Posted on 10/26/2010 5:18:44 PM PDT by redbaiter
I've long admired the Springfield 1903, and I may have the cash to get one -- a new one, anyway -- next year. I understand that there is at least one company -- Gibbs Rifle -- manufacturing 1903s today. That's exactly what I want: a new one that just works. Are there any other companies making functional 1903 replicas? And what should I be on the lookout for?
you can get a surplus M1 garand here...(I got mine there)
you use to be able to get a 1903 or and 03A3....look it up.
/johnny
Reconsider that new M1903. It will only go down in value for many years to come. If you get an original M1903 (I would get the M1903A3 variant because it has better sights), it is still quite shootable and accurate. Many, many tens of thousands were rebuilt after WWII and then put into long term storage or loaned to allies. Some of the ones that came from the CMP a few years ago had brand new barrels and parts on them. Also, the low serial number M1903s are not considered to be safe to shoot.
The 1903s from Springfield Armory with serial numbers below 800,000 are suspect. Many 03s were rebuilt at the outset of WWll with new bbls. Some are two-groove but don’t let this put you off, the two-groove bbls were surprisingly accurate.
Make sure you don’t get one of the earlier made ones. The receivers were not properly heat treated and could fail.
http://oldguns.net/cat_fa_old_us_long.htm
It is said that in WWII the Germans came to battle with a hunting rifle (M98 Mauser), the Americans came with a target rifle (M1903), and the British came with a battle rifle (Lee-Enfield). The Enfield M1917 is the .30-06 version of the British rifle and also an excellent rifle.
(Prices sure do make me smile)
Same caliber and much nicer to shoot, more accurate, much less shoulder aches after.
I have gotten 3/4” groups with my 1941 2 grove barrel even thought the chamber is too big.
The 03’s are pretty. Steve McQueen slung one around expertly in “The Sand Pebble”.
The ‘03 was at the end of an era. A much better design came out in the closed bolt and firing pin,(better protected) found in the Remington and Winchester bolt action designs.
At the same time, the military decided to upgrade the ability of the infantry to fire consecutive rounds faster and with less difficulty, which is why they went with the M1 Garand and the carbine. It's one of the reasons we won World War 2.
The ‘03 is quite crude and also is prone to contamination getting into the bolt and firing pin assembly through the cocking piece on the back of the bolt.
The Mauser style extractor is a plus, but any good Mauser 98 or better yet, a Model 70 Winchester pre-64, or one of the new remake versions are by far a better choice.
If you are out for accuracy, why not a good Remington 700 BDL? (custom barreled of course) This is the design you will mostly find in the top ten at the National bench rest tournament consistently every year and has been for the last 35 years.
Very interesting, I have some things to think about. Thanks everyone!
Nope...not anymore
I did shoot high power back in the ‘80s when the agency was known as the DCM not the CMP like it is now...cost me $125 or so back then....it took almost a full year from the time I submitted it till the day my mailman knocked on my door with a long cardboard box in his truck....it was Christmas eve and boy was my Christmas a happy one that year.
Yup.
I have a low numbered one, which I have yet to shoot.
But I can tell it has been re-barreled. And when I cleaned it, I put about 8 patches through it till they came out clean.
No doubt in my mind it has been shot - alot!
Just got a box of 140gr Remingtons the other day.
It is a Springfield Armory gun and was manufactured mid-1915, and the data shows no failed weapons from 1915 recorded.
So one of these days, probably early next spring, it will get fired. For those who say it’s dangerous, all I can say is guns are inherently dangerous. I trust this gun more than I would a Remington 700.
Smoothest action on a weapon I have ever seen/felt, bar none!
I got my Remington Rand from a friends widow, who got his through the DCM for $20 or so.
I paid $800 for a real sweet example of Americana....and never regretted it...and my friends widow got to pay the mortgage that month. right now, 6 years later it is worth around $1500
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