Just acquired my first '03 Springfield.

[Merc]

The 03A3 stocks that I’m familiar with were made without finger grooves and will have Lt. Col. Frank J. Atwood’s initials (FJA) and the Ordnance Wheel symbol stamped on the left wrist. There are four different inspectors marks just forward of the trigger guard and a circled P stamped just behind the trigger guard.

[Merc]

http://www.proofhouse.com/cm/us_inspector.htm

Inspector chart.

[clintonhater]

I baked the stock in the sun to get some of the oil out of the wood fibers and then treated it several times with acetone.

In the '60s, when dirt-cheap milsurp rifles were being advertised in all the gun mags, I bought a good many of them, including several with stocks so oil-soaked they were black as tar. Fortunately, the professional do-gooders & bed-wetters had not yet banned the sale of carbon tetrachloride, the most effective of all oil & grease solvents, & unlike acetone, not flammable--in fact it was used in liquid fire extinguishers! Could be bought at any drug store. If you find yourself doing this again, I'd suggest wrapping the wood with paper towels, then black plastic, before leaving it in the sun.

[Merc]

In the '60s, when dirt-cheap milsurp rifles were being advertised in all the gun mags, I bought a good many of them, including several with stocks so oil-soaked they were black as tar. Fortunately, the professional do-gooders & bed-wetters had not yet banned the sale of carbon tetrachloride, the most effective of all oil & grease solvents, & unlike acetone, not flammable--in fact it was used in liquid fire extinguishers! Could be bought at any drug store. If you find yourself doing this again, I'd suggest wrapping the wood with paper towels, then black plastic, before leaving it in the sun.

The acetone seemed to have pulled the oil out but placing the stock in a black plastic bag will definitely raise the temperature a lot higher. I heard adding cat litter inside the bag also works to absorb oil. I remember when Carbon Tet was still being used. Nasty stuff.

My 03A3 was still covered with dried cosmoline when I bought it several years ago. Acetone and a rough dish washing sponge worked well to remove it without disturbing the metal finish or the stock. No oozing oil with cosmoline.

The thing that I wonder about is how some gun owners can buy an old gun that’s still covered with a preservative and never clean or shoot it.

[clintonhater]

I remember when Carbon Tet was still being used. Nasty stuff.

If you have heard that, or read that, allow me to correct this false impression. It's no more "nasty" that acetone or lacquer thinner (the best substitute for carbon tet I've found; each time I go to the hardware store to buy a can, I wonder if EPA will have banned it, too), provided it's used with some element of common sense--but that's always excluded from EPA testing. Years after I was cleaning those stocks, I had a job in a lab which involved cleaning glassware with carbon tet, done inside a ventilated hood; probably used a quart every day. I have survived to the age of 77, with no reparatory or other serious health problems beyond controllable hypertension.

[lyman]

The acetone seemed to have pulled the oil out but placing the stock in a black plastic bag will definitely raise the temperature a lot higher. I heard adding cat litter inside the bag also works to absorb oil. I remember when Carbon Tet was still being used. Nasty stuff.

My 03A3 was still covered with dried cosmoline when I bought it several years ago. Acetone and a rough dish washing sponge worked well to remove it without disturbing the metal finish or the stock. No oozing oil with cosmoline.

The thing that I wonder about is how some gun owners can buy an old gun that’s still covered with a preservative and never clean or shoot it.

some of us think we are collectors,

and some are bought cause the price was right and we have others to shoot,


I did clean all the Greek 03's I bought from the CMP,

however, I still have a No 4 Mk2 in the mummy wrap, and a Long Branch No 4 (made in 1950) I bought from a guy out of NH or VT back in the 90's that was used, but packed in some white grease , and I never cleaned it off

[Merc]

If you have heard that, or read that, allow me to correct this false impression. It's no more "nasty" that acetone or lacquer thinner (the best substitute for carbon tet I've found; each time I go to the hardware store to buy a can, I wonder if EPA will have banned it, too), provided it's used with some element of common sense--but that's always excluded from EPA testing. Years after I was cleaning those stocks, I had a job in a lab which involved cleaning glassware with carbon tet, done inside a ventilated hood; probably used a quart every day. I have survived to the age of 77, with no reparatory or other serious health problems beyond controllable hypertension.

