The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Tower.75 wrote:They're about $300 across the Pond.

How do I import - can I just ask a mate in the US to wrap one up and post it to me?

I doubt it's that easy :cool2:

Going rate for an 03 Springfield in decent shape in the States is around $800.00 nice ones about a grand. 03's have been selling in the high price range for about ten years now, with the bad economic conditions someone may get lucky and find an example in a private sale for about $500.00 but that would be snatched up quick, there is no longer a reasonable priced Springfield out there.

I had a good friend of mine in the states offer me 4, a mix of 1903, and 1903A3's in mint condition for $2000, sadly I have no way of bringing them in at the moment

There is a very reasonably priced one in the Firearms for Sale section just now.

Be aware that one of the military surplus firms in the U.S. (Gibbs) is reactivating drill 03A3s and selling them on the wholesale and retail market. The rifles were made into drill rifles by welding a rod into the barrel, tack welding the barrel to the receiver, welding up the bolt face and welding the cut off so that the bolt couldn't be removed. Gibbs is installing new bolts, barrels, and cut off and refinishing the rifles. They look nice and apparently so far at least have stayed together when shot, but they are at the end of the day a reactivated drill rifle but are being sold for the price of an original.

O3s are sold periodically through the Civilian Marksmanship Program here in the states. The last batch went for around $500 and were returns from veteran's organizations. The vets fired corrosive blanks through them and being an idle lot frequently didn't bother to clean them so the bores are trashed.

Prior to that the CMP sold rifles returned by the Greek government via the Foreign Military Assistance program. Some of these were nice. Many had been refurbished by the U.S. government before being loaned to the Greeks and came back in the same condition. This is the Greek return that I obtained from the CMP:



It is an early 30s rifle with a SA 42 barrel sitting in an early issue 03A3 stock with a WW2 replacement bolt. Nice and accurate although the sights are beginning to be a challenge to my aging eyes!

Nice lookin' 03 there

Yes, I'll heard about Gibbs. Very iffy that.

Tower.75 wrote:Evening Ladies and Gents.

For quite a while now I've been quite keen on getting an M1903 Springfield rifle, preferably an A1, not A3 as I prefer tangent sights to peep sights.

However, I 1) cannot seem to find any - the M1903 seems to be rare as anything, and 2) if I do find one, they're over £1000!! :shock:

I don't get it. Why? You can get a No1/No4 for about £250-£300, a Mosin-Nagant is about £275 - Mausers are a bit more. So why is a bog-standard M1903 over a grand?

Regards
T

Hi

if you're still looking, there's one in a RFD around here. PM me and I'll send you the details. I'm no expert but pretty sure it is an A1

Cheers for the info.

If I had a spare £1K I would be looking, yes. Alas, it is not to be. :cool2:

Hi

Meh... went to pm you the link only to find list has been updated within last 30 min - rifle is no longer listed. Sorry about that

No worries