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Always a good time at the range w/ my U.S. Rifle, Cal. .30, M-1903. Built by Springfield Armory. Born in date 11/20.

Shoots my handloads very well. All around just a nice handling accurate rifle.

The one rifle I always wanted but never owned.

You need to get one. Just a great rifle. Check the CMP forums. There are guys selling them.

Nice!

I'm going this afternoon to look at a M1903 that's for sale locally. The stock has been sporterized, but as long as the barreled action is unmolested and in good condition, I'm going to buy it and restore it to military configuration.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Nice!

I'm going this afternoon to look at a M1903 that's for sale locally. The stock has been sporterized, but as long as the barreled action is unmolested and in good condition, I'm going to buy it and restore it to military configuration.

Thanks. Good luck w/ you potential purchase. Let us know how you did.

Unfortunately, I passed on it. In addition to just the stock being cut down, it had been refinished (blued), since some Bubba wanted to make it into a shiny deer rifle. He even painted the trigger guard and magazine gold, for added bling. It was also fairly rusty in the corners and crannies.

The hunt continues...

Keep checking the CMP forum. That is where I got that one. Got it for a decent price. Not a great price when the CMP got the ‘03s and 03A3s back from Greece but, still decent.

Nothing unfortunate about passing on that!! That was a smart.

I have several. One is a WW1 piece with a Warner-Swasey scope on it from the same period. The scope has range marks in it for 6’ targets at 500, 1,000 and 1,500 yards. Kind of optimistic, especially when the trenches were sometimes under 100 yards apart.

Yes, I shoot it on occasion, despite the research by Hatcher. Accuracy in this case is limited by the shooter.

Here you go, 357fuzz. As requested. A shot of my new M1903 that just arrived.



It's the younger step-brother to your 100 year old M1903. Mine's a WW2-era rifle, made in September 1942 by Remington, towards the very end of M1903 production as they switched over to M1903A3 production.

It's in great condition, with all original Remington metal with original finish, but the stock is a replacement "Scant" stock likely added during a postwar rebuild. It would have originally had a straight stock like yours.

(The sling is a reproduction M1907.)

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Here you go, 357fuzz. As requested. A shot of my new M1903 that just arrived.



It's the younger step-brother to your 100 year old M1903. Mine's a WW2-era rifle, made in September 1942 by Remington, towards the very end of M1903 production as they switched over to M1903A3 production.

It's in great condition, with all original Remington metal with original finish, but the stock is a replacement "Scant" stock likely added during a postwar rebuild. It would have originally had a straight stock like yours.

(The sling is a reproduction M1907.)

Very nice. I have a Remington 03-A3 made in 05/43. Thing shoots lights out!!! I never warmed up to the scant stocks. IIRC they were designed for the Brits on lend lease rifles or they grabbed whatever piece of wood that would work. I do however like the “C” stocks. A very nice rifle Rogue. Hope it shoots well for you.

quote:

Originally posted by 357fuzz:
I never warmed up to the scant stocks. IIRC they were designed for the Brits on lend lease rifles or they grabbed whatever piece of wood that would work.

Not quite. The scant stock was created in 1942 when they wanted to make more C stocks, but had a surplus of smaller/skinnier straight stock blanks that were already seasoned and ready to go. The scant stock with its abbreviated pistol grip was then designed to make the most of these smaller blanks.

Scant stocks were used on a small number of new production M1903A4 sniper rifles when there weren't sufficient C stocks available, but they were primarily intended for use as replacement stocks during wartime and postwar rebuilds on M1903s and M1903A3s. No M1903s or M1903A3s originally left the factory with scant stocks.


Scant stocks weren't designed for use on British Lend-Lease rifles. As noted, they weren't used on new production rifles, other than a few sniper A4s late in the war out of necessity. Besides, we didn't send many (if any) M1903s to Britain, because during the primary push for Lend-Lease small arms for Britain in 1940/1941, the M1903 was still the primary rifle for the Navy, USMC, and Coast Guard, and a secondary rifle for the US Army. Instead, the M1917 was sent in quantity to Britain during that period (and they were already familiar with its brother the P14). But later in the war, as the M1903 continued to be replaced by the M1 Garand, excess M1903s and M1903A3s were sent to equip some other allied forces in need of small arms, like the Free French.


I think the scant stock looks a little funny, and isn't quite as good as the full blown C stock, but it feels better when shooting than the straight stock.

Roger. I knew there was a reason for them. Just didn’t remember the exact reason. Now a cool Lend Lease rifle to get is one of the M1’s we sent over.

What loads do you plan on shooting through her? Surplus? New factory? Handloads?

I have a veritable buttload of surplus M2 Ball squirreled away. Mostly Greek HXP, but some US surplus too, and a bit of oddball stuff like FN and Norwegian manufacture.

I bought 1-2 spam cans of HXP every few months while the CMP was offering it from the mid-2000s through mid-2010s. Much of it is on Garand clips. Some of it is unclipped in boxes. And I have a few sealed cans on M1903 clips, but I typically just stick the loose stuff in Swedish Mauser clips for use in my USGI bolt rifles.

Roger. I should have bought more of the HXP stuff but, I got a stash along with some of the Danish surplus from the CMP that I won’t shoot and sell, and some decent Korean stuff. Most of my surplus gets burned through my home made semi auto M1919A6 or my Ohio Ordnance BAR.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
I bought 1-2 spam cans of HXP every few months while the CMP was offering it from the mid-2000s through mid-2010s. Much of it is on Garand clips. Some of it is unclipped in boxes. And I have a few sealed cans on M1903 clips, but I typically just stick the loose stuff in Swedish Mauser clips for use in my USGI bolt rifles.

Man how I wish I’d been smart enough to do that.

I nearly missed the boat on quality surplus 8mm Mauser and .303 British ammo, only getting into the surplus rifle game as their supply was starting to peter out. As a result, I don't have as much as I'd like on hand.

So I vowed not to have that happen again on other calibers, and I bought cheap and stacked deep when it came to surplus .30-06 and 7.62x54R.

quote:

Originally posted by 357fuzz:
Roger. I should have bought more of the HXP stuff but, I got a stash along with some of the Danish surplus from the CMP that I won’t shoot and sell, and some decent Korean stuff. Most of my surplus gets burned through my home made semi auto M1919A6 or my Ohio Ordnance BAR.

You have a BAR, my grail gun? Wasn’t in KY long enough to try to acquire one. Being on the left coast is not conducive either. Actually the near mythical Monitor is the real grail gun. Stephen Hunter didn’t do us any favors writing about them in one of the Swagger books. Oh to be in the time of Clyde Barrow, part time bank robber, part time kitchen table gunsmith. He was reputed to have a fondness for shortened BARs