Remington 1903a4 barrel

[redcanyon]

I need some advice from the experts.

I currently have a Remington 1903A4 rifle which has a Z prefix and matching serial numbers on the receiver and bolt.

This is NOT a complete original A4 but I would like to duplicate it as much as possible to resemble an A4.

The barrel is a standard 03A3 barrel with front sight and a date of manufacture of 5/44. which indicates to me that the rifle, at one time, was re-arsenaled and rebarreled with a standard 03A3 barrel.

Do you folks believe it is possible for me to find an A4 barrel or is this impossible to do?

I'm afraid of purchasing a barrel from someone who has removed the front sight and attempted to duplicate the finish on the barrel.

Thanks for your help.

A4 Novice

 

[EXTREMEPREJUDICE]

Have you tired the CMP or SARCO, both have stocked the correct A4 sniper barrel previously?

 

[redcanyon]

No, I haven't but I will certainly contact both.

Thanks!

 

[redcanyon]

Contacted both cmp and sarco but no luck.

Still looking.

 

[EXTREMEPREJUDICE]

Criterion makes them, but I don't know about the finish match since it will be a new barrel?

 

[cplnorton]

There really isn't anything special about the 03A4 barrel over a 03A3. The only difference was they were parked without a front sight base on them. And there are some that argue they were air guaged for accuracy, but that is in dispute.

Ordnance didn't put any additional accuracy requirements on them, and they only had to pass a 3'' group for 5 shots, fired from a Machine rest, at a 100 yards.

Honestly the criterion barrel they sell now is probably superior in accuracy to an original take off A4 barrel.

So to me I wouldn't worry even worry about finding a take off A4 barrel. There really isn't any difference in them and there is no way to prove one is off an A4 anyways. I could park some loose 03A3 barrels with the front sight base off, and punch mark them on the underside of the barrel, and claim they are A4 all day long, and no one could prove it false.

So I have zero trust any being sold are legit. They are way to easy to fake, as they weren't anything special.

 

[cplnorton]

Wait I just reread this. For some reason I thought you meant your rifle was a clone. If your receiver is a real A4, which by a Z prefix it sounds legit. Have you checked to see if your barrel isn't correct?

What I mean by this, many were arsenal refurbed, and had new barrels put on them. Later many had the 03A3 sights put on them as well.

So there is a chance if you remove that front sight base, it will be parkerized underneath. It just depends when those front sights were installed and by whom.

I've seen many A4's over the years turned from an A4 into a standard 03A3, and when you remove the front sight, the the barrel is parked underneath in the correct way. I would check this before I did anything.

Unless this was a total sporterized bubba job that someone else restored earlier, there is a good chance that barrel on it has the correct park under the front sight.

But yeah don't put a repo barrel on a real A4 receiver. Disregard that comment.

Also you mention the bolt is numbered to the receiver? They were only marked with the R. They shouldn't have any additional numbers if a true A4 bolt.

 

[redcanyon]

O.K.

I'll take a closer look at the A3 barrel currently on the rifle.

Thanks!

 

[redcanyon]

This message is for cplnorton.

Hi, I took the rifle to a gunsmith to remove the front sight and he said that since it was soldered on, removing it would mess up the barrel quite a bit so I didn't have him do it. I checked the bolt on my rifle and, at the root of the bolt handle, there is the letter R with a . strikemark. There is a serial number on the bolt and it appears that someone had it electronically inscribed to match the bolt. As far as the stock goes, it looks like a C stock. It has been heavily sanded and refinished so it is difficult to read many the remaining cartouch marks. It does still have the RA mark on the left side of the stock by the safety, the letter S stamped in the safety cutoff grove and a letter p (which is circled) and a large letter P on the lower pistol grip.

I think about all I can conclude at this point is that I have an A4 receiver (serial number Z40024xxxx) and the other parts of the rifle are open to question.

Thanks for your guidance and help.

 

[D_TROS]

pics please. bolt/barrel/stock

would be interesting to know if underside of barrel has a small dimple/punch mark at end of forearm?

also send pic of cutout for the bolt in stock.

 

[cplnorton]

The military never soldered front sights on. They just pressed them on. They usually aren't hard to remove. The Military had a tool to pull them and take them off.. But usually I just put the barrel in a padded vice to hold it and I take a block of wood and a hammer to pound it off and on. I'm sure there are videos online how to do it as well. But if it is soldered on, it wasn't done by the military.

The A4's never had the bolt electropenciled with the serial number. The 1903A1 USMC Unertl's did, but not the Army A4.

Yeah I would just echo and say you really need to provide pics to see what you have.

Is the profile of your bolt like mine?

 

[redcanyon]

Hi,

Yes the profile on my bolt is like yours although my bolt and handle have been parked.

I'll try to get some pictures posted later in the week.