I bought this the other day and have been working on the stock and replacing some parts....Remington 03A3 with RA 3/43 four-groove barrel.

When I got it the stock had a thick coat of varnish on it (thank goodness it was oil based and not Urethane) so I stripped it with Acetone, re-stained, and put on several coats of BLO.

Yeah, I know it's the wrong stock but it's what I had to work with....Heck it's even the wrong flavor as it's a Smith-Corona stock. It's hard for me to believe the previous owner left the stock on it like that. On most sporters the stocks are cut back.

It had it's front sight but I removed it.

It had a engraved mag-plate, Timney trigger, and low-throw safety.

It already had a late commercial Lyman Alaskan scope and Redfield mount on it.

The bolt contour was pretty close but not exactly like a 03A4 bolt.

Attached File


I figure in my travels if I come across a good C or even a scant stock I'll cut it for the bolt handle and switch it out but I'm not about to pay a robber's price for one.

If I have not fell out of love for it by then I may even send it off to DGR to have it re-parked.



LOL....I figure it's about as close to a 03A4 as I ever will get.

Beauty!

Sweet. I'm tempted to pick up a drilled A3 if it's cheap. So far lately they have been $350 or more.

Absolutely beautiful rifle.

I bought a similar 03A3 sixteen years ago. Drilled and tapped for a redfield mount, and turned down bolt but otherwise unmolested. Hunted with it for a couple seasons as I got it (straight stock with Weaver K4). Been on a WW2 kick again this week so finally dug it out with plans to complete it. Bought a repro M73b1,  3/4 split rings, and a scant stock off of eBay.   C stocks are murder on the wallet, but deals on scants are still out there. The one I got had a crack and some inletting done for a turned down bolt so it'll be the perfect candidate with a little TLC.

Aesthetically I think the straight wrist-ed stock looks great. Still and all it's the wrong stock.

I have a Weaver 330 in my Box-O-Scopes I've saved hoping to do a clone someday but the Alaskan is far and away the better scope. Of course they both suffer from too little magnification but the longest shot I can safely make on my place is around 175 yards so it's fine for that distance.

The bore is very good and the scope is nice and clear so if it shoots straight I might knock a deer down with it this coming season.

In fact I saved the low-throw safety/shroud/firing pin assembly for just that.

Having the .mil safety just laying against the scope making it "sorta safe" might have been good enough for the .mil back in the day but I prefer something a bit more positive as far as a safety goes for hunting. That and it's on the right side.

Edit:  I made a set of leather scope covers for it today.

Attached File

Those covers look great.

Thanks,

I would have preferred a bit thinner leather but the thinnest I had was some black leather but I wanted brown so I went with what I had.

It was the first time I used the border tool I bought to put the border lines on the strap/caps.

LOL....They are mostly straight.

I was looking for a set and all I could find was a cheap looking $40.00 Chi-Com repro for a Weaver and a really nice Brit repro for $126.00 US.....I said heck with that I'll make a set that will do.

Excellent work!

Nice. How's it shoot? I expect pretty good.

Yes it does! I took it down to my range yesterday and sighted it in. 1.5 - 2" MOA at 100 yards but I suspect it's capable of better. The 2.5X is a bit lacking for much more at that distance.

I might set it up with a Leupold M8 4 X 33 in Redfield rings before hunting season. I have a set of rings that works on the mount and allows the M8 objective to clear the hand-guard.

To be honest I should have thought about installing that combo before I sighted the Alaskan in but at least I know the Alaskan works.

these threads really make me want to finish my similar project with my sporter 1903.

I bet in the last couple years there has been 4  or 5 similar project threads

@1srelluc
...hello

Either I need to check my website (still suffering from the Great PhotoBucket SNAFU of 2017), or the exchange rate has taken a huge swing in my favour without my noticing

My normal scope caps are £65 = so around $90 ?


Have you glued the end caps on?
If sewn on the stitches would be visible...

BUT, having seen dozens of original sets, the WW2 guys did all sorts of field repairs & even made their own from whatever was at hand.

Looks like I was off a bit....65L = $105.00 (includes S&H) US according to the site I found them on....I just used the pic I found on Bing of a set of Weaver caps they offered to take me to the site but all those pics are gone, just a description/price left.

I saw no need to spend that kind of money on a set of re-pop covers for a civilian scope when I could make my own that suited me for free from scrap leather.

link

Yeah I backed the ends with felt and just glued them in with Gorilla Glue. I figure they will last as long as I will.

nice work

Happy to send some photos of the Alaskan caps if you want?
You DO realise that you've now got the disease? If you thought BRD was addictive, leatherwork is worse.

After PhotoBucket made their change I spent half a day downloading my images & then closed my account: so all the photos I had on there are safe & will be back, in time...

Had some free time to kill so I finished the inletting for the bolt handle on mine today. Not my best work, but for what it is I won't complain.



These are 1" vertical split rings. As soon as I get my set of 3/4 rings in I can mount my M73G4. Also need a magazine spring, new extractor, and the front Jr mount screw is missing.

ETA - Or this could be an option too