My Remington 1903A3!

DW357

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Well after sending back that junk Smith Corona, I was able to track down a pretty nice Remington A3 from a friend of an NESer down in Maryland.

From what he told me it didn't see a rebuild and has mostly blued parts which from what I can tell and see from the markings, are all Remington - including the stock. I believe the barrel and receiver dates match too.

Muzzle gauges less than 1 and throat is 3. Anyway it is plenty nice for what I intend to do with it...shoot it of course! Just need to buy a sling at some point.

Bore has some minor frosting but it's still shiny and has strong rifling so I'm not too concerned. Hoping I can sneak out after work tomorrow and put some rounds through it.

These first few photos are from the seller:
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Mine (don't mind my messy reloading bench):
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Great Andrew! I am glad it all worked out in the end.

My SC got a clean bill of health from a gunsmith...haven't had time to take it out yet. We await your range report.
 
Nice.... A nice Ron Brown or Turner sling will do you well.
Don't buy a cheap repro sling. Leather just looks good on these rifles.

I was a bit against it at first but my black sling looks good on my A3.

Maybe you can make it up to the next cmp match at Pembroke and run it. I think July is vintage match and A3 is more than welcome.
 
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Nice one Andrew! Can't wait to hear the range report on it. If it shoots as good as it looks, you should be thrilled.
 
Looks to be as built from Remington. A very good find. The rack number on the buttstock heel shows that it was once at the ready for an armory, guard unit, or legion.
 
Looks to be as built from Remington. A very good find. The rack number on the buttstock heel shows that it was once at the ready for an armory, guard unit, or legion.

Thanks. I meant to ask what those numbers meant on the buttstock. Very cool.

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Great Andrew! I am glad it all worked out in the end.

My SC got a clean bill of health from a gunsmith...haven't had time to take it out yet. We await your range report.

Thanks. Glad to hear your SC is good to go. Just got to hit the range soon.

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Nice.... A nice Ron Brown or Turner sling will do you well.
Don't buy a cheap repro sling. Leather just looks good on these rifles.

I was a bit against it at first but my black sling looks good on my A3.

Maybe you can make it up to the next cmp match at Pembroke and run it. I think July is vintage match and A3 is more than welcome.

Yeah I definitely need to get a sling. I didn't mind the repro sling on my Garand. Definitely liked the price compared to a turner sling though [laugh]
 
Thanks. I meant to ask what those numbers meant on the buttstock. Very cool.

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Thanks. Glad to hear your SC is good to go. Just got to hit the range soon.

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Yeah I definitely need to get a sling. I didn't mind the repro sling on my Garand. Definitely liked the price compared to a turner sling though [laugh]

If you use the sling correctly you will soon see the short comings of the less expensive parade slings.
 
If you use the sling correctly you will soon see the short comings of the less expensive parade slings.

Yeah I'm sure you get what you pay for. So it's the Turner national match sling? How do I know which length to get?
 
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I use an original MRT '44 sling. I put an little blue sharpie line on the inside so it can quickly be positioned for a hasty sling. Historically correct and works just fine for me.

T
 
Enjoy and learn to love the '06.

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Good Luck
 
Yeah I'm sure you get what you pay for. So it's the Turner national match sling? How do I know which length to get?
Turner or Ron Brown M1907/NM sling I run a 54" It covers any rifle I may use it on. You can always trim to your needs also.

I think you will need a 50" min if you cast want a sling for looks and parade use.
 
waiting for the range report!

Couldn't make it to the range today. Got a wedding on Friday and a steel plate match Saturday then after the match I have to help a friend move into his new house in Winthrop. Maybe tomorrow or Thursday? Possibly Sunday depending on weather and what the wife is up to lol.
 
Couldn't make it to the range today. Got a wedding on Friday and a steel plate match Saturday then after the match I have to help a friend move into his new house in Winthrop. Maybe tomorrow or Thursday? Possibly Sunday depending on weather and what the wife is up to lol.

Tell the wife you need help unloading the stuff in the trunk......at the range!
 