The company I worked for used to clean parts with it but switched to something a bit tamer. It supposedly caused liver and kidney problems if over exposure occurred which was something we evidentially avoided.

[Merc]

some of us think we are collectors,

and some are bought cause the price was right and we have others to shoot,


I did clean all the Greek 03's I bought from the CMP,

however, I still have a No 4 Mk2 in the mummy wrap, and a Long Branch No 4 (made in 1950) I bought from a guy out of NH or VT back in the 90's that was used, but packed in some white grease , and I never cleaned it off

There’s undoubtedly a separate market for NOS rifles still wrapped in the original factory packaging. Those should be kept undisturbed as collectors items. The same treatment might be given to uncommon rifles and those that were never fired or rebuilt and still have all their original parts. It sounds like you have some that qualify.

I’m talking about the old, used, banged up, rebuilt mixmaster rifles that are common and went into long-term storage after the war. I’m glad to see that someone thought that they were good enough to be saved and were coated with a preservative. To me, the enjoyment of owning one of these relics includes restoring it to its former glory by cleaning and oiling it, checking to see if everything works, identifying all the parts, checking all the critical measurements, replacing anything that’s defective and shooting it a few times a year.

They’re fun to shoot but to see the look on the faces of fellow shooters at the range when they see one of my relic rifles is priceless. The M1903, 03A3, No. 4 Mk1* and M1917 are impressive rifles. They bring their AR to the range that might weigh a few pounds and I hand them a nearly 10 pound 102 year old M1917 and they light up. I make a lot of friends that way.

[AustinWiseguy]

biggest difference is the cut for the rear sight, on the 03's and the cut for the rear band or retainer (that held the A3 handguard near the front of the receiver,)

there were replacements made that had both features,


after a very quick search the best pic I could find, of a replacement stock with both features

note the small cutouts in the stock just in front of the barrel mounted sight collar,

Got a chance to take a closer look at my stock. It doesn’t have the cutouts as you shared on yours. So giving the absence of the cutouts and finger groove as mentioned by Merc, I’m thinking i actually have the appropriate M03 stock and not the 03A3 as suggested previously. Is this correct?

[Merc]

You have a M1903 stock.

Think of the 03A3 as a cheaper version of the M1903 that was much faster to produce. All the various parts that took hours to make on milling machines were now being mass produced by stamping them from sheet metal. They eliminate unnecessary things such as finger grooves in the stock. They found that cutting 2 grooves in the barrel instead of 4 had little effect on accuracy. The Army was happy because they got their rifles in weeks instead of months and the price was cheaper. The M1903 was a fine rifle but was sacrificed in the name of speed of production and cost.

[AustinWiseguy]

Great! Now to get past the lock-down so I can take this rifle and bring it back to life. Thanks again!

[Johnny P]

Don't worry, it never died.

[Merc]

If cleaning the rifle bore is high on your list of things to do, take a look at the Otis Cleaning System with its pull through cable design. The original cleaning kits that were issued with the 03s were also pull through. Metal rods can wear away the muzzle crown.

[AustinWiseguy]

@JohnnyP: No, not dead, just sleeping. It's great to see them doing what they've been made to do.

@Merc: Thanks for advice. I do tend to use pull-through bore snakes with casual cleaning. This one looks like it's been cleaned, polished and freshly oiled. The previous owner bought it from CMP years ago and swears he's never fired it so I'm not sure the last time it's actually been put to use. The bore is pretty bright for 102 years old.

However, I will be using rod and solvent elbow grease on a recently acquired 105 year old Finn-capture Mosin. Lots of lead and copper build up there. It still shoots well and no crown damage but a shame how some of these old guns get neglected. I have a rod guide that I'll be using on it but it sure looks like it's going to take a long afternoon to get most of it cleaned out.

[clintonhater]

The M1903 was a fine rifle...

Except for the M1905 rear sight, merely a modified Buffington Trap Door sight little changed from the original design of 1884; which was an advanced sight...for 1884! For shooting, give me the A3 sight, crude looking as it may appear compared to the M1905.