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Nice rifle you have.

Thanks for the kind words guys.......

Continuing the Springfield general discussion, I have been looking into the origins of my receiver and bolt (curious why the bolt isn't numbered with the rifle by the way) ??

An American friend has said it most likely originated as one of the (3,000 approx) DP'd A3's surpassed in the 1970's and bought by Parker Hale...these were subsequently bought by Gibbs who built up their A3 and A4 builds on these actions....

Anyone got a Gibbs A3 or A4 example ?

Military arms channel on YouTube did a video on the Gibbs rifles, IIRC they are quite profusely marked so as not to be sold with the knowledge of what they are

Do you mind if I ask what it cost for all the parts, I'm assuming you are an RFD. I have always wanted one of these but can't afford the £4k-£5k for an original.

huntervixen wrote:Anyone got a Gibbs A3 or A4 example ?

Got an unpaid invoice for Gibbs, as they never paid for some scope caps that I supplied them!
Does that count?

Oh, how about a new photo now that your A4 has the leather scope caps?
...it's nekkid without them :lol:

huntervixen wrote:Thanks for the kind words guys.......

Continuing the Springfield general discussion, I have been looking into the origins of my receiver and bolt (curious why the bolt isn't numbered with the rifle by the way) ??

An American friend has said it most likely originated as one of the (3,000 approx) DP'd A3's surpassed in the 1970's and bought by Parker Hale...these were subsequently bought by Gibbs who built up their A3 and A4 builds on these actions....

Anyone got a Gibbs A3 or A4 example ?

Hi HV

Were the Gibbs in anyway connected with the UK produced Bremmer 1903s that used original US receivers? I just dug out a 1998 brochure for them.

Cheers

Afternoon Paul,

Googled this from tinterweb http://castboolits.gunloads.com/ response to a US forum disscussin on the Gibbs A4 and its general "quality issues" Looks like some form of scullduggery took place involving all these companies, looks like the reason Parker Hale dissapered so quickly, who knows !!??

Interesting stuff, so perhaps this is the origin of my A4 action ??

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12-23-2009, 08:33 PM
Hmmm does anyone know if Gibbs has any tie up with a company called Modular Industries?

The reason I ask is that this company was the oen behind the company called Bremmer Arms and through thsi bremmer Arms they brought Parker-Hale and one thing they started producing at the Golden Hillock, Birmingham of re-manufactured Springfield 03's.

As I understand it they tried importing soem of these Springfields intot eh US and of course fell foul of the law in doing so which is why Bremmer Arms and Parker-Hale were closed down and wound up so quickly. The Springfield actions and parts were quickly shipped out of the UK the South Africa until it had all died down. Some of these were then re-imported into the UK and have been assembled and sold here and they seem to have been done correctly.

I wonder if some of these parts guns made it to the US and if these are the the source of Gibbs "parts".

I still have the glossy leaflet produced by Bremmer Arms for the 03's and a business card from one of the directors of Bremmer Arms as they set up a custom shop and they were going to build me a custom .257AI on a springfield action however when the muck hit the fan it was all closed down.

huntervixen wrote:
12-23-2009, 08:33 PM
Hmmm does anyone know if Gibbs has any tie up with a company called Modular Industries?

The reason I ask is that this company was the oen behind the company called Bremmer Arms and through thsi bremmer Arms they brought Parker-Hale and one thing they started producing at the Golden Hillock, Birmingham of re-manufactured Springfield 03's.

As I understand it they tried importing soem of these Springfields intot eh US and of course fell foul of the law in doing so which is why Bremmer Arms and Parker-Hale were closed down and wound up so quickly. The Springfield actions and parts were quickly shipped out of the UK the South Africa until it had all died down. Some of these were then re-imported into the UK and have been assembled and sold here and they seem to have been done correctly.

I wonder if some of these parts guns made it to the US and if these are the the source of Gibbs "parts".

I still have the glossy leaflet produced by Bremmer Arms for the 03's and a business card from one of the directors of Bremmer Arms as they set up a custom shop and they were going to build me a custom .257AI on a springfield action however when the muck hit the fan it was all closed down.

Hi HV

That might well fit in with what I remember about the sequence of events.

Bremmer were pretty short lived and for a while, their products, mainly the .22 M16s and 1903s were available via Parker Hale.

I bought my M16 from Bremmer at Bisley in 1998 or 99. I got to handle a couple of the first 1903s that they bought to the show and they seemed very nice too. Original 1903s in those days seemed few and far between.

So if the same holding company was behind Bremmer and PH, they may have played the old Potomac Two Step (thank you Tom Clancy) and folded Bremmer when it ran into political problems. They shifted the stock to PH, probably at a minimal paper cost of a penny to avoid leaving funds for debtors in Bremmer.

I talked to Paul Leitner-Wise one of the Bremmer directors, at the 98 show about the 1903s and I'm sure that when talking about the batch of original receivers he mentioned that they were something to do with Lend Lease. Why the US would ship just the receivers is anyone's guess!

I eventually bought a 1903 Type C stock off them in Walnut for my de-act A3, that's beautifully made and now houses my 'live' A3.

I was the anti-gun pro-cigar smoking Clinton that introduced the import restrictions on old exported US Military stuff so I very much doubt that any made it back to the states as those restrictions to my knowledge have never been revoked.

Not being familiar with the Gibbs I'm not sure what Receivers they would have used, the Bremmer rifles were based on a mix, of Remington, Rock Island, C Smith Corona etc. They were working on some scratch built receivers but I'm not sure how far they got with those.

Cheers

Morning Paul,

First off mate, I was going to ask if you needed a "C" stock, as I might have the opportunity of importing some new old stock WW2 examples, waiting to hear back, might be a red herring though.

Well Gibbs used ex US DoD Drill Practice A3's, they bought a large number (thousands by some accounts) and reused the receivers to build up new repro A4's and also rebuild A3's.

There has been much controversy in the States regarding the Gibbs builds, some (unfounded it seems) issues regarding safety and other issues regarding quality of the finished product (unfortunately allegedly true, at least for the early production).

Saddler knows a lot more on this subject I am sure (pics of your excellent repro Alaskan covers coming soon by the way mate)

The US DP A3's were deemed suitable for reuse because they say the structural integrity of the receiver isn't damaged during the DP process. The process used by the DoD consisted of the firing pin being cut and the FP hole welded up, the barrel tacked on at the receiver ring (to prevent removal) and the mag cut off welded up to prevent bolt removal.

So Gibbs, stripped down the rifles, carefully removing the weld, re heat treating as required, added a new manufacture barrel and a NOS bolt, mag cutoff etc and repro Stock, scope and mounts.
It seems sadly, this is a great idea ruined by accountants (as usual), build quality and customer service were allegedly lackluster.

Not sure about the status of the project today though?

I am still trying to find out more about the origins of my rifle, certainly no evidence of welding or grinding on mine though.