Winchester Model 1903 questions

edsjr

My son has this gun, family heirloom passed from my great-grandfather to my dad then to my son.

Serial number is 23841, when about was it built?

My great-grandfather tapped the receiver and mounted a Weaver Model 330 scope on it...any info on that?

I want to remove the scope and restore it to iron sites so my son can shoot it with Old Western Scrounger rounds (he has a brick of original we wont shoot except for special occasions). Anyone know where I can find the rear site?

Also, it is my understanding the '63 is the same gun only it will accept 22LR....will a '63 site work on this gun?

It does have something stamped on the top of the barrel next to the receiver, but I cant see what it is exactly because of the scope. Is this normal or is it likely to have an aftermarket barrel on it?

On the left side of the barrel it says:

Model 03 .22 cal automatic

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Winchester

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(logo)
trade mark reg u.s. pat off.& fgn

On the right side of the barrel it says:

made in u.s.a winchester repeating arms co.

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new haven conn

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lastly, any idea where i might find a site for this gun? I want to get him that and a few boxes of ammo for it so he can shoot it.

Idaho bob

Will try and answer a few of your questions. Date made 1906. Don't know where you would find an original rear sight but a close copy would be a Marbles flat top model available from Midway USA, their product # 986-064 www.midwayusa.com . The one I own is a couple of years newer and the info on the top of the barrel is what's on the sides of yours, you need a real Winchester expert for that but I would reason your barrel is original. Do not fire new 22 long rifle cartridges in your gun, while it looks the same as a Model 63 the internal parts are different, ie the 03 is set up to function at a specific amount of recoil enertia and is also larger in bore diameter. As to your "brick" of original ammo, if its in original full boxes you may fine it worth a lot more to some cartridge collectors than "plinking" ammo for your son. Hope this helps. Bob

richarda

The marking near the receiver is likely the Winchester Proof Mark, a W" on top of a "P" inside a circle, standing for "Winchester Proof".

BTW, that Weaver 330 scope, if in good condition, is fairly valuable these days due to a version of it having been used on U. S. Model 1903A4 sniper rifles during WWII. Lots of those scopes were subsequently junked, rusted out, or lost, and are now much sought after by those trying to restore original WWII rifles.

edsjr

Thank you for the info!

We have no intentions of shooting any of the original stuff, except for special occasions and then we just shoot 10 or so through it out of a partial box....special occasion being things like it was the first gun my son shot, then it was given to him a few years later (he's 11 now)

I know better than to shoot 22LR through it, I have heard the Western Scrounger stuff is safe to shoot through it so we will probably get a few boxes of that for plinking.

Interesting that scope is worth something, and it would probably be difficult to find one in as good of shape as that one is....but it wont be sold.

I dont have the rifle in front of me, but that site doesnt look like it will fit into the dovetail groove on the barrel?

asa

The nominal factory rear sight for the 1903/03 was the Winchester 40A which can accasionally be found on ebay. In that era of special orders other factory sight combinations could be had; my 03 has a factory rear sight blank and a factory installed Lyman receiver (not tang) sight.

The .22 auto special run from Western Scrounger is fast disappearing and is getting expensive but can still be found. The original ammo was made by both Winchester and Remington and is-as you know-very scarce; flip side: if you have a brick, why not just shoot it and have fun? -Asa

edsjr

This is a family heirloom and we dont want to shoot what we have for original ammo, it goes with the gun....except as I said before special occassions we will shoot a few (very few) rounds. I believe in my 39 years I have squeezed the trigger on that rifle fewer than 20 times.

so 40a is the part number for the original site? did the '63 use the same one?

quote:Originally posted by asa
The nominal factory rear sight for the 1903/03 was the Winchester 40A which can accasionally be found on ebay. In that era of special orders other factory sight combinations could be had; my 03 has a factory rear sight blank and a factory installed Lyman receiver (not tang) sight.

The .22 auto special run from Western Scrounger is fast disappearing and is getting expensive but can still be found. The original ammo was made by both Winchester and Remington and is-as you know-very scarce; flip side: if you have a brick, why not just shoot it and have fun? -Asa

Herschel

According to Encyclopedia of Modern Firearms, parts and assembly, by Brownell, the model 63 rear sight is a 32B with the elevator numbered 2C.

edsjr

thats about my luck!

quote:Originally posted by Herschel
According to Encyclopedia of Modern Firearms, parts and assembly, by Brownell, the model 63 rear sight is a 32B with the elevator numbered 2C.