Can G.I. '03A3 Barrels Be Used To Rebarrel M1903 Rifles?

[Southron]

Or, do the G.I. '03A3 have to be modified in some way to fit?

Inquiring Minds Want To Know!

THANKS

[bruce]

Short answer is... Yes. Slightly longer answer... you have to fiddle a bit to get the 1903 rear sight base fitted. The front sight base on the 03-A3 is of course a bit different from the 03 design, but it is not to big a deal. More than likely you'll have to file the front sight down to zero the battle sight. HTH. Sincerely. bruce.

[Dave in NGA]

I've made this modification a couple time when 03 barrels were too hard to find. The rear shank of an A3 barrel is larger in diameter than the 03 barrel requiring some material to be removed in order to mount an 03 rear sight base. Not too hard a job if you have access to a lathe.

[oldtirediron]

I have done maybe a hundred of these using 1943 or Early 1944 Remington 4 groove barrels, I replaced the 03A3 front sight with an 1903 and just re-drilled the key (1903A3) to pin the front sight in place, The rear of the barrel took about 20 minutes of careful machine time, reducing the rear barrel shank to the correct size, remarking the index mark before machining and turning the front barrel step for the rear sight base into the barrel-- Then installing the rear sight base, front sight base and sandblasting the whole barrel and re-parking ! When finished you would swear it came out of the factory that way!! I put these mostly on 1903 Mk 1 rifles that were imported with terrible barrels on them in the early to mid-1980'S, also some early 1903 Remington rifles with Chinese hash marked receivers!

[chuckindenver]

why,,
when you can buy a new barrel, for less then 200.00 that will mount on the rifle. rear sight base install easy..

[oldtirediron]

When I re-barreled and re-worked these rifles there were no real 1903 barrels to be had except the ones that were brand new and had been straightened by Brinklee trading; I would not use one of those because the Barrels had a shadow where they had been bent, so figuring that this could be a danger area right where your front hand would be !! I also Saw a bunch of HS marked 1917 Enfield rifle barrels that had been straightened, I think all of those barrels had been bent on the west coast somewhere as a demil process ! All were brand new and in the cosmolene paper/green gauze packaging! That is why whenever I buy a new Springfield barrel I always check the bore for signs of straightening!