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US Service Rifle 1903 - 1903A3 Discussion/ Pic Thread....

Here are the two I have currently. I only shoot the a3, and it's been a while. Awesome trigger and smooth as can be.

1903.jpg
 
@Hayataq -- If you are in my area I have headspace gages --glad to check it out --
I have a 1903 Mark I -- 1919 made for pederson device --
@ frogman -- If recollect rightly, A2 was an artillery device for spotting --

Indeed artillery training insert


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@Hayataq --
I have a 1903 Mark I -- 1919 made for pederson device --

I have the same rifle. About twenty years ago I was looking at one in a gun store in Gwinnett. It caught my eye; because I had never seen one with the slot cut in the receiver to accommodate the Pederson device. I didn't spend too much time looking at it; because my wife was with me and she seemed impatient to leave. A couple of months later it was under the tree as my Christmas present. Unknown to me, the wife had gone back to the store alone and bought the rifle as her gift to me.

My wife passed away a few years later; but the rifle still has a spot in my gun safe. It was unfired by me for years. Last summer my son and I took it to the range and fired a few rounds. I had never fired an '03 until then....smooth as butter and very accurate.
 
They're more accurate than the first pic shows but i was having one of those days where i couldn't get my groups tight . 2nd pic was more of a fun day at Cisco WMA

image.jpeg image.jpeg
 
Now that you mention it I have not fired my mark I either. I received it a few years ago from a friend who passed away -- I must rectify that soon or my kids will be saying something similar.
The Mark ! is nice -- all "high" numbered so no worry about heat treat --
Most,if not all, have had the pederson trigger assembly replaced at rebuild so the only difference with a standard 03 is the slot.
A number of years ago I read an article by wm b. edwards - a very serious collector now long dead - about the histoy of the pederson device. He had one and shot it. He also had or had seen two other pederson devices for the 1917 and russian m91. Neither one was put into production --
Old guy rambling probably more than anyone wanted to know --
 
One of the reasons all-original military configuration 1903 Springfields (and 03-A3's) are getting scare is because of how they were sold off dirt cheap as surplus in the 1950s. I think the going rate was $10 for the first ones to get sold, and even in the late 1960s they were under $30.

That meant they were often modified or sporterized. Which I think is just fine. They're a commodity, and when there's too much of a particular commodity for the market's needs, either the price drops or people add value (labor, aftermarket parts) to make the gun more valuable to postwar civilian shooters and hunters.

I have a WWII-era 03-A3 with a two-groove barrel that's been sporterized. A prior owner cut the barrel down to 18.3" and was going to drill and tap the receiver for a scope, but abandoned the project for some reason. I welded a front sight on the barrel and am calling it my back-up big game rifle for hunting within 200 yards (my practical limit with iron sights), or my target shooting rifle that can keep them in the black at 300 (and probably 600 yards, too, but I haven't tried that yet).

1960s surplus rifles ad.jpg
03-A3 right side.JPG
 
Now that you mention it I have not fired my mark I either. I received it a few years ago from a friend who passed away -- I must rectify that soon or my kids will be saying something similar.
The Mark ! is nice -- all "high" numbered so no worry about heat treat --
Most,if not all, have had the pederson trigger assembly replaced at rebuild so the only difference with a standard 03 is the slot.
A number of years ago I read an article by wm b. edwards - a very serious collector now long dead - about the histoy of the pederson device. He had one and shot it. He also had or had seen two other pederson devices for the 1917 and russian m91. Neither one was put into production --
Old guy rambling probably more than anyone wanted to know --

Yes, my rifle has also been de-Pedersonized (is that a word?) at rebuild. The only specialized part that remains is the slotted receiver.
 
ga gunlawbooklet -
you could call your modified 03 a "bushmaster" -- Several hundred 03 were modified that way during wwii in panama -- done in panama ordnance shop - No bayonet lug - for use in jungle area --
I think barrel was turned down and original front sight used --
I am not sure now if they were 03 or 03a3 -- tough to get old, loose the blood to the brain first --
 
Thanks, Pavo.
It looks like only 1903's were used, from what I can tell, and they kept more of the wood on the stock, including the barrel band and top handguard. I actually prefer the look of mine, and I'm guessing it would be lighter and handier, too.

1903bushmaster-1.jpg
 
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