Well with all the wonderful saves I've been seeing here of late I decided to grab one for myself, looks like its gonna be a long winter so I may as well occupy myself.   Was at a little auction house Saturday and this chopped up Rock Island came up.  I paid way to much for it, but I just had to pry it away from the hands of Bubba.  I didnt have a 1903 and have been itching bad for one.  This poor stock is a wreck, and the rear sight leaf is gone, but I'm gonna restore her to her former glory.  Most of the bluing is history, but very little rust.  Decent bore, shiny lands and dark grooves.  The serial number puts this one right at the end of RIA's receiver production, 2277 made after this one to be exact, according to m1903.com.   Barrel is SA marked 8-27, which seems to be correct.  The bolt is marked s30, which dates it 1906-1908 on the same website.  

Any chance that old of a bolt belonged to this rifle when it was built?  And this sling is OLD - made in the same style as the original I think, but not sure?  I'm off to shop for a straight stock with finger grooves  Sorry for the crappy potato pictures.

Weren't those the poorly-heat treated receivers?

Supposedly anything below 286506 is questionable, but anything later is good to go

Pretty cool. I used to own one about 1500 after yours, 42999something. The receiver is Nickel Steel.

The bolt is too early to be original; the straight handle bolts have the same single heat treat stigma as the receivers. The good news is the late 20's was a "let's use what we have" time for Springfield. Any of the period bolts would be proper (NS, WL3, J5, etc.).

The firing pin is period proper.

You have a diamond in the ruff and a rare rifle.  Your serial number indicates it is one of the semi-finished RIA receivers that was sent to SA.  In 1927-28 SA completed assembly of the rifle.  That is why you have a SA barrel marked 8-27.  Probably had a J5 SA bolt when new and a DAL marked S stock w/GG.

SA received RIA rifles that already had RIA serial numbers and rifles that did not have serial numbers.  The RIA numbers are in the 420k to 480k area and the SA applied serial numbers are in the 1.27 to 1.95 million range.

I have 428xxx that is in very good condition, it was fairly original when I bought it.  I have added a correct J5 bolt.  Stock is marked "R" in mag cutoff recess.  R and S where on stocks used by RIA but made by SA, the end is marked with a seref "S" 3/16 icnh in size.  The proof mark is 1/2 inch, indication proofed at SA..

Thats the kind of info I was looking for.  I did a google search on the DAL marked stocks, and came across right much discussion about the correct stock cartouche for a late RIA receiver.  It seems as though the unboxed SADAL mark is what I need.  Sounds like I'm really gonna have to keep digging to come up with one.  

Also, I'm wondering if my rifle should have a front sight protector.

A boxed DAL would probably be more appropriate. Be prepared to pay through the nose.


Add the sight protector if you want. It was usually just a storage and transport accessory. The Marine version is a little larger and can be used while shooting.

Canfields book "The 1903 Springfield Service Rifle" has a short paragraph on these RIA/SA rifles.  Evil bay seems to be the best source for stocks but are spendy.  You should be able to google the info for the correct sight cover, expect to pay about $15 for one.

Well I posted up a WTB ad over on Gunboards and a fellow sent me some pics of stock he had laying about.  Its a grasping groove straight stock, has cross bolts and not pins.  Looks decent, but not a marking one on it.  He claims it hasnt been sanded, or at least not much, which to me is kinda like being a little bit pregnant .   I havent asked his price yet, if its decent I might grab it just to get this rifle into something better for the time being, but I dont want a repro either.  Anybody got anything on unmarked 1903 stocks?

I have a rear sight. PM your address and I'll send it out next week.

Here is my version.

If it's unmarked, it's a replacement stock. They were available for $1 in the 50's from the Army/Navy stores, shoved in a barrel...take your pick. C stocks were $1.50.

Nice rifle.  I appreciate the offer, too bad I just ordered a sight for it last night.

This is what I was figuring.  It's just so hard to dig through all the junk on the web to get the info you really need