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Today’s Firearm of the Day is.....

The Remington 1903a3:

The M1903 Springfield, formally the United States Rifle, Caliber .30-06, Model 1903, is an American five-round magazine fed, bolt-action service repeating rifle, used primarily during the first half of the 20th century. It was officially adopted as a United States military bolt-action rifle on June 19, 1903, and saw service in World War I. It was officially replaced as the standard infantry rifle by the faster-firing semi-automatic eight-round M1 Garand starting in 1936. However, the M1903 Springfield remained in service as a standard issue infantry rifle during World War II, since the U.S. entered the war without sufficient M1 rifles to arm all troops. It also remained in service as a sniper rifle during World War II, the Korean War, and even in the early stages of the Vietnam War. It remains popular as a civilian firearm, historical collector's piece, and as a military drill rifle.

M1903A3 Rifle

Remington was able to save production time by developing an adjustable rear peep sight with some stamped components. It was mounted on the rear of the M1903A3 rifle’s receiver.
In early 1942, it was determined that production could be increased even more if the rear sight base and related parts could be dispensed with, as these components required a great deal of time-consuming machining. Remington engineers modified the basic design of the rifle by eliminating the M1905 pattern rear sight and replacing it with an adjustable peep sight mounted on the rear of the receiver. The handguard (now termed “barrel guard”) was lengthened to cover the gap between the receiver and the upper band of the rifle. The rear sight of the M1903A3 rifle was actually a better “battle sight” in many ways than M1905 pattern sight. In addition to the changes made in the rear sight, there was also more extensive use of stamped parts. The substantially modified rifle was standardized as the “U.S. Rifle, Cal. .30, Model of 1903A3” on May 21, 1942. Remington began deliveries of the new variant in December 1942. There was a period of time when the company manufactured the M1903 Modified and the M1903A3 variants concurrently. The last of the M1903 Modified rifles were turned out in May 1943.

The new rifle was marked “U.S./Remington/Model 03-A3/Serial No.” on the receiver ring. The “03-A3” designation was a bit unusual as it was essentially a colloquial term rather than the official nomenclature for the rifle. As with the preceding Remington ’03s, the barrel had the “RA” and “flaming bomb” markings as well as the month and year of production. The left side of the stock was stamped “FJA” (for Col. Frank J. Atwood), “RA” (Remington Arms) and the “crossed cannons” Ordnance Department escutcheon. A circled “P” proof mark was stamped on the grip behind the trigger guard, and various cryptic Remington internal inspection markings were stamped on the stock forward of the trigger guard. The stock furniture (one-piece upper band assembly, lower barrel band, band spring, sling swivel, buttplate and trigger housing/floorplate assembly) were constructed of stamped sheet metal.

Typical receiver ring markings for the main three Remington ’03 variants are shown above (left to right): M1903; M1903 “Modified” and M1903A3.

The M1903A3’s stock was similar to the straight grip stock previously utilized with the M1903 Modified but was inletted to accept the “barrel guard ring” necessitated by the longer handguard. The ’03A3 stocks were also inletted for the M1905 sight as well. In addition to the straight grip stock, Remington also manufactured some stocks with semi-pistol grips, often dubbed “scant” or “scant grip” stocks today. The adoption of this pattern stock enabled Remington to utilize many of the stock blanks the firm had on hand from the abortive British rifle production contract. Most, if not all, of the “scant grip” stocks were utilized for replacement purposes, except for some that were used with M1903A4 sniper rifles (to be discussed later).

In October 1942, Remington was given permission to produce two-groove barrels for the M1903A3 as prior testing at the Aberdeen Proving Ground revealed that satisfactory accuracy could be obtained with them. Two-groove barrels resulted in reduced manufacturing time and cost which further boosted the ’03A3s production rate.

With the adoption of the ’03A3, simplification of the M1903 was taken as far as feasible without adversely affecting the accuracy, strength or efficiency of the rifle. The rather rough-hewn ’03A3 could be manufactured much faster and at a lower cost than the earlier rifles, yet boasted a strong action and a more efficient “combat sight” than its predecessors.

Remington received ever-increasing orders for ’03A3s, and the Ordnance Department sought an additional source. To this end, the Smith-Corona Typewriter Company was granted a contract for production of M1903A3s. The Smith-Corona ’03A3s were essentially identical to their Remington counterparts except for markings. Smith-Corona was eventually assigned two blocks of serial numbers. Smith-Corona did not use all of the numbers from the second block. The serial numbers used by the company went only into the 4,870,000 range. Remington only used a relatively few serial numbers from the final block, stopping at the very low 4,200,000 serial number range. There were also some serial numbers used for M1903A4 sniper rifle production from this final block as well.

Remington (and Smith-Corona) turned out ever-increasing numbers of M1903A3s, and they provided valuable use for our rapidly expanding armed forces. Many of the rifles were utilized for training purposes “stateside,” but a number were shipped overseas for issue as supplemental service rifles. Although not used as combat rifles in extremely large numbers as compared to the M1903 or M1 Garand rifles, M1903A3s definitely saw combat use in several theaters of the war including the European and the China-Burma-India theaters.

M1903A4 Sniper Rifle

The front sight was omitted on ’03A4 rifle barrels, although the milling cut was present in the event that the barrel did not prove suitable for sniping use. Both ’03A3 and ’03A4 Remington rifle barrels were marked with “RA,” a “flaming bomb” and the month and year of manufacture.
U.S. Army troops did not have a standardized sniper rifle in inventory at the time of the declaration of war, and there was increasing demand from overseas for sniper rifles. The demand for sniper rifles was too great to permit lengthy delays in developing a M1 Garand-based new arm, so the War Department contracted with Remington for a sniping version of the M1903 rifle. By this time, the ’03A3 was about to go into production, so the specifications were changed to develop a sniping version of this variant instead. In January 1943, the War Department contracted with Remington for 20,000 sniper rifles based on the M1903A3. The new rifle was designated “U.S. Rifle, Cal. .30, M1903A4, Sniper’s” and was basically a standard M1903A3 rifle without the front sight attached (although the milling cuts were present) fitted with a Redfield “Junior” mount screwed to the receiver ring and attached to the rear sight dovetail. Interestingly, the “’03-A3” nomenclature remained on the receiver ring of the new M1903A4 sniper rifle although this marking was applied to the extreme left of the receiver ring and the serial number stamped on the extreme right side which permitted both markings to be plainly visible with the Redfield mount in place.

As the M1903A4 was recently the subject of an article in these pages (“Making The Most of G.I. Marksmanship: The M1903A4,” January 2002, p. 56), the discussion here will be limited to the rifles themselves rather than the optics and mounts used on them. The’03A4’s bolt handle was concavely forged to provide clearance for telescopic sight, and the stock was inletted to accommodate the bolt handle. Early production M1903A4 rifles had four-groove barrels, but this was soon changed to two-groove barrels, and the bulk of them had the latter. Most ’03A4s had full pistol grip (“Type C”) stocks but, as stated, some were also delivered with the “scant grip” stock. The markings on the stocks were identical to those of M1903A3s of the same vintage, and the only real difference was the inletting for the concave bolt handle. Some of the “Type C” stocks were supplied by Springfield Armory (stamped “S” in the cut-off recess) and some later stocks were procured from the Keystone Company (stamped “K” in the same location).

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