Question about My 03

[Mebailj]

Back in 1981, I traded for a Remington 1903 rifle. Except for routine cleaning, the rifle has sat in my gun rack since that time. However, today I was reading an article in Guns Magazine on 1903 rifles. I thought I would ask for some input on this rifle to make sure it is a production Remington 1903 so-called Modified rifle. The serial is 3350XXX. The barrel is marked RA 12-42. The stock has RA crossed cannons FJA on it as well as the letters BA in a square box. There is a mark on the front of the trigger guard that for the best of my sight looks like a birds head over the three prongs of a pitch fork. There is a capital P surrounded by a circle behind the trigger guard. There are arsenal marks in front of the trigger guard: A 1, capital M, 5 in a square box, P over 52 in a square box, several other marks. The receiver and trigger guard have a dark green old parkerizing and the remainder of the finish appears blue, though to these old eyes it may also be old greenish dark parkerizing that looks blue. The rifle is basically in mint condition, mint bore etc. there is something strange, though. On the rear bridge, there are two parallel cuts. They look like they were possibly cuts for the 03A3 rear sight. However, they do not seem deep enough to have mounted the sight. These are original cuts as they are the same color, I.e. The gun has not been altered in that spot since production. Also, there are Rs on all the metal parts that I have seen with these marks on other Remington 03s. What do you think about this rifle? Thanks.

[Rick the Librarian]

Your Remington M1903 was one of the last ones built. The receiver and barrel both date to December, 1942. The stock is a replacement from a later M1903A3, if it has an "RA" and FJA". The finish appears correct to me, but pictures would help. The "parallel cuts" on the rear receiver bridge are the marks for a later M1903A3 rear sight. Your receiver was originally made as a M1903A3. However, when targeting problems were being ironed out, it was decided to finish the receivers as standard M1903s. These are seen on Remington M1903s from roughly the 3,290,000 range until the end of production.

"Modified" is actually a term that describes ALL Remington M1903s. It has been adopted (technically incorrectly) as a collector term to describe later Remington M1903s. The Army used Remington M1903 and M1903 (Modified) as two names for the same rifle.

[Mebailj]

Thank you for the information. You answered a number of questions.