Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles 03A3

bought a x-mas present for my self. I'm a 03/03A3 junkie. Local LGS bought a sporterized military rifle collection from an estate, I just hit it at the right time and saw this Remington 03A3. Barreled bobbed to 22.5", Fajen walnut sporter stock and glass bedded. looks like a Williams bolt handle, Weaver bases, trigger worked down to a smooth 4# single stage pull. Has 03 bottom metal. Rechambered for 300 Winchester Magnum. feeds from the mag and shoots nice cost me 205 + tax , wish they would have left the barrel 24" but for $205 you can't have everything you want. MB

Dang man that’s awesome!

I’ve been looking for an 03 or 03-A3 rechambered to a belted mag as I have a threaded & short-chambered 338 WM tube I’d like to put to use. If you decide to trip it let me know I’d happily pay more than you did.

Nice find!

One of the things that worried me was would it feed right? I thought about that for a minute and realized that the 03A3 I have that was rechambered to 308 Norma Mag didn't have any feeding problems so I checked it and the rails seemed the same so I went back the next day and bought it. All the rest of my 03/03A3's are 30-06 and feed slick as it gets. These sporterized guns bring about a 1/3 of what they get for an all original 03/03A3 around here. Imagine paying more for a Savage Axis or Rem 783 that a Springfield that has a decent sporter job on it???? My mind don't work that way for some reason. Thank God. MB

03A3s converted to 300 WIN MAG were very common in the early 1960s

I got a barrel for one, I just ain’t sure where it’s at.

You did well Sir! I've always loved the 03 / 03A3s. I have three in military dress and one 03A3 that someone sporterized nicely that I paid a whopping $285.00 for.

Nice grab there, MB. Springfields are special.

I picked up this Mark I at a gun show. It is a handy woods cruising carbine.

I've got a handful of Parker-Hale unfinished receivers, some which use 03 bolts, and others that are set up for Mauser bolts. They use Mauser bottom metal. They need some finish machining and heat treatment, but I've got the machinery to do that. Like an 80% receiver, they're just paperweights unless I try to sell one, which ain't gonna happen in my lifetime!
Jerry

Sweet rig! The old timers knew what they were about- I sometimes wonder if we've strayed off the path.

I just bought two 03-A3's in 2019. Both looked to be early "custom" rifles, one with a Bishop stock and a Weaver V10 scope and an after market trigger. That one has a stock that is a little short for me.

The other has a stock made by Fajen, I think, it has a 2 1/2 power Bushnell Scope Chief scope with a neat Williams base and rings, and an after market floor plate similar to an early Winchester model 70.

The first couple dozen whitetail I shot were with a Springfield 03. Don't know for sure why I never "needed" another center fire rifle.

Neither of these 03-A3's were glass bedded, both were decently bedded though. I may replace the recoil pads and add spacers on one and I'm glass bedding them

A Remington I picked up a couple years ago at a decent price, didn't want to feed the last round at all. Changed the follower from a milled to stamped and all is well.

It's a refurb, I don't know who did it, but the Criterion barrel they installed is surprisingly accurate.

I have a thing for Springfield’s also. I bought a custom here years ago built by benchrest rifle builder HW Creighton with a Sako barrel chambered to 6mm-250 and it’s boringly accurate. It’s been to Wyoming for pronghorn, to Texas where my son dropped two massive feral boars DRT, and one of my best friends shot his first deer with it plus I’ve gotten lots of woodchucks. It’s one I’ll never sell.



I finished a 6.5-06 with a CM tube I got on Gunbroker advertised as a 1-in-9” twist that keyholes 130 GR VLDs but does beautifully w/ 100 GR AMaxes as well as 100 GR TTSXs. I bought a lovely curly maple Monte Carlo here and dropped this barreled action in. Pretty sweet “period correct” piece.







I’m kinda loving it even tho it’s essentially “just” a .25-06. Dropped 2 nice does DRT. Very comfortable to shoot, excellent function, and beautiful to look at.

Love em!

yeah a rifle like that Springfield would make my bucket list easily.....

if the world was perfect, all my hunting rifles would be military Mausers, 03 Springfields, and 1914 and 17 Enfields
Model 54s , and Remington 30S....

EFW, the blue and polish job is nice, I have several the same way and I too like the look. Most of the ones I've bought still have the original Parkerizing on them and I would never have them blued though, that Parkerizing is one damn tough finish and rust resistant. Like the cocking piece it makes the arm instantly identifiable. One of the biggest laughs I ever got was while at a local Scheels store a guy brought in a 03 that had nicely been customized and wanted to trade it off on a 300WSM they wouldn't take it on trade because the chamber was not stamped with it's caliber and cartridge designation. The guy who owned it said well it's a Springfield, what's the problem? The younger generation just doesn't understand that specifically or was upset it didn't have a 2 paragraph warning engraved it the barrel. still laughing when I think about it. Nice guns guys keep posting them. MB

Gary, not only have we strayed but, jack knifed straight into the ditch! That old rifle will put Remington 150 grain RNCL into 1.5" even with my 72 year old eyes doing the sighting. Best I've done so far with cast is 2.1" with RCBS 30-180-FN but, I'm not done yet.

Damn! Now that is nice!

I've sure been enjoying this thread. I've done a few "kitchen table" sporters on 03A3s over the years and like the core gun.

I took a a scruffy 03A3 sporter in 308 Norma mag I got from a pawnshop owner friend for $115.00, refinished the Fajen stock...a nice one under all the old crud..., installed a Timney Sportsman, glassed the action, took off the worse-for-wear Stith, and topped it with an early VX 2-7. It turned out to be a shooter, even with the 338 brass based ammo I made for it, so I gave it away.

Love both the '03 and the '03A3. Here's a nice 1903A1 rebuild from WW II with an O'Hare micrometer.
Bob

Nice 03A1. 03A3's served a definite purpose in The War and deserve all respect, but I gotta tell yez my heart belongs to the pre-war '03.

Jeezuz, that reminds me. I have an O'Hare sight micrometer stashed someplace. Forgot all about it.

Somebody's gonna have a field day if I go under a bus and they have to sort through my crap.