You can save some dough and get one of Turner's 'seconds'. I have a few and haven't really found the flaws.

It took me a long time to finally see it. Not until I hung it from a rafter and was able to see it all stretch out.
It has a ever so slight crookedness to it. It also looks like the frog holes are not even? Once on the rifle it's hard to notic
 
Well I snuck out today just before sunset and put 20 rounds of PPU 150 gr FMJ Garand ammo and ~40 rounds of my reloads that I hadn't seen/shot in awhile (46 gr of Varget under a Hornady 168 gr BTHP)

Anyway it shot very well. The PPU shot very high, I had to use a very low 6 o clock hold to hit my 8" steel plate at 120 yards. My reloads on the other hand shot even better - I only had to aim at the edge of my steel plate to hit it. Rear sight was lowered all the way down. This normal with the A3?

Sorry guys no paper targets. Just grabbed my steel and ran off to the range.

No problems ringing the 8" plate at 120 yards. I realize that's no groundbreaking shots but good enough for me and I'm plenty satisfied with how it shoots.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1463616639.549859.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1463616649.335698.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1463616655.839259.jpg
 
Well I snuck out today just before sunset and put 20 rounds of PPU 150 gr FMJ Garand ammo and ~40 rounds of my reloads that I hadn't seen/shot in awhile (46 gr of Varget under a Hornady 168 gr BTHP)

Anyway it shot very well. The PPU shot very high, I had to use a very low 6 o clock hold to hit my 8" steel plate at 120 yards. My reloads on the other hand shot even better - I only had to aim at the edge of my steel plate to hit it. Rear sight was lowered all the way down. This normal with the A3?

Sorry guys no paper targets. Just grabbed my steel and ran off to the range.

No problems ringing the 8" plate at 120 yards. I realize that's no groundbreaking shots but good enough for me and I'm plenty satisfied with how it shoots.

View attachment 167641View attachment 167642View attachment 167643

You have to remember they are not zeroed to match the rear sight setting when set up for a battle zero.
IIRC the 1903/A3s are zeroed for 287 yards on the 200 yard setting. So in the end if your aiming center mass or as my great uncle told be "belly button hold" from 0-400 yards aprox you would hit your target upper chest inside 250 yards belly and groin out to 400 yards... so basically asbout 4-6" high at 100 yards.... also why mosin nagants tend to shoot high.
you would need to change out your front sight if you want a closer point of vs point of impact..... try shooting a target at like 16-18 yards, should be dead on.

im sure that rifle will shoot better than that. make sure your action screws are tight about 45-60 inch pounds...
theres is a lot to do to make these rifles shine.... getting a C stock helps to start. Also poke around the gun forums like gun boards, milsurps.com and look for Bob S got my rifle shooting much better.
For starters clean the bejeez out of the barrel....I think i got about 5lbs of copper out of mine!

you can find good info here also https://archive.org/details/TM9-1270
 
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Lots of fresh lead on the center of that plate. Looks like a real shooter!

I really like Varget and 168 SMK's in Garands and Springfields. 46.5 grains and 3.30" OAL perfect for both. I think the .5 grains between my load and yours is negligible. HXP brass holding up very well with this load. Accidental luck that I found out Varget was good for these. I had dropped Varget in favor of Benchmark for .223 and ended up with extra jars of Varget and no use for them. Now they are no longer 'extra'.

Looks like you did very well once you returned the lemon typewriter. [smile]
 
Actually the reason its shooting so high is because you have the E height front sight blade. There were 5 different blades from A to E with A being the tallest. I had noticed it was an E blade in your pics but forgot to mention about that.

Here's the heights:

Front sight height
A .537
B .522
C .507
D .492
E .477

So you want to track down an A height or even a B height blade. The lowest rear sight setting is 200yds and its POA=POI but an A would give you the height you need for 100yds and you can get one from Numrich that is supposed to be A height or maybe even a little taller.

http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Products/524900.htm

Its a repro but who cares, just hang onto the E if you want to have a USGI blade for it.
 
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