it is so rare to see one without it that I forgot about the dry early ones. As for that pesky punch mark, all my '03's that I am sure still have the original barrel, have the punch mark. The 1906, '03 has a 1919 dated Avis barrel that I believe was installed at Benicia, and it doesn't have one. Heck, I guess no one really knows for sure.

[crazy_frank]

All good info guys. Thank you for the input. So is it pretty commonly believed that the HAA on the rear sight was done in the civilian sector? No possibility of that being done in any arsenal or service branch?

Also, the p on the front sight hood. Any ideas as to what that means?

[Enfield47]

Check m1903.com out and see if you can find anything else out or if they know what the BAA is.