Remington 03A3 New To Me

[Ramjo]

I came across a nice looking Remington 03A3 on gunbroker. It's not import marked, never been a drill rifle or welded, and it has a 12-43 dated barrel.

 

The serial number is 420****. I am not familiar with the serials that are dangerous to fire due to the poor metallurgy of certain date ranges, but I assume since there is a ww2 barrel on it that I wouldn't get a bolt shot back into my face from the receiver shearing off.

 

Can you shoot any modern .30-06 ammo in these? I assume, since they are a bolt gun, that they are not susceptible to damage like the M1 Garand rifles. 

 

[Mike.357]

I don't know about the serial number thing either.  I am sure Garufa or someone else who knows will chime in.

 

Aside from that you can shoot any commercial or milsurp 30-06 Springfield round through it.

 

Mine is a Remington.  Good shooter.

[Garufa]

03A3's are great rifles.

 

No need to worry about serial #'s on these or shooting "modern" ammo.  The "low/high" serial numbers only apply to Springfield Armory and Rock Island 1903's.  It does not apply to Remington and Smith Corona rifles manufactured during WWII.

 

That serial number gives it a born on date of February 1944, the last month of production.

Edited July 1, 2013 by Garufa

[peejman]

Pics or it didn't happen.  :)

[DMark]

Ramjo,

 

Sounds like it could be one of those 03A3s that were never issued toward the end of the war.  A lot of those late Remingtons went directly into storage.  there should be some stock cartouches that would tell us that.   

 

Unless it was later sent to the Greeks or some other country, this could be a real prize of a 03A3.

 

If you would like, post or PM the GB link and I'm sure we'll be able to provide even more information.

 

Mark

[Ramjo]

I'll post pics when I get it. I just won it on GB last night...while I was sleeping. No one else even bid on it. Guess they only care about the Springfields and RI models.

[DMark]

I'll post pics when I get it. I just won it on GB last night....

 

:woohoo:

[Ramjo]

Well I figured out I can just copy his pictures of it to here.

[DMark]

OK...., just a couple of quick notes.

 

The stock is a "scant" replacement.  Those are the ones that have the semi-pistol grips that were made from left over Rock Island blanks.  Stock hardware looks to be the correct mix of blue and park finishes.

 

Bolt appears to be the correct blued part.  I would have to see the stampings to tell if its of the correct time period for the SN.

 

The sling is one of the Greek leather ones.

 

Muzzle wear looks very good.  Could be in the 1.0 range which should mean it will be a shooter.

 

Solid rifle.  :up:

[Ramjo]

OK...., just a couple of quick notes.

 

The stock is a "scant" replacement.  Those are the ones that have the semi-pistol grips that were made from left over Rock Island blanks.  Stock hardware looks to be the correct mix of blue and park finishes.

 

Bolt appears to be the correct blued part.  I would have to see the stampings to tell if its of the correct time period for the SN.

 

The sling is one of the Greek leather ones.

 

Muzzle wear looks very good.  Could be in the 1.0 range which should mean it will be a shooter.

 

Solid rifle.  :up:

So scant just being a term for use of old stock or kinda a negative thing? You ain't hurtin my feelings, I like knowing what I've got.

[Garufa]

Scant just means something along the lines of semi pistol grip.  It's scantly a full pistol grip.

 

Rifle looks good.

[Ramjo]

Oh I see...thanks Garufa. This is my first AMERICAN MADE milsurp rifle  :usa: I have all kinds of others, but I have never picked up anything American made due to the fact that I could buy 2 foreign ones for the price of one of ours.

[Garufa]

Congratulations.  I think you did pretty well and as DMark said it should be a very good shooter.

[Ramjo]

Now if I could just luck up on an M1 Garand for less than $1000...

[bajabuc]

03's can have bad metal...03A3's never do.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I may be getting one of those before too long. Nice looking rifle.

[Ramjo]

I may be getting one of those before too long. Nice looking rifle.

Thanks!

[peejman]

Nice! Wants! Edited July 2, 2013 by peejman

[No_0ne]

[DMark]

Now if I could just luck up on an M1 Garand for less than $1000...

 

Here they are.......

 

http://www.odcmp.com/Sales/m1garand.htm

 

The Service Grade criteria M1s are a great buy at $625.

 

Don't let the "SOLD OUT NOT ACCEPTING ORDERS" discourage you.  That only means that the CMP has a 60-90 day back-order on that category and grade of Garand and is not accepting new orders until they catch up.

[Ramjo]

Here they are.......

 

http://www.odcmp.com/Sales/m1garand.htm

 

The Service Grade criteria M1s are a great buy at $625.

 

Don't let the "SOLD OUT NOT ACCEPTING ORDERS" discourage you.  That only means that the CMP has a 60-90 day back-order on that category and grade of Garand and is not accepting new orders until they catch up.Well

 

 

Well i dont meet all the qualifications I dont think. I need a recognized organization or affiliate to belong to.

Edited July 2, 2013 by Ramjo

[DMark]

Well i dont meet all the qualifications I dont think. I need a recognized organization or affiliate to belong to.

 

You can join the Garand Collectors Association, its an affiliated organization to the CMP.

 

http://www.thegca.org/

 

Your HCP covers the participation in a marksmanship related activity requirement.

[Ramjo]

You can join the Garand Collectors Association, its an affiliated organization to the CMP.

 

http://www.thegca.org/

 

Your HCP covers the participation in a marksmanship related activity requirement.

That helps me out. Maybe when I recover from picking up this 03, I will dive into this. I would prefer one from WW2 if I can get one, but it seems the best out there (in my price range) is just a barrel and/or receiver from ww2.

[seez52]

I just love the way old park turns green.

[DMark]

I just love the way old park turns green.

 

The Remington 03A3s had an olive-grey parkerized color to begin with.

 

When Remington first made the M1903 rifles early in the war, the finish was the standard pre-war manganese parkerizing that had a black dye added to it.  By 1942 Remington had introduced a number of changes resulting in the 1903 Modified which included an untinted grey zinc parkerizing which was used throughout the rest of production to include the 1903A3. Although the barrel and action were parked, Remington most frequently blued many of the other components, bolt, trigger guard, buttplate, and barrel bands and springs and the rear sight right up to the end of production in 1944. These parts are now often found parked as a result of later rebuilding at one of the arsenals post-war.

 

The reason for the green hue is due to yellow chromate that Remington added to the curing oil.  Parkerizing by its nature allows some light rust under the coating and this allows the yellow and grey to become the green that is seen in these rifles.

 

Smith Corona 1903A3s tend to have a darker grey parkerizing as they continued to add some dark dye to the zinc phosphate coating.  Even so, they also have a green hue, only darker than the Remington 03A3s.