At the Phoenix gun show yesterday, I picked up an unusual addition to my U.S. military rifle collection. This is a model 1903A3 rifle on which the metal parts have been completely chrome plated for drill team, honor guard, color guard, parade and ceremonial use. Now some will tell you that these are not considered U.S. issue arms. I have to differ on that.
The U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry (The Old Guard) drill team uses them. This is the outfit that guards the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington. Their drill team is a spit and polish group, among the best at what they do. The CMP recently sold a number that had been plated by the Navy and deactivated so that they could not fire. They sold for $525 each. The Springfield Armory Museum has a few examples in their collection, which they obtained from Rock Island Arsenal. It's unknown if RIA did the work, however.
My example is a Remington, with a 4-groove barrel marked "3-43" that's in pretty good shape. It's fully functional and is capable of firing live ammo. It's unusual in that even the rear sight is fully plated. Many used standard blued rear sights, and some had the rear sight (sometimes even the front sight) removed completely to prevent injury when twirling the rifles in fancy drill.
I remember when I was in college ROTC, I was on a drill team, and we used them. Most of the rear sights had been knocked off.
At any rate, I chose from about 8 rifles that were similar; they came from a collector of these plated rifles who had deceased; his family was disposing of them for $250 each, although I managed to sweet-talk them into letting me have one for $200. I noted that the barrel needed cleaning - it might have been used for graveside ceremonial blank firing by a veterans' group. The lands and grooves are still fairly sharp with just a trace of frostiness.
This one is equipped with an original white parade sling; now all I need is a chromed bayonet to complete the setup - I've seen them for sale from time to time. Maybe someone here has one????
John
Here's a photo:
