Remington 1903A3 & WWII Lend Lease Program

[BryanJ]

New Member here and I have a question about my Remington 1903A3 (May 1943), as it relates to 1903s sent to New Zealand during WWII, and an article written for this society by William R. Hansen about Red Star 1903s. My 1903A3 has a New Zealand Lend Lease Stock (NZ8387) and the rifles SN is 3862290. The rifle looks practically unissued. All info I've received to date indicates that only 1903's were lend leased to New Zealand and that program ended in 1942, which would rule out my rifle actually being a lend lease rifle. However, in reading Mr. Hansen's article about Red Star 1903's, his article references a Quarter Master Report that says that 42,428 lend lease rifles were received in New Zealand by 31 March 1944, which possibly opens the door that Remington 1903A3's may have also been lend leased to New Zealand. My question is whether anyone knows if 1903A3's were lend leased to New Zealand during WWII?

[BryanJ]

Finally figured out how to post pictures of the 1903A3 if anyone is interested.

http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/jemis ... t=3&page=1

[BryanJ]

I've scanned through some of the older threads and didn't see any other posts on Remington 1903A3's. Are their any forum members other than my self who own them?

[son.of.hans]

Greetings BryanJ,

There exists no serial number record of the Remington M1903 series that ended up in New Zealand during WWII. So, I cannot validate that your rifle was ever there in terms of being a 5-43 barreled M1903A3. But, I can assure you that it never arrived as part of the emergency redirected '03 Lend-Lease shipment from England to to New Zealand....except for the stock. If you examine the stock closely, you'll note two distinct reasons I say that without any further investigation. First, it is a relatively early finger groove stock from a Remington Model 1903 "Modified" rifle. Secondly, the inspection stamp on the stock is "RLB" (Roy L. Bowlin)... who was no longer the Ordnance Inspector for Remington after June of 1942. Bottomline: Some prior owner has installed a much later Remington 'A3 rifle in correct NZ 'O3 stock, thus making it a mismatch that likely includes other parts as well. This makes it very unlikely the rifle ever reached New Zealand during WWII.

Hope this answers your question.

Regards,
Bill Hansen

[BryanJ]

Bill. Thanks so much for taking time to reply to my question. Everything I've read supported what you just said, to include "An Illustrated Guide to the '03 Springfield Rifle" that I was just rereading minutes before I read your post. I was most impressed to see your name mentioned in the Acknowledgements. So again, thanks. The thing that bugs me about this rifle and made me wonder about 03A3s possibly making it to NZ, is that I just found it hard to believe that someone would have removed that beautiful stock from an actual NZ Lend Lease rifle, only to put it on the rifle that I have. It's a great stock and I'm glad that I have it, but sadly, somewhere along the way someone apparently "uncorrected" two rifles. Well, thanks again for the reply and I look forward to reading your future work. Anything new on the horizon?

[son.of.hans]

Thanks BryanJ,

Thanks for your kind comments.

Yes, your stock may be worth more than the entire rifle to certain folks. So, be thankful that you have it. You can easily find a stock for the 'A3. As far as my own activities are concerned, I've still got a number of things in the works that remain incomplete. However, I've also begun moving on to other priorities. Its all a matter of fulfilling an agenda encompassing more content than my remaining years.

If you're not a member of the RSA, you've already missed a number of articles and RemShot commentaries involving the Remington '03 series over the past few years. The most comprehensive ground covered has probably been the British .303 Cal. Springfield prototype developed by Remington that was never produced.

If you ever need to get back to me, you can also reach me at "WmofGlenCrest@att.net".

Have a great life,
Bill Hansen

[admin]

Go here: http://www.remingtonsociety.org/journalsDB/journals.php

click search and then put in 1903

There's 15 references in the index for the journals.