Running a gun serial number search is essential if you’re looking to buy a used gun from an individual or a dealer. While it is illegal for dealers to sell guns that have been lost, stolen or used in a crime and wanted by the police, it can happen. The Purpouse of this is assist those who are considering aquiring a 1903 service rifle, to aid in identifying the so called 'low numbered recievers' which are considered unsafe to fire. The Magic numbers here are any rifle below 800,000 for Springfield Armory and 286,506 for Rock Island Armory. The reason these rifles are considered unsafe to fire is due to improper heat treatment when they were manufactured.The ammunition of the time was thought to be a contributing factor as well. The method of determining the proper heat treatment was less than scientific in that the men who were doing the heat treatment used the color of the steel to judge whether the correct temprature had been reached, When these rifles failed they shattered often causing injury to the shooter. Rifles manufactured after 800,000 and 286,506 recieved a double heat treatment and tempratures were measured with insturments rather than 'by eye'. Many of these original rifles were not withdrawn from service and are still on the market today. 1903/A3/A4 rifles manufactured by Remington and 1903A3 rifles manufactured by Smith Corona are not affected and are considered safe to fire as long as they are inspected by a competent gunsmith as they should still be checked for proper headspace, bolt setback etc. If an individual is considering buying a low numbered Springfield or Rock Island 1903 do so knowing that it is not a shooter and IT SHOULD NOT BE FIRED! But rather as a piece of military history.The actual change in heat treatment occured somewhere between 750,000 and 800,000 for Springfield, but the exact serial number is not known so it is possible to have a Springfield below 800,000 that is safe to fire but there is still no way of knowing if a given rifle with a serial number between that range recieved the proper heat treatment, so you are taking a chance on firing one. The actual rate of failure is very low compared to the number of rifles produced but it ain't worth losing an eye over! I know of people who own and fire low numbered rifles, but in my opinion it's just not worth the risk. Heh, I am not sure I would post a SN on an open forum like that. We usually don't need the last 3 digits to gather information. ![]() RIA = Rock Island Armory The RIA barrel indicates it was rebuilt during WWI and should be safe to shoot. Demand forced the rebuilding of a lot of the earlier 03's. Don't have my books in front of me, so can't help with the cartouche right away. Depending on condition, and what the markings are, it might be 'original' to a collectors eyes (like mine) and grab a decent price. Unfortunately prices are all over the place currently and the only way I could give you 'Market Value' on the piece would be to post it up for a no-reserve auction and see what it goes for. Pictures would help though. $375-$875 best guess without more information.sorry. Vengaboys songs download pagalworld. Skyhawk, there are two schools of thought on this thread about '03 service rifles made by Springfield Armory and Rock Island Arsenal with serial numbers below 800,000 and 286,506 respectively. One school is that they are potential time bombs and should never be fired because of failures that occurred even though the failures were in the low double digits, perhaps less than thirty out of 1,086,506 produced from 1903 until early/mid-1918. The other school is that they are safe and that the necessary precautions to eliminate the problem receivers were already taken. Many of us on this thread respect the safety concerns that others have for these rifles, but only as we would 'any' military surplus rifle from around the world. We take the necessary precautions to shoot ammunition that does not exceed mil-spec standards and we wear proper eye protection. Many of the failures are believed to be from weak case heads from ammunition produced at Frankford Arsenal during World War I, and at least 2 or 3 blow ups from soldiers shooting captured German 7.92x57mm (8mm) ammunition. Ordnance Department promptly identified faulty receivers, and perhaps a number of good receivers for good measure, and destroyed them. U-he hive crack mac.
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