Looking for info/advice on a Remington 1903 I inherited. Anyone on here a guru on such that would be willing to help with some info & valuation?

Thanks so much.

J.R.

If it's a Remington, that means it's probably 1903A3 and should be fine to shoot as long as everything else is in order. If you could give a serial number or pictures, that would help with dating and such. I'm no 1903 guru, just have a general interest in milsurp rifles.

Thanks, sir. Pics below. I feel like this was a project gun from when Dad may have been a teenager, because it appears he tried to do inlays and checkering and it's clearly amateur work.

Are decent stocks available for this action if I wanted to update it and shoot it?
I can't imagine anyone wanting the stock, but is the action worth anything? If so, how much?

Thanks for anything you're willing to share on it!

September ‘42. She’s a little rough and sporterized. Not worth a bunch, but if the barrels not cut you might bring it back to milspec. It looks short. Plus the dovetail rear sight was cut in I suspect.

Thanks, Bill! Good info & thanks for the link, Sir.

Solid action and potentially a good shooter, I think in that condition it might be better to fine tune the sporterization than try to restore to military configuration. It looks like Boyds has a stock and I'm sure there are others.

This!! Hunt with it.

Hemingway took a Griffin & Howe customized Springfield 1903 on his African safaris as his main rifle, he talks about it in Green Hills of Africa. Gary Cooper had one too. Having a hard time finding a good picture of Hemingway's, but here is Gary Cooper's:




They were the elite rifle of the wealthy American sportsman until Weatherby came along.

Dang that is one sharp gun!!

Well, the good news is that your Remington 1903 hasn't had the receiver drilled and tapped for a scope. It doesn't look like it has been polished either. I think someone would pay $400-500 for the action.

I think the barrel is beyond restoring, but you can still find barrels. You can also get new commercial barrels like the Criterion (the CMP has them for sale for $200). Of course, by the time you find a stock and handguard, stock hardware, barrel and rear sight assembly you would probably be up to the price of a complete rifle.

There is nothing wrong with enjoying it the way it is either. The first thing I would do is check it out carefully and then shoot it! Be sure to confirm that it is still chambered in .30-06.

Remington initially built Model 1903's during WWII, starting with serial number 3 million. They made over 300,000 of them before transitioning to the Model 1903-A3. The production of the two actually overlapped, with some Remington 1903-A3's having lower serial numbers than Remington 1903's.

I have one of the Rem M1903's to go along with some 03A3 variants. Kind of rare b/c folks aren't that familiar with them... but nice rifles.

I'd check headspace on the bolt / receiver / barrel to make sure you are good (as one individual said to also confirm it's still 30-06).

Receiver's were good and no issues with the heat treat like early early Springfield M1903's.

Didn't see, but is the barrel an original M1903 barrel with the allowance for the ladder slight sleeve?

The only marks I see on the barrel are what appears to be "A2" just forward of the rear sight.

I'm just now seeing the pics.

Cass gave you some good info. I tend to agree with the evaluation. You can find straight and scant stocks on the CMP forum as well. New barrels are not hard to find, and the sight pieces you'll have to run down. By the time you do that you'll have enough in it where you could buy one ready to go.

The value I see is that's it's a WWII version of the original M1903. Kind of cool to have one of the two WWII Remington bolt actions... the much scarcer one.

Here's a link to the CMP marketplace for bolt actions. Browse a bit and look into some of the other sub-forums.

https://forums.thecmp.org/forum/marketplace/parts-for-sale-or-trade/bolt-action