Just picked up this Remington 03A3 yesterday for $650 out the door. Don't know a whole lot about them really. Just knew I wanted one and most I've seen locally were $700+ with crappy speckle painted stocks or look like complete junk.

Remington O3A3 by c.swimm, on Flickr
Remington O3A3 by c.swimm, on Flickr
Remington O3A3 by c.swimm, on Flickr
Remington O3A3 by c.swimm, on Flickr
Remington O3A3 by c.swimm, on Flickr
Remington O3A3 by c.swimm, on Flickr
Remington O3A3 by c.swimm, on Flickr
Remington O3A3 by c.swimm, on Flickr

Did well. Very nice 03A3

Nice rifle and an excellent price.

You were ROBBED

Box that boat anchor up & post it to me for disposal at sea!












If I was you I'd be out buying a few lottery tickets as you're on a roll....

The bore shines like a mirror with strong rifling. It looks to be a 2 groove though.

Good point on checking under the wood. I will do that today. Been meaning to just to give everything a good oil wipe down anyway.

Just ordered 300 rounds of 150gr FMJ 30.06 PPU from Aim surplus. Hope it gets here in time for the weekend.

A little back story on the gun. I work part time at a local gun shop. A local guy that does some gun smithing work brought this one in from his collection. This is the 3rd one he has brought in. I am told he has a good sized collection of these and M1 Garands. He is retired Army Special Forces. Retired about 5-6 years ago. He set up his own shop and likes to rebuild US surplus rifles and build custom sniper and match rifles. He shoots a lot of Stuff like F class, palma, service rifles etc. He is also a member at my gun club and is probably the best shot there. He's a grumpy old guy but he's earned it. I think he does excellent gun smithing work. He is a perfectionist.

From what I am told about these ones he is selling from time to time, he rebarrels them with new old stock GI barrels. He goes over the action and I am pretty sure he reparkerizes it himself too. He basically refurbs them. He is more concerned about making a good accurate rifle than about making an all correct collectors piece. Our gun club has a vintage military rifle match every year. Any military issue type rifle made before 1955. The top scorers all shoot one of his rifles.

Like I said this is the 3rd one of his that has come through the shop. The first one was similar but the stock had a little more dings in it. One of our regular customers from 5th group got that one before I could. The next one was good but had a small chip in the corner of the handguard, but the trigger was perfect. I just didn't have the money that time, and it sold to a soldier here that had a small collection of surplus rifles. He was very excited to get it. Then I saw this one last Saturday when I was working. It had just come in and hadn't been logged in yet. I had the money so I asked the boss how much. He let me get it at cost. I was in the right place at the right time. Proud to finally own one of his rifles.

Beautiful gun, cultivate that source!

I would have broken my wrist reaching for my wallet to get that $650 out.  Refurb 03A3's around me are $800+...

Hking

Here is something to keep in mind: A lot of the 03A3 rifles being rebuilt today are using reclaimed drill rifle receivers (because that's what's readily available). These receivers can be identified mainly by two points -- evidence of a small tack weld at the bottom of the receiver ring, and evidence of welding in the area of the magazine cutoff. I enlarged and lightened your picture of that area, and it looks to me that there has been some grinding there (to remove a weld). I could be wrong. When you disassemble the action from the stock, look for the tack weld at the bottom of the receiver ring.  If this was a drill rifle receiver, there's going to be small discoloration there. The weld metal does not take Parkerizing in the same way as the original metal.

Anyway, even if this is a reclaimed drill rifle, the restoration was well done. $650 is a fair price. Just be aware that a reclaimed drill rifle is not a prime collectible.

Now that you mention it, it sure does look like there was a weld removed there.

Still, not a bad price.

OK, here is the underside of the Receiver ring.

Remington 03a3 by c.swimm, on Flickr

Looks like all the parts I can find marks on have "R" I assume means Remington?

Trigger
Remington 03a3 by c.swimm, on Flickr

Rear Sight
Remington 03a3 by c.swimm, on Flickr

Rear Sling Swivel
Remington 03a3 by c.swimm, on Flickr

Bolt
Remington 03a3 by c.swimm, on Flickr

Front Sling Swivel
Remington 03a3 by c.swimm, on Flickr

Stacking Swivel
Remington 03a3 by c.swimm, on Flickr

Magazine Cut Off
Remington 03a3 by c.swimm, on Flickr

Faint RA on the stock
Remington 03a3 by c.swimm, on Flickr

And these marks on the stock
Remington 03a3 by c.swimm, on Flickr

Remington 03a3 by c.swimm, on Flickr

Yep. Reactivated drill rifle. That magazine cutoff was definitely welded up at one point.

Even if its not a collector, its still a sweet looking gun. And if you know who built it, then it makes it cooler knowing about them. Just go shoot it and enjoy it. Good buy!!!

I've seen a lot worse. It looks like the builder cherry-picked this receiver from a bunch of them. When the former drill rifle receivers hit the market, it was easy to find ones with minimal signs of welding. Now, those that are left are more obvious.

Regarding the weld at the bottom of the receiver ring, it's hard to tell because of the light reflection in the picture. I think I see some telltale discoloration, but you would have to see it in person.

The builder paid a lot of attention to matching the parts, etc. I would say the gun is well worth $650.

 
Yup I can see where the weld was as well.  It's perfectly fine to shoot.  I have 4 of them that have been recovered for the purpose of being blasters/beaters/repo 03A4gery's