Yesterday's Weapons Forums

I have a Remington marked 19O3 with a barrel dated 1-1944 and USMC, has anyone else seen a barrel market as such? The serial number is 3174642.

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Mark

Resident of the Northern Republic of Free California

"People should not be afraid of their Government, the Government should be afraid of the people." - V

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote" - Ben Franklin

I don't think I have come across one. Probably done by a Marine Corp armorer. About a '42 receiver, and they didn't come in that stock; so I would say that was built solely for Marine use.

Here are some other photos of the rifle.





I found this rifle about 10 years ago a told a friend (who was in the Marines at the time) about the rifle. He came to the store and bought it, there was about 10 03's there at the time and 4 were marked as this one.

I bought a P17 at the time and my friend bought this one for a big 250.00. Now as time has gone on he is getting rid of his "old" guns by selling them to me at what he paid for them

I was logging my firearms on a computer program when I rediscovered the USMC markings.

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Mark

Resident of the Northern Republic of Free California

"People should not be afraid of their Government, the Government should be afraid of the people." - V

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote" - Ben Franklin

The USMC barrel you refer to was produced during WWII by Sedgley as a replacement barrel. While marked with USMC, the late date on the barrel would make it possible that it was used as a replacement for rifles in use in any branch of the service. I have one in my collection with a '42 date on it, also marked USMC. I have also observed '45 dated barrels made by Sedgley, (marked with a date and "S" in a circle) without the USMC marking.

While before my time, the general rumor is that the earlier the date on the barrel, the better the chance the USMC barrel was installed by a USMC armorer. The Sedgley USMC barrels were also disposed of by the govt. as surplus following WWII. Some were demilled by bending. The bent barrels have showed up on the surplus market... after having been straightened.

Regardless of originality, the one on my '03 tends to shoot very well... when I do my part.

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"THIS WE'LL DEFEND!"

oney

Thanks for the info and welcome to the board!! There a great bunch of collectors here and the only thing bad is the continued addiction to things that go BOOM

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Mark

Resident of the Northern Republic of Free California

"People should not be afraid of their Government, the Government should be afraid of the people." - V

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote" - Ben Franklin

Sedgely had contracts for spare M1903 barrels for both the Marine Corps and Army Ordnance. The barrels made on the Marine Corps contract were marked USMC, and the Army barrels had only the makers mark (Circle S) and date. The Marine Corps quit overhauling M1903's in the latter half of 1942. Sedgely continued to deliver barrels on the contract through 1944, but they were placed in stores and not used. After the war, some were sold as surplus and some were "demilitartized" by bending and sold as scrap. Some unscrupulous dealer(s) purchased the scrap barrels and "straightened " them and sold them to an unsuspecting public. The ones that were not bent shoot very well, but they are not "match" or "sniper barrels" as they are sometimes described by still more unscrupulous sellers. They sold for about $10 in the 60's; and the last listings that I saw for them was for $25 about 1975; and there seemed to be an endless supply.

If you find a M1903 with a Sedgey "USMC" barrel that is dated after the last quarter of 1942, you can be 99.99% certain that it was put on that rifle by a civilian gunsmith after the war. I used several of these in building "poor man's match rifles" 40 years ago.

Resp'y,
Bob S.

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USN Distinguished Marksman No. O-067

Mybusa... Thank you for the welcome.

Bob S... Very interesting information. My Sedgley barreled rifle is a CMP North Store purchase (Greek return) that I picked up back in June 06. The receiver is a 1.4 S/N and the barrel is dated 9-42 with the USMC logo. When I arrived at the store there were two of the 03's on the rack with the Sedgley barrels... the one I purchased with the USMC mark, and the other a '45 dated barrel w/out the USMC mark.

I have seen quite a few of the '44 dated USMC barrels on gunshow rifles, but I have never viewed a rifle dated '42 until I purchased this one.

Interesting thread... very interesting!

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"THIS WE'LL DEFEND!"

sure seems a shame to ruin perfectly good barrels when they would bring a bit more as surplus rather than scrap , but then thats government for you - using other peoples money provides no incentive to be frugle and the attitude of 'theres more where that came from' and 'if we need more we just take more' has almost encouraged the waste

BTW , nice rifle