Since it's about Mausers and military rifles, here's my current favorite- a M1903A1 USMC sniper. Not original, built on a late nickel steel action, new Criterion barrel, original WWII 03A1 replacement stock, 8x Unertl scope (proper model but not USMC marked).



It'll shoot:



It is strictly a cast bullet shooter. I reamed the throat with a 1 1/2 degree included angle reamer for that very purpose.

Great group from a fine rifle.
I'm getting an after market trigger for my Yugo.
It has aperture sights and needs just that improvement.

The load you are using...

NOE 168 ?
15gr SR 4759 ?

Thanks,

Craig

Very cool.

Here's an '03A1 set up for Camp Perry in the pre-war years.
Bob



This rebuilt 1903A1 (top) was one of the '03s sold thru the CMP in the '90's.

Nice old rifle. Those (in any form) are not seen often here in Canada.

I can see a use for an 03a1/a3 even on today’s battle field, namely Afghanistan. Not everyone, 2-3 per squad.

I ran across a couple of Springfield sniper rifles still in use in Viet Nam.

Semper Fi

Sorry, Craig, was out of town for a long weekend and didn't remember this new forum when I got back last night (and I leave the internet at home when I get away for the weekend). The load is NOE 308-169 Elco (170 grain spitzer, sized to .310, lubed with 50/50 lube)/18 grains SR-4759/LC Match brass. A very light load.

Thanks. I have a stash of 4759, will give the load a try.

i believe the front of reciever rear leaf sight was for a 1903.
the 1903A1 had a rear mounted peep sight.
they were making a few 1903 at the advent of WWII, but switched to the 1903A1 rather quickly
cheaper and easier to make.

the standard army springfield sniper rifle was pulled from the assemby line, you can tell one in they reversed the lettering on the ring.
the scope used is kind of dorky
i have a 1903a4 sniper with scope, and that scope is nothing to write home about.
the marines used i believe an inertal probably spelling it wrong, lot better scope.

You're talking about the 1903A3. The only difference between the 1903 and the 03A1 was the C-stock (full pistol grip).
Bob

Here's an 03A3.

That is a NICE 03A3!
Bob

Correct. From the late 20's-early 30's on, the "official" rifle was the M1903A1 after they adopted the pistol grip stock to replace the straight grip stock. (Length of pull was increased a bit also.) Even though the 1903A1 was official it didn't replace the M1903 all at once as there was a Depression going on and to save money it was ordained that old supplies of straight grip stocks be used up first- and that took a while. As rifles came in from the field needing stocks replaced they eventually were fitted with the new PG stocks, and new production got them too (but '03 production was starting to wind down at the Armory so in fact not a helluva lot of purpose-built 03A1's were made).

The 1903A1 Sniper was exclusively a USMC innovation. Being accuracy loonies, the USMC selected late-issue 03A1's and installed 8x Unertl target scopes on them, and they worked a treat. It would seem the Army didn't have much use for the Unertl scope system (more's the pity- it's not as fragile as it looks)- Saving Private Ryan notwithstanding. The Army adopted the M1903A4 sniper rifle later on instead (basically a 1903A3 with a Redfield scope mount, altered bolt handle, and a rather pitiful couple models of el-cheapo 2.5x scopes). The M1C and M1D Sniper models replaced them all eventually, but there are photographs of Marine snipers in Korea armed with 03A1 sniper rifles and I don't doubt that a couple barked in Vietnam too.

There was a M1903A2 but it was just a barreled action adapted to use in 37mm and 57mm anti-tank guns as sub-caliber training devices.

Before we entered the war, Remington was assigned the old mothballed machine tools from when Rock Island Arsenal was still making the M1903 (up until the end of WWI). Remington used the stuff as best they could (many of the rifles went to England via Lend-Lease), but the machines/fixtures/tooling were in rough shape and production went in fits and starts. Springfield Armory was of no help because they had their own cross to bear with getting M1 Garand production going. After Dec.,1941, we too became pretty desperate for rifles and Remington was granted permission to cut corners on the '03- lots of sheet metal parts, roughly machined surfaces, and a cheaper rear sight- and the M1903A3 was born, and were designated Substitute Standard for U.S. Army use. (The Marines stuck with the original '03 and '03A1 as much as they could until the M1's started filtering down to them later in 1942. Not many 03A3's made it into the Corps.)

