My Day at the CMP

[Bitten]

Mr. Beard, Thank you for your volunteer work at the CMP. I bought one of your 03A3 at the North Store in late January. There were only 7 03A3’s in the rack when I arrived; I was worried I wouldn’t find a nice one. I looked at every one and weighed the pros and cons and settled on Remington serial number 3962567. It was labeled as a ‘Dark Bore’ with a ME of 1 and a TE of 2. The bolt was sticky with dried cosmoline and the bore appeared to have scattered dried up cosmoline too. I thought it would clean up just fine…and it did!

I fully disassembled it, cleaned cosmoline out of everywhere, oiled the metal and reassembled. Nearly every part was marked with an ‘R’. The bolt is buttery smooth now. The 2-groove bore is very bright and shiny with just a tiny bit of pitting in one spot. The wood had lots of cosmoline too but cleaned up well. You can see a sanded ‘P’ proof and FJA, and a very, very faint RA and ordinance wheel. Some tung oil really made it look better.

I took it to the range this weekend. I shot HXP 77 and 78. My 8 shot groups were a little better than 3 MOA; with one group I have 6 shots at a little over 1 MOA! Whoa. I then whacked the steel gong at 200 and 300 yards for good measure. I had a blast. I look forward to taking my family and friends to the range with the WWII trio of the 03A3, M1 Carbine, and Garands now.

So thank you again for your work. I am enjoying the rifle very much. Can you tell me what your notes say about my rifle please (SN 3962567)? It looks like you worked on it on 15 Jan 2016 or 15 Jun 2016…hard to make out if that is a ‘a’ or ‘u’. Thanks again, ‘Bitten’

[John Beard]

Thanks for your message!

Your rifle, Remington M'03-A3, S/N 3962567, was one of nineteen rifles I inspected on 15 January 2016. Indeed, it was the first rifle I inspected that day. According to my notes, your rifle was fitted with its original R.A./8-43 dated two-groove barrel. I also noted that your rifle was fitted with the wrong bolt which usually means that I endeavored to replace it with a more correct bolt. I further noted that your rifle was otherwise in original condition as it left the Remington factory in 1943.

I am happy that you are pleased with your rifle. Thanks again for your message! And thanks for your patronage!

J.B.