A 1903A3 has joined the arsenal update: range report

A colleague's father passed away recently; my colleague is aware of our interest in martial arms and asked me if I would like to purchase his father's rifle. It is a Remington 1903A3. The serial no. research I have done leads me to the conclusion that it was manufactured in 1942. His father was issued the rifle while in the Navy during the Korean War, and when he was offered the option of purchasing the rifle, he did. Since then the rifle has been in a closet, loaded, to protect his family. I have assured my colleague that der Junge and I will care for it and use it in VBAM competition as well. Herr Bowser has checked headspace, ok, and the bore is VG.


I feel very fortunate both to have been offered this opportunity as well as to have been entrusted with owning a family heirloom. I told my colleague this and although I am paying for this rifle, I still owe him. I believe y'all know what I mean. Range report to follow if I can make it out there tomorrow afternoon!

Sounds like you are proud of that thing -- AND YOU SHOULD BE!! Very nice and I'll bet it shoots very well!! Congratulations!

Good score! The question is will it outshoot the Swede?

VERY good looking 03-A3. Yes, something that will NEVER be sold again (with that history and memories).........................

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PhillipM wrote:Good score! The question is will it outshoot the Swede?

Not with Zink behind the trigger...............

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SubGunFan wrote:

PhillipM wrote:Good score! The question is will it outshoot the Swede?

Not with Zink behind the trigger...............

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"with friends like these, who...

Very nice rifle! I'm sure that it will shoot great.

Nice rifle! Wish I could buy one here.

Uwe

Looks to be very nice, good luck at the range!

HoferUtzer wrote:Nice rifle! Wish I could buy one here.

Uwe

Come visit & you can shoot the the M1s, the 1903A3, and the rest as much as you'd like! Hope you & the family can make it over here soon.

Couldn't shoot yesterday; got to the range & it was occupied by 4H ers. Will make a trip there tomorrow after w*rk.

Well, I had about 2 hrs free this afternoon so went to the SWGC 100yard range with a can of CMP Lake City 1966 ball ammo. Here are the results: I fired at an SR-1 center which simulates a 200-yard target. The bull (black) is 6 5/8"; the 10-ring is 3 1/4". I fired several 5-round groups from the bench and calculated the % score. One group off the bench, 88%:
And a slightly better group, 90%:

But I don't shoot my best off the bench so I got into my shooting jacket & sling and fired this from prone, 91-1x:

(FWIW I called that lower "8" when I fired it)
So I am happy with this rifle for what it is. Not bad for de-linked MG ammunition that is 45 years old. I have some M72 match and will try that next time. Will it do better than the Swedes? We shall see. I know that firing a 20-round string prone in the CMP course of fire with this 1903A3 will definitely be more, um, invigorating, than firing the same with a 6.5 x 55 ! Good thing der Junge wants to use this one in the Vintage Bolt competition . . .

Good shootin'!

Looks like ya' got a definite keeper there.

Yep, that one will definitely place a high score. Mine did really well for me in the last Vintage Match we had. I messed up my rapid sitting, though. It was due to a ammunition and shooter error.

Good shooting, Phillip! I have a hard time telling people slung up prone in a coat is much more solid than a bench.

If you ever get into rolling your own, try some lightweight bullets 125 -135 or even cast for your vintage matches, especially the 100 yard ones.

I will get back into reloading *some day*; my equipment was sold while I was in grad school and since then I have relied on friends to use their equipment with my components to load. I keep hoping to come across an RCBS press at a garage sale or pawn shop or something. Most recently der Junge and I hang out in Papa Doug Bowser's shop and load rounds. Or I load rounds while der Junge explores the shop