U.S. Remington 1903 Bolt Action Service Rifle……..(SOLD)

US  M1903  Bolt Action Service Rifle by Remington

Serial number 3340747.  Caliber .30-06 government.  Bolt action Mauser type with flag safety and 5-shot internal magazine.  This rifle was produced by Remington yet looks exactly like (at a distance) the Springfield 1903.  It was in fact referred to as the “1903 Modified”.  As the Springfield Armory was otherwise occupied with the massive demand that occurred due to the outbreak of World War Two, Remington picked up the mantel and proceeded with production – with some modifications.

“Modifications” designed to speed up production.  Mainly, these consisted of the omission of unnecessary  time consuming detail.  The most noticeable is the lack of finger grooves in the fore-end.  Also, the lack of the lightning cuts in the rear sight collar.  The overall finish on all metal components on this example is black or blueing.  These are often encountered in either a fully parkerised finish or a mixture of the two. The rifle is fully stocked in the early straight grip type, minus the finger grooves.  The hand-guard over the barrel has a pronounced “hump” directly in front of the rear sight with, a grove through the middle longitudinally.  The hump was to protect the relatively fragile sights from damage and the grove through the center line was to allow for the aim.

All the stock fittings are the early milled type and most carry the “R”  from Remington.  The butt-plate is one of the early plain Remington types with the trapdoor for the storage of the oiler and cleaning bottle. It is odd that they settled for this as there were Springfield butt-plates around at the time, with checkering, which offered obvious, distinct advantages.  The stock has a straight wrist and a fine high grade shiny finish with few dents or scratches.  The left-hand of the wrist shows some cartouches.  Within boxes it is possible to make out “G.H.D” and “W.B.”  Also visible are Remington’s crossed cannons.  Behind the trigger guard is a circled “P” – the final inspection mark.  In front of the trigger guard there is a lone “G” – meaning unknown.  The stock is fitted the double reinforcing bolts through it and has two sling swivels.  The nose-band incorporates the bayonet lug and is stamped with an “R” on the RHS.  The butt is stamped with “8908”.  When looking carefully , at the front end of the stock, directly under the barrel there is a very clear flaming bomb arsenal acceptance mark to be seen.

The bolt and safety are all Remington components and duly marked.  Upon  the the upper face of the bolt stub is a solitary “3”.  The LHS of the receiver has the “Hatcher Hole” for gas escape.  The rifle appears to have been refinished and the only wear apparent is on the bolt – from usage.  The movable base of the rear sight is clearly marked with an “R” on the RHS yet the actual  ladder part of the sight is of the early type with a notch on the very top horizontal “rung” which is an earlier fitting.  So this rifle actually has the early 5 position sights.  The sights have an open battle sight, and the ladder is graduated from 300 to 2700 yards.

The receiver is marked; ” U.S. / REMINGTON / MODEL 1903 / 3340747″.  This puts production as after December 1942.  This rifle must have seen some service as the barrel has been replaced with a High Standard made barrel.  High Standard were contracted in to make 03 and A3 barrels. This bore in this barrel is a four-grove type.  The barrel is marked with the typical HS markings as follows;- “H.S.  /  flaming bomb motife  /  5 – 44″.  It is the authors opinion that this was not the original fitment as barrels in factory were roll marked and this example has the last number hand stamped as if prepared for final marking once fitted.  Also as a genuine HS product the turning marks upon the barrels outer surface are still visible.

A clean tidy example of a late 1903 made during the Second World by Remington who barely changed the design after the war, to this day on their bolt action rifles.   Bore excellent, no pitting, sharp deep rifling.  Freshly proofed in the UK in December 2015.

Stock No’  f 517

£ 1200…….SOLD

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