Heresy!

Groatings:

It's heretical to even think the words .308 1903 in the same sentence.

But, has anyone ever seen a 03 or 03a3 rebarreled for .308Win aka 7.62mm NATO?

R H Brown

Yes. 03's have been chambered in just about everything.

http://criterionbarrels.com/m1903-barrel

At least one in the Springfield Amoury Museum Collection.

Hum... 1903/03-A3 chambered in .308 Winchester, set up in issue form. Great idea!!! If I had a spare 03/03-A3 action lying around, I'd be more than willing to try it out! Sincerely. bruce.

It is possible to build up a M1903/03A3 in 7.62/308W. There are some thing to consider:
1. The full bolt throw must be retained, so that ejection will be possible.
2. It also must be retained if you wish to clip load.
3. Something must be done about the magazine so that the 7.62/308W rounds do not move around in the magazine during recoil.
3. The rails of the receiver MAY require reshaping so that the 7.62/308W round will feed reliably.
I have never seen a M1903/03A3 converted to 7.62/308W, but I have seen pre 64 M70's in 30-06, 270W, etc converted. The conversion was quite easy because you could purchase a 7.62/308W magazine box, follower, follower spring, bolt stop, and ejector. Several companies made clip slot adapters that screwed on using the rear receiver ring telescope mounting holes. On most examples I have seen, it ws necessary to modify the receiver rails to accommodate the "fatter" 7.62/308W case. The modified magazine box positioned the rounds further forward.
I do have a Remington M1934 that was originally modified from a Remington 30S full length action by Remington for the 7mm Mauser round and other than shortening the follower and putting a spacer in the magazine box no other mods were apparent. I converted it to 30-06 (the original barrel was rusted out) and I used it as a target rifle. It worked very well.
FWIW

Several years back, I acquired a take-off Remington .308 heavy barrel, taken off a 700 Varmint gun. Had the barrel set back, new threads cut, new chamber, and proceeded to shoot in on a Remington A3 for several years. Never did get 'round to opening up the rails, nor making a magazine block, and honestly, didn't even notice that I had to pull the bolt back much farther than a "short" action. Just used the gun, and didn't think anything about it. Most of the time, I fed it rounds one at a time, by dropping them on top of the follower and closing the bolt, just like it was designed to do!