1903 A3 question, can I use this

nards444

I have seen before on this forum where certain 03A3 you can not shoot for some reason. Can somebody tell me what the reason is, and if my gun has that problem. My serial number is 400****. Its a remington actually

gunut 1

You should not shoot the early 03s because some have brittle heat treating of the receivers but your 03A3 should be fine....

codenamepaul

I believe its SN 800,000 or lower????

nards444

also can anybody date this

firstharmonic

Here's a quote from the Civilian Marksmanship Program

"* WARNING: A serious safety risk is associated with "low-number" receivers. DO NOT FIRE any M1903 with a "low-number" receiver. Such rifles should be treated as valuable and historic collector's items, not shooters. M1903 rifles manufactured by Springfield Armory with serial numbers below 800,000 are considered "low-number" receivers. M1903 rifles manufactured at Rock Island Arsenal with serial numbers 285,507 or below are considered "low-numbered" receivers."

Yours is an 03A3 and should be okay.

modoc

No doubt the warning has merit..BUT old Teddy Roosevelt had one of the VERY FIRST and used it in Africa for his famous SAFARI with no trouble in the least..Also most of the old time BIG HUNTERS used them with NO PROBLEMS..Kinda makes one wonder WHY..???
One thing discovered on the trenches was that a bunch blew up due to the fact the troops mistakenly picked up German 8mm ammo and fired them in their rifles..Along with that SOME of the ammo issued to them was not properly made..The companies pressed into providing ammo to our troops caused the problems..One such outfit was a copper extruding company whose several million rounds were recalled and destroyed due to soft cases..So use your own descretion and consider the "X SPURT" advice as just that..If you have even a slight doubt, DON"T FIRE IT..modoc

v35

Any 03A3 is fine.
The warning has serious merit. Please don't try to mitigate the warning before understanding the problem.
A group were tested after reheattreating a proper statistical sample. They were determined to be unimprovable. Some had "burnt" steel.
As a result the investigative committee recommended that they ALL be destroyed.
However, they were overruled and the guns were placed in "War Reserve"
and not issued. These are the rifles we're talking about.
It is irresponsibile for the DCM to sell these guns without decommissioning them. The warning will not follow the guns and they
will represent a potential hazard to shooters.

bpost

"Hatchers Note Book written by then Major Julian S. Hatcher is a wealth of information on the causes of the receiver failures. Some were attrubited to the use of tin on some match bullets soldering the bullets in the case; in combination with grease IIRC.

I would look for a "Hatchers Note Book" and enjoy the rich history of small arms in the early part of the 20th century.

nmyers

There are only things that would make an 03A3 unserviceable:
1) If it was assembled from parts & no one has checked the headspace, & 2) if the rifle was ever used as a "drill" rifle (that is, it has traces of weld &/or burning).

Since nards is unable to post photos, I don't see how we can tell him any more.

Neal

nards444

well its its orginal my great grandfather orderd in the 40-50's it was from some catalouge that had surplus, to my knowledge it was new out of the crate, he sporterized it, when he died it went to my grandfather then to me.

Pinhead

The warning on the 1903's below the listed safe number for the Springfield and the Rock Island rifles is both valid and should be heeded. But this warning only applies to these two manufacturers of the 1903 and not the Remington or Smith Corona made in WWII. There were contributing factors but the main one was the excessively high temperature used to heat treat the actions which left the action brittle and subject to sudden castrophic bursting. Faulty ammo and other causes only contributed to the basic problem. Since there is a serious safety issue I would recommend NOT firing these rifles and consider them for what they are, a serious piece of history that should be admired and displayed but not used. The 1903A3 is a later variation of the rifle altogather and has no safety issues of this kind that I have ever heard about. Please do not let anyone tell you that these low number springfields are not potentially dangerous--they most definetly are.