03A3 Service grades.

[nf1e]

Pulled a couple of my Remington 03A3 Service grades out of the safe for a good cleaning and lubing in preparation for the upcoming season. Whatta Hobby!


03A3.jpg03A3 1.jpg

[Art]

Fine looking rifles.

In my humble opinion the Model 1903A3 was the best of the Mauser System rifles. I know I'd get an argument from some folks who favor the Swedes but one way or another they are a top end rifle if you have to carry a bolt gun into combat.

[nf1e]

Don't plan on carrying anything into combat ever again. Now , they are but toys for an old dinosaur.

[Art]

Don't plan on carrying anything into combat ever again. Now , they are but toys for an old dinosaur.

Well that's obviously all very true for me as well. I have two kinds of firearms, recreational and serious. My serious guns for self defense are modern firearms. The recreational guns are "vintage" firearms. But the statement stands, if I had to use a Mauser type bolt action repeater in 1943-44, when the day of the bolt action repeater was almost done, and had a choice it would be an '03A3 for what I think are some pretty good reasons. Despite its faults, though, my first choice in a bolt action repeater would still be a No4 Lee Enfield.

[Vern Humphrey]

Well that's obviously all very true for me as well. I have two kinds of firearms, recreational and serious. My serious guns for self defense are modern firearms. The recreational guns are "vintage" firearms. But the statement stands, if I had to use a Mauser type bolt action repeater in 1943-44, when the day of the bolt action repeater was almost done, and had a choice it would be an '03A3 for what I think are some pretty good reasons. Despite its faults, though, my first choice in a bolt action repeater would still be a No4 Lee Enfield.

I'd pick the '03A3 hands down. The No 4 Enfield has a peep sight -- a great improvement over the sights on it's predecessors, but so does the 03A3. I keep my Remington '03A3 zeroed for cast bullets and use it for small game. My Smith-Corona is zeroed for soft nose full velocity ammo and it's my "loaner" deer rifle.

[Merc]

Well that's obviously all very true for me as well. I have two kinds of firearms, recreational and serious. My serious guns for self defense are modern firearms. The recreational guns are "vintage" firearms. But the statement stands, if I had to use a Mauser type bolt action repeater in 1943-44, when the day of the bolt action repeater was almost done, and had a choice it would be an '03A3 for what I think are some pretty good reasons. Despite its faults, though, my first choice in a bolt action repeater would still be a No4 Lee Enfield.

My first choice in battle rifles would also be the No. 4 with its 10 round magazine and buttery smooth action.

[Vern Humphrey]

My first choice in battle rifles would also be the No. 4 with its 10 round magazine and buttery smooth action.

The 10 round magazine is an advantage in Volley Fire -- a tactic the British abandoned when their enemies quit standing in serried ranks. The No. 1 MK III* which came out in January of 1916 omitted the volley sights.

Now consider this -- you and I are going to fire 100 rounds as fast as we can -- you have a SMLE, I have a Springfield. We start with loaded magazines. After 5 rounds, I have to reload. You keep firing for another 5 rounds, then you need to reload -- with 5-round clips. At the end of the exercise, I've crammed 19 5-round clips into my rifle, and you've used 18 -- not much difference.

[lyman]

The 10 round magazine is an advantage in Volley Fire -- a tactic the British abandoned when their enemies quit standing in serried ranks. The No. 1 MK III* which came out in January of 1916 omitted the volley sights.

Now consider this -- you and I are going to fire 100 rounds as fast as we can -- you have a SMLE, I have a Springfield. We start with loaded magazines. After 5 rounds, I have to reload. You keep firing for another 5 rounds, then you need to reload -- with 5-round clips. At the end of the exercise, I've crammed 19 5-round clips into my rifle, and you've used 18 -- not much difference.

um,, Vern, the No 1 MK III* was just a change, (LoC) for 1916,
so technically, the No 1 Mk III* did not just come out, as a LoC, (list of changes) they were manufactured without , but some were redone with (and the * barred out) etc etc, others not changed till years later,

[Art]

[QUOTE=Now consider this -- you and I are going to fire 100 rounds as fast as we can -- you have a SMLE, I have a Springfield. We start with loaded magazines. After 5 rounds, I have to reload. You keep firing for another 5 rounds, then you need to reload -- with 5-round clips. At the end of the exercise, I've crammed 19 5-round clips into my rifle, and you've used 18 -- not much difference.[/QUOTE]

I can get off 14-16 rounds with a Lee Enfield and generally hit a silhouette target at 200 yards in one minute. I've never exceeded 12 with any Mauser Type rifle and that's starting with 5 in both rifles. On the Rapid fire pre WWI drills at 300 yards exercise in the Lee Enfield qualification in which the soldier was given 15 rounds IIRC the rifle was loaded with four to start which necessitated 3 reloads. As the below video indicates firing all 15 was not required and a decent shot could qualify without firing the allotted number of cartridges.

When it comes to reloading practice is absolutely essential and often neglected. In Basic training in the Army not only did we never do rapid fire on the "Trainfire" range but we never did a reloading drill. We did have to reload on the assault and defense courses but no score was kept and the exercises were not timed. A reloading drill for this purpose is firing a timed stage in which after expending the last round in the weapon the shooter reloads and fires again on a scored target. To illustrate the difference this can make, I was the last person in My agency authorized to carry a revolver. I used Safariland Comp II speed loaders for reloads. At the end everyone else was using an auto pistol at qualifications and I know probably none of them ever did a reloading drill on their own time. An example was a stage on the qualifying course (we shot at ranges from three to 50 yards) at 7 yards there was a stage where you fired the last two rounds in your handgun reloaded and fired two more in 20 seconds. On the reloading drills I almost always got off the first shot out of my "wheelgun" after the reload on the reloading stages. If the other dudes (and dudettes) practiced at all I should have been last.

There are other advantages to the Lee Enfield in rapid fire, though starting with 10 (or eleven) does help. Other advantages the Enfield system has include: the smoothness of the action, the bolt handle being behind the trigger guard, the 70 degree bolt rotation by the Enfield as opposed to the 90 degree rotation required on Mauser bolts, the shorter bolt travel due to the locking lugs being at the rear of the bolt instead of the front in the Mauser system. This last also eliminates the need to rotate your face out of the path of the bolt if you've been trained, as I was in the army, to get your face as close to the back sight as possible. I forgot this once shooting an '03 and got a nasty mouse during a rapid fire drill when the cocking piece smacked me right on the cheek bone.

Also, after the Boer war the Brits completely scrapped their rifle training system and instituted a new one that was very practical. In fact it may have been the first practical, comprehensive marksmanship program by any army. Army rifle training in Basic Training when I was in was a dinosaur compared to Brit training in 1914. There is a youtube channel called "British Muzzle Loaders" that has a comprehensive four part series on British marksmanship training in the years leading up to WW I. I am including the section on "The Mad Minute" that, at one point shows the qualification course while debunking a lot of the claims about the "Mad Minute."

If you're interested the complete four part series is well worth watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCLT-5pDrKk&T-849s

[Merc]

R. Lee Ermey staged a head to head rapid fire competition between the M1903 and the Lee Enfield. The M1903 got smoked.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5x6yco

Ermey was always entertaining. I miss him.

However, going up against the M1 Garand was a different story.