There was also an oddity of a stock that grew out of wartime necessity- what's called the M1903 Scant Grip Stock. Someone discovered that in fact the gov't possessed a sh*tload of walnut stock blanks for making the old original straight grip stock. Trouble was those blanks weren't shaped big enough to turn a full pistol grip stock out of them. The powers that be said "we ain't throwing them away- use them anyway". The result is the funky halfassed looking stock that's neither straight gripped nor pistol gripped. They were used a lot on 03A3's, and found their way onto a lot of M1903 rifles that were headed overseas as Lend-Lease to various Allied countries like France and Greece, many of which made their way back here as milsurps in the 70's-90's.

God, I love Springfields! (Started at an early age when I found out my one Uncle carried a M1903 straight through from 1940 until he caught his third and final wound in early 1945 and was sent home. He trained with the '03 before the war and being an Infantry Scout was allowed to carry what he pleased. Big Red One, North Africa to Germany every step of the way with a Springfield in his hands.)

interesting enough, my deceased brother in law was a higgins boat driver in the navy, and was on a number of beach landings. He said he prefered the springfield, cause it wouldn't jam up with sand, easy to clean, unlike the garand.

i think that army scope was the lyman alaskan if i remember right. It ain't much of a scope.
on the other hand i have a mauser k98 Scout rifle, with a side mounted zf71 scope, it ain't any better.

i have managed to acquire quite a few of them, one being in the first few months of production, up to and through WWII.
the early WWII springfield 1903's are kind of funky with some of the finishes.
I don't think in a lot of cases they were used very much. Some muzzle guage at o or 1.
by saying not used very much, i don't mean all, some were used pretty hard.
But as the garand became more available, the need was not so much.
I have a early WWII remington, you would need to see the finish to believe it, much different than the early ones.

My first deer rifle was a sporterized 1903A1. Still have it.

Dan

The Army 1903A4's were primarily issued with Weaver 330C scopes. The first ones were off the shelf civilian models and marked with regular Weaver markings. After the initial run they were stamped per the Army's designation of M73B1. Lyman Alaskan's were designated for use as an alternative, as described in an Ordnance Technical Manual dated September, 1943. I don't remember ever seeing but one or two with the Alaskan scope on them, and there was no provenance that they were issued on those guns originally. You do see a pretty fair number of Alaskans on Garand snipers though.

I remember my Dad and his buddy both ordering 03A3's from the DCM via an ad in The American Rifleman in the early 60's. Total cost per gun was a shade under $20 with shipping from a gov't depot straight to our door. Intent was to hack them up into halfassed sporters. Dad's came through as a minty Smith-Corona which pleased him. Kenny's came through as a mint Remington 03A4 sniper rifle (sans scope). He was ecstatic because it was already d/t'ed for scope mounts and the bolt was already altered for scope use too- two things that saved him a bunch of money when he chopped it into a sporter a day later. Different times....

speaking of rock island, i have one that has a jeweled bolt, one inch target barrel, set up for la palma front and rear sights, and an action job.
I think the owner was using it for 1000 yard shooting.

Thank you.

It looks nice but had issues when I bought it.

I got it through local private sale, and at a good price, so I kinda figured it would have issues. It is a Remington and has been "refurbed" but I don't know who did it. The stock is a club at the pistol grip, the barrel is a criterion, and it has been Parkerized. I may be wrong, I am not very knowledgeable at all on the Springfield bolt rifle but I thought 03s were blued.

It would not feed the last round at all. You couldn't get the bolt to come forward after a short distance and would stop as soon as the bullet contacted the feedramp. What I found is the case was going into the lug raceway. It did have a milled follower, and I thought that unusual, having read that 03A3s had stamped followers.

I replaced the follower with a stamped unit and it began feeding the last round. I have also read that 03A3s did not cycle as smoothly as 03s, and that is the case with this one.

It is surprisingly accurate, noticeably better than my M1 Garand.

I apologize for the slight hijack.

Remingtons and Smith Coronas were parked.

Thank you!

I need to get some material on the 1903 rifle's history.

Those Criterion barrels will shoot!!

Nothing wrong with an 03A3, especially one as nice as that one. While not as "nice" as a pre-war Springfield they hold a significant place in history nonetheless.

Lots of good material out there on '03 history. One book that for many years was considered the Bible of the '03 was the one written by William Brophy. Some of the stuff he wrote has since been challenged, and others have expanded on the basics he laid down. It still remains an important work and highly recommended to anyone seeking to learn about one of the most significant American rifles of the 20th century.

My dad bought a DCM O3a3 in the 60s to shoot service rifle. He preferred it to the M1. After a bit it was sporterized and in 74 the barrel was replaced and it became a 25-06 for a Wyoming deer/antelope hunt.