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I picked my this 03 on auction, $360 which I thought was a good price. Can I get some opinions. Looks in good shape for a 1920 mfg, small repair on the bottom of the stock. Thx!
Steve G
Steven Gabrielli said
Looks in good shape for a 1920 mfg…
I’d call it average, or so-so cond, but you got your money’s worth. Photo of buttplate inclines me to suspect stock might have been refinished, but I could be wrong. Even so, you still got your money’s worth. Prepare to shell out if you intend shooting it.
November 7, 2015
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Steven-
In my humble opinion you did well. I paid a little more for one in poorer condition and then shelled out a fair bit more for a proper magazine…for a rifle I’ll likely never shoot. Congrats.
Mike
Thanks for the responses. Ammo dosent seem to be too crazy to find, My son and I will eventually put some rounds through it. IDK what’s going on online, but it seems these are going from 800 to 1200$ with US marked ones well into the 1000s. I think it’s a neat and well handling semi auto.
Steve
Last US marked rifle I saw for sale was in the $4,000 range. Years ago, I had a nice one. Sold it for $2,500. They are rare if nothing else. In my 22 collection, I have an early 1903 rifle, and was advised not to shoot it as it has a bronze firing pin. I had already bought several boxes of ammo and one box of collectible ammo from 1915. Too nice a rifle to screw it up. How’s the bore on your rifle? Many have bad bores. Big Larry
Bore looks very good. I am not in the mood to disassemble the the forearm to remove the bolt, but holding it back and using a bore light while trying to look down the barrel, it appears to have not been fired much. I guess the original owner could not be bothered shooting 22 Auto lol.
Big Larry said Many have bad bores. Big Larry
It’s the corrosive priming that did it, combined with the owner’s negligence.
Rifling is strong and shiny, looks hardly used. Ran a patch thru it and it came out clean. Was my lucky day.
With todays ammo, you don’t have to worry about corrosive primers or black powder. It’s quite expensive and hard to find. You are much better off with a M63, unless you are a collector like me. Big Larry
Finally pulled the forearm cap to give the bolt a cleaning after putting 20 rounds thru it. Barrel looks dated 1922? Even the manufacturing floor not using first in first out, isn’t that a bit of a gap being the resource line link states 1920?
oldguns.net database puts this sn at 1922.
Steven Gabrielli said
Finally pulled the forearm cap to give the bolt a cleaning after putting 20 rounds thru it. Barrel looks dated 1922? Even the manufacturing floor not using first in first out, isn’t that a bit of a gap being the resource line link states 1920?
No, not really.
To start out, Model 1903 s/n 107981 went through the polishing room (was serialized) in mid October 1920 (near the end of the year). Winchester never assembled the serialized receivers in date or serial number order, and it is not at all uncommon for a later dated barrel to be fitted to an earlier production receiver. I have seen dozens of examples just like your rifle.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
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