The local fun shop has a WWII production Remington 03A1 Springfield for a decent price. Having never dealt with 03s before, what are the things to look out for when buying on of these? If it makes any difference, it looks to have just come out of storage, absolutely packed with cosmoline.

Best advice I can give you is to go to www.jouster.com and ask there.  What is the price?

Matching "R" parts and get that gunk out of the bore to check it.  Many a pitted bore have been hidden under grease.

Thanks for the advice guys. I went down to the shop a little while ago and left without it. It was there on consignment for $750 and I was hoping to get it for $650. There were a few signs that kept me from buying it. I could barrely make out the rifling in the barrel, that coupled with the overall appearance of the rifle pointed to one that had been used really hard. In the end they wouldn't budge on the price and I came home empty handed, but with no regrets. I want a rifle that is a shooter as well as a collector piece so I will wait until the right gun comes along.

Keep an eye on the for sale section of the CMP forums. You will see nice rifles at good prices, but they don't last long once posted.

Might have been a two groove barrel.
Some people don't like them, but they are pretty damn good if you like to cast your own pills.

If it were a Remington 03-A1 then it should not have had a 2 groove  bore.  The 2 groove started with the 03A3 unless someone in modern day humped it with a 03A3 barrel.

It was definately a 4 grove barrel, and even thought it looked to not have too much throat erosion going on the rifling was very weak.

I found that Sarco has Remington 03 and 03-A3 Springfields for sale right now in shotgun news.



http://www.sarcoinc.com/8-01-11_1-8.pdf



The ad is at the top left corner on the last page, how do these sound? I have no experience with Springfields and I am not sure if my expectations are too high. Thanks.

Cosmoline in the bore looks a lot like a washed out barrel.

I suspect you don't know the difference between the different 1903 rifle models. I could guess that you meant 03A3 being that you also tagged it as being "WWII production" but why should anybody have to guess?

Dutch

A Remington M1903A1 would not be an original rifle. Remington never made A1s, only M1903s with straight stocks, M1903-A3s with straight stocks, and M1903-A4s with both C and scant stocks. A Remington 03 in A1 form is either a rebuild (possibly Greek) or was put in the C-stock by a later civilian owner.

Sorry, it is a Remington 1903, I was thinking it had a C stock on it, but you are right to that they didn't make those. It was sitting very close to a Remington 03A3 with a C stock that I also looked at. Did anybody look at the sarco ad?

It was a Remington 1903, Remingtons with serial number ranges from 3000001 to about 3348085 were standard 03s produced in 1942. At 3348086 production changes to 03A3s.

I'm actually pretty well versed on 1903 Springfields since I've been playing with them since my first in 1968 .

FYI: There are two variations of Remington 1903. The first is the standard 1903. The second is known as 1903(m) or (modified). The 1903(m) transitioned into the use of stampings prior to the 03A3. Most all the Remington 1903 and 1903(m) went to England for Lend-Lease. The one above was from Greece, both were actually. I bought them when CMP first offered them.

Stocks: The original Type S, the pistol grip Type C and the scant grip (see below) are all "correct" on any 1903 rifle that was in U.S. inventory. How they rolled off the assembly line when they were first made is one thing, but after having been in service and through overhauls they could have any of the stock types and still be "correct". And, as was mentioned, a 1903 or 03A3 could pick up a new stock from a civilian owner since these rifles have been in civilian hands since the 1950s or 1960s. I bought a nice Type C stock once for $25 and put it in a $50 03A3 and it made a real nice rifle. Loosing sleep over what's correct and not correct will cause premature aging .

Best book on the subject: Brophy's "The 1903 Springfield". Hatcher's Notebook is a must for any 1903 rifle enthusiast. And Bruce Canfield's Infantry Weapons of WW1 and the 2nd book Infantry Weapons of WW2 are not bad reference books.

Here's a Remington 1903 in a C-stock.



This one was hand picked in Anniston.  This is a Greek return, but it's still all Remington...at least the metal seems to be...a lot of "R's" on this baby.

be aware that the 03's that aims and others are selling right now are refurbished drill rifles, rebuilt by Gibbs rifle. i don't know if they are worth a damm or not but personaly i don't want a rifle that was once welded, pulgged,cut, demilled or otherwise.

CMP says they will have more 03's late this year, so keep an eye out there.