Springfield M1903 Serial Numbers

[PaulR]

Seeing Huntervixen's bit of gun porn and Saddler's mention of the serial number of his A4, I was prompted to pose a question about my M1903-A3s.

I have two Remington A3s, one sadly deactivated the other a very good 'shooter'.

The Serial numbers for those are:

3976XXX Remington Barrel marked 3-43
and
4143XXX again Remington Barrel marked 12-43

Both have all the correct Arsenal marks and I'm pretty sure that the barrels are original fit. Now the thing is, according to this site:

http://oldguns.net/sn_php/milmods.htm

both have a manufacturing Year shown as '42.

Anybody guess why there might be a discrepancy between the manufacturing year and the barrel stamps.

[saddler]

Anybody guess why there might be a discrepancy between the manufacturing year and the barrel stamps.

I'll play...
My guess would be that both were re-barreled at some point by military.
Most rifles went for full inspection after the war prior to arsenal storage.
The barrels used would have been what was to hand...wartime mfg.

Best read on Springfields is the Brophy "book" - though try not to drop it on yer foot

[bnz41]

Hi Paul,

I also have a Remington 1903A3 all matching, just checked the serial number on the link, mine 3529XXX receiver stamped with barrel 3-43.
Mine is also listed as a 1942 production.
Only thing I can think of is receivers started to be made '42' then by the time the barrels were fitted it's now 1943. Maybe some of the forums US members can help.

[saddler]

I take it some of those here have not been in a gun factory?

Would dig out Brophy now, but Pramface is on!!

[PaulR]

OK, I think I may have answered my own question here.

Not sure if that first site is correct in some details as even if you enter the latest Remington Serial number, it comes back with 1942. According to another site they manufactured up to Feb '43.

http://www.remingtonsociety.com/images/ ... 3-2005.pdf

This one confirms mine as late '43 manufacture and Bnz41s as March '43.

Looks like Remington didn't produce anything after February but as the footnotes explain, assembled Remington rifles may not have been inspected until later hence the late '43 barrel stamps on mine.

[rufrdr]

It isn't unusual at all to find unmolested O3A3s with a 3-4 month difference between the receiver production date and the barrel date. They weren't assembled as one unit but put together from parts when the time came. Once they were in service the barrels would be changed out as needed. When they were run through an arsenal rebuild the barrels were frequently changed. If your stock has an arsenal stamp on it such as OG (Ogden), RRA (Red River) and the like it has been through a rebuild. Some would be only inspected and put back into the supply system, others were taken down to their individual components and parts and the put back together.