Hi all I am new to this forum. I recently became the owner of a Remington 1903-A3. The Rifle originally was in WWII then rebarrelled in the 50's or 60's from 30.06 to .308 Win. I had done some research on the 03-A3's and remington had a flaming bomb pressed or cut into the end of the barrel , RA for Remington Arms and 3-43 as the date the serial# 3181903. I know that the .308 Winchester was not introduced until 1952 and adopted by NATO in 1954. So my question is this how is the Stamping still present on the barrel of a .308 dated for 1943. Did this guy send the rifle to Remington to get rebarreled and they restamped it based on the original date and serial#. Or did remington used some type of plug to shorten the chambers dimensions.
I love this rifle. It shoots great and is damn accurate. The blueing looks good.
Rem 1903-A3 Quandry
-
The Rifleman
Re: Rem 1903-A3 Quandry
Like my dear old daddy would say,
I'm sick, what is wrong with me?
Without looking at the gun and taking measurements - who knows.
For all you know, some person took a couple of guns and scabbed them all together.
Lot's of things were done with those old military rifles, because after the wars were over, they were sold as surplus to the highest bidder and lot's of them went for $15 or less.
If you paid $15 for a bolt action rifle and the barrel still looked good, would you pay $50 for a aftermarket barrel? Or would you spend $10 and have someone cut it down or rechamber it?
I'm sick, what is wrong with me?
Without looking at the gun and taking measurements - who knows.
For all you know, some person took a couple of guns and scabbed them all together.
Lot's of things were done with those old military rifles, because after the wars were over, they were sold as surplus to the highest bidder and lot's of them went for $15 or less.
If you paid $15 for a bolt action rifle and the barrel still looked good, would you pay $50 for a aftermarket barrel? Or would you spend $10 and have someone cut it down or rechamber it?
-
Sgt_murf
Re: Rem 1903-A3 Quandry
Sir,
I would recommend that you take a look at "The Springfield 1903 rifles" by Lt. Col. William S. Brophy, USAR, Ret. He covers some of the information such as the quanity that Remington was contracted and how there was a serial number double stamp between contractors. It also covers some of the Navy doing using a insert to change the caliber from 30-06 to 7.62 mm NATO (this was done on 03 Springfield). If your barrel is the EXACT length of a issue rifle it might not have been lathe to re-caliber but might have a caliber insert installed.
I would recommend that you take a look at "The Springfield 1903 rifles" by Lt. Col. William S. Brophy, USAR, Ret. He covers some of the information such as the quanity that Remington was contracted and how there was a serial number double stamp between contractors. It also covers some of the Navy doing using a insert to change the caliber from 30-06 to 7.62 mm NATO (this was done on 03 Springfield). If your barrel is the EXACT length of a issue rifle it might not have been lathe to re-caliber but might have a caliber insert installed.
-
Sgt_murf
Re: Rem 1903-A3 Quandry
Oh I forgot to post this as to where to obtain a copy
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/Store/ ... px?p=12616
also look on ebay and elesewhere a copy can be obtained.
Here is what I do know on the Navy Conversions during the late 50's and early 60's which lines up with your story (most of the rifles used was M1 Garands).Orginally the inserts used used a press fit that at times came out with extraction of a spent shell. Upon the loading of the next 7.62mm (308) the casing usually blew out (never do I recall one blowning up but it is dangerous). Another thought of the day was to thread the insert into the chamber (if I recall correctly the barrels was marked with 7.62mm sometimes). Like I was saying earlier if the Military had rechambered the barrel would have been replace and re-coded the date codes. One must remember that the old 1903 stayed in service far further than the books tell as Drill/ceromonial Rifles, Accuracy guns, and test beds for conversions. Many of the old Navy inserts was sold as surplus years ago and sometimes used by Civillian smiths to re-caliber some old Military rifles. Yours I could not say unless an accurate barrel measurement was made and a chamber cast was done as to what was done to it. It is possiable that this was a Militay test bed conversion howevr if the Navy had done this it would be chambered for 7.62mm and marked somewhere on the rifle.
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/Store/ ... px?p=12616
also look on ebay and elesewhere a copy can be obtained.
Here is what I do know on the Navy Conversions during the late 50's and early 60's which lines up with your story (most of the rifles used was M1 Garands).Orginally the inserts used used a press fit that at times came out with extraction of a spent shell. Upon the loading of the next 7.62mm (308) the casing usually blew out (never do I recall one blowning up but it is dangerous). Another thought of the day was to thread the insert into the chamber (if I recall correctly the barrels was marked with 7.62mm sometimes). Like I was saying earlier if the Military had rechambered the barrel would have been replace and re-coded the date codes. One must remember that the old 1903 stayed in service far further than the books tell as Drill/ceromonial Rifles, Accuracy guns, and test beds for conversions. Many of the old Navy inserts was sold as surplus years ago and sometimes used by Civillian smiths to re-caliber some old Military rifles. Yours I could not say unless an accurate barrel measurement was made and a chamber cast was done as to what was done to it. It is possiable that this was a Militay test bed conversion howevr if the Navy had done this it would be chambered for 7.62mm and marked somewhere on the rifle.
Re: Rem 1903-A3 Quandry
I don't know if the .308 Winchester and the 30-06 have identical case diameters. However, if they do, I would assume that your gun has been modified by the most common method of the time. The barrel is set back a thread or two, rethreaded, shortened at the breech end, and rechambered. This was a very common modification in the fifties and sixties.