Why I can't be trusted in a Pawnshop

[Richard H Brown Jr]

Greetings:

Looks like my post late last year about wanting a 1903 sorta took root.

Saw it today, picked it up today in a pawn shop. (With a 45-50min wait by the shop on hold to NICS)...

Springfield sn: 10305XX. With several weird things.

S stock with finger grooves, with only the P proof and a 'J" in the cutoff groove. Low hump forestock? Can someone post a side by side comparison between High Hump and Low Hump forestocks.

Mixmaster Remington bolt with a non-matching sn electric pencil etched into the bolt body.

RIA Ordnance bomb barrel dtd 10-18 with 10113? stamped under the handguard. And Pipe wrench marks on the barrel down by the receiver and towards the front sight about 3 sets around the barrel.

Buttplate is the eary thru 1917 style checkering as far as I can tell.

Front band has a letter "H" stamped on the bayonet lug.

And it has the two piece bolt stop installed.. I call it two piece, because the pin that holds it in place rotates.

Questions:

Why does the sn. fall in the range of MK's (IIRC) and it's a standard M1903?

I seem to remember that pipe wrench scratches on a barrel tend to indicate USMC armorers.. (Maybe)

A Springfield marked receiver with an RIA 10-18 barrel? Post WW1 rebuild?

Any hits as to the range of serial nos?

R.H. Brown

[Rick the Librarian]

1. I think the serial number falls just before Mark I production. There are no 1,030,500 range M1903s in SRS.

2. Vise scratches parallel to the barrel are ONE characteristic of USMC "ancestry" but only one.

3. The RIA barrel, although in the approximate same time frame as the aerial number, is a replacement.

[Smokeeaterpilot]

Sounds like a USMC rebuild (possibly), based on the description.

Full serial number and pictures would go a long way if you're looking for help.

[Liam]

Good website for comparison of hand guard varieties: http://www.vishooter.net/m1903.html

[kb466]

I have a USMC rifle that is numbered 1009445. It has an SA barrel 11-18. It has a stock very similar to yours in that it has the circle P proof and the letter in the cutoff slot, but no cartouche. No sign it ever had one as the stock is unsanded. I was once told years ago by an old collector that USMC stocks frequently had the circle P proof, but not the SA cartouche as they were often assembled or overhauled by the USMC at Philadelphia. He added that many of the WW2 USMC snipers also lacked cartouches. No one has ever been able to confirm this information; in fact many have been skeptical that this was so. Still I find it interesting that the stocks on our two rifles are similarly marked.
Bill M.