Remington 1903 help

[wayne]

Should a Remington 1903 barreled action fit into a Springfield S stock? I have a 1903 Remington
that is in a scant stock, and want to put it into a straight stock. It will not fit. I thought the Remington and Springfield '03's were supposed to interchange parts with each other....I'm not talking about 03A3's here, I'm talking about '03's. What am I missing?

[Lee T.]

It seems like it should at least be a close fit, without pictures to see what isn't fitting it's hard to guess.......trying to see in my mind the inletting, off the top of my head, first thing I'd look at is the receiver lug. The shapes of machine work changed over the years.
Can you be more specific to where it's not sliding in? lee

[wayne]

It appears the Remington rear sight base is too large to fit into the Springfield stock. Its a nice stock so I hate to start working on it.

[wayne]

I should also mention its a grasping groove stock, so I don't want to alter the wood as it might eventually find a new home on a Springfield.

[Lee T.]

Sounds like you have a mid-range SN receiver (no lightening cuts) with the full round sight base collar, yes?
That could be slightly 'fatter' than the Springfield - although at one time I had a Rem 03 in an original Rock Island stock and don't remember a problem. I guess the proof is in the pudding, if it doesn't fit, it doesn't fit. I just have a feeling something else is affecting things.
As much as I agree not to mess much with a finger groove stock, it might not take much shaving for it to fit. Maybe it's just swollen a little. Do you know anyone with a Springfield that you can try in the stock ?

[Crashyoung]

Where is the binding at? Can you compare the Remington stock inletting to the Springfield?

Please do not carve on the finger grove stock! They are getting hard to find, and command
top dollar. Is your Springfield stock one or two bolt? Not that it matters, but the one bolt is
earlier than the two bolt. And if I recall, if there are no bolts, it is even earlier!

Is the Remington rifle something rare or a mix-master? You might want to alter the rifle by
swapping parts to make it fit the stock, or if not possible to make it fit that way, find another
stock. I have a straight stock that I bought cheap, as the stock was 'refinished' and it was nicely
sanded.

[Sean P Gilday]

I swapped My Remington 03 in a very beat up scant stock for a dupage S stock a year ago. fit issues were limited to some slight trimming near the trigger guard and tang. took about 5 minutes to get a good fit.

[Mike D]

Like Lee said, its likely the receiver lug. Only the very early Rem 03's had receiver lugs scalloped as much as RIA or SA.

I have a Rem in the 3.15 mil range with a "half" scalloped lug. It will not fit in a finger groove stock.

I have one of the early Scant stock made at SA that is relieved enough for a "half-scalloped" Rem '03 lug, but not enough for an '03-A3 "square" lug.

Interesting transitions throughout Remington's production.

Mike

[wayne]

Thanks guys! The Remington appears to be all original except it was in a scant stock. I have several other '03's that are correct, including one I built using a stock from Dupage.
The Remington is a 3.10 serial number range so I will continue to look for a correct stock for it.

[Lee T.]

Wayne, your comment about looking for a correct stock got me to thinking -
You didn't say what the bbl date is. If your barreled action is matched barrel date about 5-42 through 8-42, the truly correct stock would be a non-FG RLB (with the caveat that FJA's started to appear in Aug-Sept that year). These as you probably know are really scarce and would be really expensive. Second choice, in my mind, would actually be your scant stock because that was a bona fide replacement type. The older Springfield FG stock would not be right even though it might look a lot cooler.
The key here, as far as 'correct' is concerned, is whether your barrel/receiver are date-matched. Even if the barrel is a replacement, like a HS or S, I'd stay with the scant unless you luck into an RLB. To me it'd be historically correct, and would probably be a pretty good shooter. Hope this helps, lee