The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

I just picked up this 1903 Springfield rifle with a 1-44 sedgley barrel marked USMC. it has a RIA receiver and all Remington bolt. the stock is in like unissued condition but does not have any markings other then a flaming bomb on the end just under the barrel. the bust way i can describe the place of the flaming bomb is where a cleaning rod would go in a mauser stock. the bore is bright and shiny and appears to be unfired. the end of the bolt has no marks on if from being fired. my guess would be this has been unfired of fired little since the arsenal rebuild. i dont know much about 1903's so any info would be nice like value. i paid $700 for it. thanks in advance to all.
http://s859.photobucket.com/albums/ab15 ... 903%20RIA/

You dropped $700 on a rifle you knew nothing about at all? Wow, you a brave man In this case you did OK, the USMC was the last holdout among US forces against issuing the M1 rifle, they continued to use the old M1903 rifle until at least 1943 when they began phasing in Garands and returning '03's to storage but I know some were still packing the '03 right to the end of the war. I have one of these also, mine is a 1941, looks pretty much like yours. From what I can see from the pics your rifle is correct, it is a USMC M1903, and worth what you paid in today's market. Collecting US 1903's can be an expensive disease, I know because I had it for years, however when the cost starts getting up near a grand it's time to start doing some serious homework, you lucked out this time, next time you might not. Get William Brophy's book " The Springfield 1903 Rifles" you can probably find it on Amazon, thousands of pictures, and every fact you ever wanted to know about these rifles.
Very nice find for your first 1903, this was the US service rifle from 1903 until 1936 when the Garand was selected as it's replacement. However due to cash shortfalls, and a lack of a war going on the '03 remained in general use by US forces well into the early days of WW2. Yours was made at Springfield Armory in Springfield Massachusetts, it is a rebuild, the serial number could date this one probably to the Great War , the stock was updated as well during the last refurb.

Sorry, I see it clearer now, it was made at the Rock Island arsenal , Rock Island Illinois.

Your rifle receiver was made in 1918, It is not considered a " low number " receiver and is safe to fire. Receivers made before 1918 had suspect heat treatment that caused a tiny number of failures in the Trenches, to be safe the heat treatment process was altered, and low number receivers withdrawn from service. However many of them remained in service, even being rebuilt into new rifles as late as WW2, government efficiency in action.

i know a little bit about the 1903's, enough to know i was not going to get hurt at $700 but not much more then that. i have never seen one with a USMC barrel so that was a shot in the dark. i also read that many of the USMC barrels were bent and then bent back and put onto rifles. i took the rifle apart before i bought it and did not see any indication of it being bent. thanks again for you info, as always its appreciated.

I see the Hatcher Hole on the left side of the receiver, another USMC trait as well as late army rebuilds. Missed that before, the memory is not what it was back in the 90's when I was collecting these Rob P will probably be along sooner or later to look it over, he can tell you more I am sure.

Nice looking M1903! Question, I have also read about bent barrels being straightened out for rebuilds. Was this done solely for the commercial market? Is there a way to identify one of these barrels?

The government didn't need to do that , now when Remington, Seg, and Springfield were producing new barrels and they had them in stock as well. Not every rebuild required a new barrel. Now, what happened after old barrels were sold for scrap, and it's possible some had been bent during battle, is anyone's guess. Outfits like Bannermans used to assemble rifles for Hollywood out of just about anything.

from what i have read the left over barrels that were not used in the rebuild of 1903's were sold as scrap and bent to a 30 degree angle to de mill them. someone thought it would be a good idea to buy them and make them straight again. this was done on the commercial market and dont know if they marked them or not. i think that the later dated barrels (43,44) are the ones more likely to be in the batch that have been bent, but that does not mean all late date barrels have been bent. i have also read the sedgley barrels were not the only ones seen bent.i would think that if you come across a late date barrel that has a receiver that is well worn then i would be suspect because it should have been refinished during the rebuild process. this was just from a few hours of research and i am by no means an expert so if i have misspoken by all means let me know. i would like to learn even if it is pointing out when im wrong.

What one arsenal did to demill something is not necessarily what all of them did, in 1950 the government didn't bother much with demilling gun parts, I have seen crates of late date barrels selling at gun shows back in the early 1990's that were still in their original packing, definitely not bent. Even today it's easy enough to find spare '03 parts that unbending old barrels isn't worth the effort. It would be easier to fake the markings. USMC 1903's aren't all that rare, and as yet only a sniper rig would be worth the effort of faking, at least for financial gain.

Nice M1903! The USMC Barrel and hatcher hole are good indicators for USMC provenance as well. But not always definate. The Army installed Hatcher holes on M1903's as well, they were just not as diligent about it. And the Sedgely USMC barrel could have been installed at a much later date, and possibly by a civilian owner. Is the receiver blued? or just heavily oiled? And could you post some pics of the buttplate, the top front of the receiver with the oil wiped off if that is the case and some pics of the stock?

Don't sweat the bent barrel thing. I have heard that before, and have never seen one let alone one installed on a rifle. More common to find an M1903 barrel modified to use on the M1 Garand. If you see that then run, or rebarrel. If you want to be sure its not bent, then you can take a straight edge around your barrel and check for any dips, bumps or deformities. Lool for any discoloration in the finish, should ring the barrel in one spot. And you can slug it with a lead slug, .32 cal round balls work well, push it through slow and if it hits a loose spot or a tight spot, mark it on the outside and scruitinize the metal in that area. If need be get a dye penetrating kit, I believe Brownells has them, that will detect cracking in metal and test it. If it was bent, there will be some small cracking of the metal that will appear as a ring or crescent shape around the bend spot.

Semper Fi, Rob

Great info on the bent barrel. Thanks you guys.