03-A3 extractor with a hole

[milboltnut]

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my Remington extractor on my A3 has a hole in it.

[Merc]

Curious.......You didn't by chance find a "W" or an "E" on that extractor, did you?.......Extractors for M1903 and M1917 rifles are almost identical, bur are not interchangeable. The ever-so-slightly longer M1917 extractors have a gas escape hole like the 03s too. You did say it was an assembly of assorted parts....My $.02

I looked with an eye loupe and didn't see a manufacturer's mark anywhere on the extractor with the hole. The NOS replacement extractor has a R stamped on the inside surface. The hooks look fairly close when you lay both extractors side-by-side, but there must be just enough of a difference to prevent the extractor with a hole from working properly with the 1941 Bonnie Forge bolt.

[Merc]

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my Remington extractor on my A3 has a hole in it.

That's interesting. I'll get back to you with a photo of my drilled extractor in a few weeks when we return from a FL vacation. Yours is definitely made by Remington.

[Rick the Librarian]

You have an early Remington M1903 extractor - unless you have a Remington M1917 extractor.

[milboltnut]

I had a the wrong bolt and traded for a Remington A3 bolt body.. I'm surprised the guy didn't trade me the right extractor too.

[Cosine26]

The parts for the 03 and the 03A3 are supposed to be interchangeable but some of the contractor produced "end buy" or " all time buy " parts were pretty rough and would not interchange. Here is an example of a late CC bolt. Note how the bolt sleeve lock and the safety cut is made in one swipe. A cut was changed on the ejector which made them function erratically some times. Even the stamped part were supposed to be "usable on" the 03. I had a couple of bolts that did not have square locking lugs. It looked as if the bold had been chucked into a lathe and turned so that the locking lugs were round. I suspect that the contractors knew that the war was winding down, their contracts were final and they would be out of business before the parts wee needed.
FWIW

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[Merc]

Here are a few photos of the two extractors that shows the difference in the claws. The extractor on the left with the hole is not stamped with any letter and will jam the fired case rather than pulling it cleanly from the chamber while the extractor on the right that is stamped with "R" (not visible in the photo) works perfectly. The close-up photo shows the difference in the claws (I've noticed a lot of details and flaws by being able to zoom in on things like rifle parts, etc.)

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The right claw tip on the extractor with the hole is worn down on the right side compared to the claw tip on the NOS extractor. The post war rebuilder who re-assembled the rifle obviously didn't cycle a dummy round through the receiver to see if the action worked properly.