This is a 1942-date Remington M1903 Springfield. In 1939 the government gave Remington the tooling from Rock Island Arsenal, where M1903 production had ended in 1919. Remington immediately started to simplify production, which can be seen in the straight stock lacking the finger groove of the original. It also already has the ugly stamped trigger guard and follower that would appear on the 03A3.
Oddly, all the other parts are milled, just as in the original 03. The external finish is good, and nowhere near as intentionally rough as the later 03A3. The barrel, marked "RA 3-2" and 307xxxx serial number show that this rifle was made in 1942, during the transition period before the 03A3 was standardized.
Remington continued simplifying, replacing more milled parts, like sling swivels and barrel bands, with stamped ones. They finally developed the peep sight to replace the delicate rear sight. At that time, the government adopted all the proposed changes, and Remington and Smith Corona began production of the M1903A3.
This particular rifle has seen a lot of use, as shown by the wear and tear on the stock, and the heavy wear on bearing spots on the action. It's nicely "broken in", and operates very smoothly.
I have no idea if it saw combat (some Marine units went through the whole war with the 03), but it still has the original dated barrel, in pristine condition. With the corrosive primers in use then, only fanatical cleaning could keep the original barrel in such good shape.
Still, there are a lot of dings and scratches on the wood. All the proper markings are there, although some are very faint, and don't show up well in the pictures.
I bought this rifle about 20 years ago, when I noticed that complete, correct 1903s in any condition were getting scarce. Ideally, for me a perfect M1903 would be a mint, unissued specimen from the late 1930s, when they were made in small numbers, with lots of love lavished on their construction. However, I haven't seen anything like that outside of museums in years, and doubt it would be affordable.
This one shows honest use, with an interesting, but forever unknown, story behind it. All the parts that should have the little "R" have them, the barrel is the right date for the serial number range, and has a pristine bore. I decided it was either "buy now, or never hold my piece".
This old soldier is 68 years old, and the design is over 100 years old. Still, I'd depend on it to still get the job done, even though I'd curse the sights with every shot. I wouldn't be out gunned with the 1903, just "under spoiled" by the lack of modern sophisticated features.
