Springfield Armory M1903A1

[Drake]

Pardon the focus and lighting on a few of these photos, I was running out of daylight. I'll replace them later.

An old photo of what my 1903 looked like when I bought it. The scant stock wasn't fitted very well and I never could quite make it fit properly. The magazine housing and receiver just didn't mate up properly so I would get constant misfeeds.

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I picked up a repro C-stock from Numrich to clean it up a bit. According to the serial and date on the barrel this is a M1903A1 and 'should' have been issued with a C-stock from Springfield Armory.

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I wish I could find one of the 'USMC style' front sight hoods as the hood is large enough not to interfere with shooting. I do like the front sight hood but it really inhibits my accuracy with this rifle.

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I haven't decided what to do with the stock yet, but I'm leaning toward linseed oil. I need to find either a bare handguard to finish with the stock or strip the lacquer off the handguard I kept. I bought a repro handguard with this stock but the dimensions were a bit too far off to even mess with. The rear band shoulder was about 1/4" too far forward and it would require a lot of sanding to even get the band to fit over it.

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A last photo next to the Springfield M1.

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[DuncaninFrance]

I am going to have to stop looking at your posts, they depress me too much!!

On the other hand, I am glad someone has the chance to own such gear.

[Niner]

I'm attaching my triple crown of US WWII rifles. My 03 is the A3 version though.

[45nut]

Niner, you need a M 1917 in there ya know.

[Niner]

Nice to have one....and a BAR, maybe a Thompson M1/M1A1, M3 grease gun, and Johnson Model 1941. . Then side arms...1911, S&W. Too many guns, too little money.

[Drake]

Here's an older photo of my US WWII stash. This is before I restocked the 1903, picked up that M1936 cartridge belt or the bayonet for the Garand.

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[45nut]

Cool pic Drake, Very impressive.

[A square 10]

you did very well , i like it

[Drake]

Just a few new images of the 1903A1. The stock is still sucking up coats of tung oil, so it's not quite done yet. I finally replaced the stamped 03A3 barrel band with a milled piece. Unfortunately the seller did not specify this wasn't the familiar grooved part... oh well, it was cheap enough so I'm not too irritated.

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Just a few shots detailing loading the rifle with a magazine charger clip.

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A shot showing how the early M1936 cartridge belts were used with the five round magazine chargers for the M1903 and M1917 rifles.

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Again, as with all my photos, opening them in a new window will show you the full resolution.

[Rick the Librarian]

Nice stash of rifles! A few comments:

1) Actually, nearly all late M1903s continued to use grasping groove stocks - only NM and a relative handful of service rifles used the Type C. Naturally, a fair number were replaced by Type C stocks during WWII.

2) The new lower band you put on looks like one from a M1917 - they are interchangeable.

3) The scant stock that was formerly on your rifle is beautiful - one of the nicest I've seen!

4) The bayonet - the scabbard is a relatively rare early M1905 with the hanger similar to that on a Krag bayonet. They didn't make that many before they developed the hangers that fit on the new web belt with pockets.