I've come into a 1903 Springfield Armory Mark I with the following:  Barrel date and serial # match to December 1918.  Stock has been replaced (Arsenal refurb? SA GAW inspector's stamp and a P on the bottom of the wrist, no Pedersen device cut on the stock, gray parkerized finish), no front sight blade and no rear sight: barrel band and folding ladder sight both missing), bolt handle has been replaced to clear a scope, and receiver d&t for Redfield base (which I have along with the rings), safety replaced to clear a scope.  I could get the proper rear sight, front slght blade, safety and bolt body from Numrich/Gun Parts.  Bore is excellent.  Bolt may have been replaced during refurbishment... how to tell if this is the case?  Overall condition is very good for a 104 year old rifle.

Is it worth restoring the sights/safety/bolt, or is it just a good "shooter"?  What might the value be with proper sights, etc vs. "as-is"?  Values are all over the board, but I have maybe $500 in it as it sits.

Thanks in advance!

Sounds like you got a deal. Put the factory parts back on and post up some pics.

Good price on it. If it is already drilled and tapped for a scope, you can't really restore it to issued condition. But it would be a good candidate for a sniper/A4 replica. I would of bought it to go that route with it it.

I've taken some rifles back to military config, except the d&t holes. My Swedish M94 has that problem, but it looks way better than with the cut down stock, exhaust hanger band, and other shitty problems. An A4 clone would be fun if you can get the holes to match up with the right scope base.

I gave $200 for mine in 2021.  No drill and tap of the receiver but the stock forend was cut shorter, and it has Lyman sights.

If it's been drilled and tapped it's a goner as far as being restorable IMO. Just enjoy it for what it is. There are enough 03's out there that you can buy an original later on.

As for value, unless it has all the original Mark I parts, then the value is only that of a normal bubba'd M1903.

With the receiver drilled, restored it would only be a $500-700 rifle. If you are already at $500 it would cost more to restore it than it would be worth. Good sight bands are rare and expensive. I sold some for $100 each a couple years ago.

You can hide some of the ugliness plugging the screws but it is just a cosmetic fix and won’t really restore much lost value.

I might do that if it was a free gun so the value started out low letting me invest in it to make some fixes.  

Plug screw holes, park to hide them as best I could.  Hell I’d file the plugged screws to fill in the interrupted lettering on the receiver.  Remark to hide the fixes more than bluing could.  Replace the bolt with a NOS one and replace the sights.

There was a M1917 I was tempted to restore but I think the barrel was shortened an inch.  I can look up the nominal barrel length but would like to measure a receiver edge to crown to compare.

Oh that is huge on a 1903 and mk1.  If it isn’t ready to just put a rear sight on I’d forget it.  

I have seen a gunsmith special M1903 with an A3 barrel on it and a williams rear sight. It took me a second to mentally sort it out in my head.  Yeah, no thanks, not interested.

I have a rebarreled cmp M1903 with a high standard barrel iirc,  I don’t have one with the lightening flats on each side like the early ones.  Wish I had a nice one with grasping grooves.  I had a grasping groove forearm but the stock was soaked in oil and had a couple greek armory beechwood patches.  They look bad even though the fitting of the repair wood splices is impeccable.   I bought a CMP C stock and called it good.  My windage knob lacks  much friction but it works.

I should add, the rifles I put back to as close to original as possible I received for $100 each. My Remington 1903 (not 03A3) was just missing the stock and stock hardware. That was an easy restore as the part are still out there and were affordable.

Post some pics. Can't really give you a value without seeing condition.

The rear sight band is also very hard to reinstall and not mess it up.