Boxed S.A. cartouche

[bblake]

I was looking over one of my dad's guns recently. It is a Remington 1903/A3. If I had to guess, I would say it has been overhauled. The finish is a uniform dark Parkerizing with no signs of wear, with all Remington marked parts. The stock has a boxed S.A. cartouche on the butt rather than up near the back of the action as I am familiar with. My question is, what does a boxed S.A. cartouche signify? I couldn't find any other stamps or marks on the stock, which appears new.

Thanks,
B. Blake

[George in NH]

Sir,
The stamp you refer to is most likely to be the result of your rifle being "rebuilt" at Springfield Armory. If all or nearly all the metal parts are the same type and color of finish then your rifle has been refinished. Is the "box" a closed (full circumference) box or an open (not full circumference) box? If memory serves, in 1947 SA started a full "Clean and Repair" program to "rebuild" small arms to new condition before being placed in long term storage. Happy New Year, George in NH

[bblake]

The box was not all the way around the letters. Your explanation would account for the uniform finish on all of the parts and the cartouche. Thank you.

[Col. Colt]

I have a M1903A4 Scant Stock with the "SA in Box", completely surrounded, on the left side of the buttstock. I assume it was from an overhaul of an 03A4 that took place at Springfield Armory. The stock is odd in that the area around the magazine cutoff is square cut, not rounded. CC