I bought a surplus Remington 1903 Springfield thru DCM for $17.50 back in 1950. Refinished the stock and had a local gunsmith blue the hardware. Mounted a 4X scope on it [Weaver?] and, voila!, I had my first hunting rifle. Got my first deer with it, too.

Sold it later when I moved. No regrets as I probably wouldn't use it today. My philosophy is that whatever I have is 'usable', not just for collecting purposes. I don't have the money to be a bonified 'collector', nor the major security required to keep that kind of hardware from being stolen. 'Theft' was a problem back then and remains a problem today - one of the few things that has not changed in our society. Pity, that.........

I welcome and info or history anyone may know about this or similar guns. Thanks!

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I'd say that is a nicely sporterized 03 Springfield that will give many here a case of the jim-jams. Cries of blasphemy and Bubba-ization will ring forth.

I congratulate you on a great find, and suspect you got a smoking deal. Shoot it and enjoy a great American rifle.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

X2 I like it too. Nice score.

The great gunsmiths of the 30's,40's and later years would basically just use the action and everything else was junk. Griffen&Howe in New York has a gun room to die for. I have a Winchester 54 in 30-30 cartridge. Back about 1970 it cost the grand sum of 40 bucks to convert the bolt handle so I could use a scope. Alpine arms did a land office business converting swiss rifles into sporters 30-30 and 308. Parker hale did likewise with the varying marks on the #4 lee enfield rifles in 303 British. And Santa Fe arms also did a land office business doind conversions. One could say that you can buy a modern sporting rifle for less than it would cost to make a silk purse out of a 1903A3.
And that leads to my 1903A3, $89 bucks and out the door. Bore was shot, last owner drawfiled barrel to get rid of the machine markings. All stamped parts, No finish on anything. OK new barrel WWII remington 4 groove $25, new milled trigger guard,florplate, follower and mag spring. Got the old barrel off by hacksawing a relief cut just where the breech end of the barrel contacts the receiver. Mount in steel block with two bolts. Pipewrench to remove old barrel. My dad said it wouldn't come off HAH. One good whack on the pipewrench loosened the barrel. Complete disassembly of the action and replace any worn or damaged parts. New "OLD" barrel don't have a lathe available but we did have a Beaver pipe threading machine at work. So with some copper sheathing wrapped around one end I'd spend about 2 hours a day just filing away at the nmachine marks. My fancy buffer came off a fan and turned over at 1750 rpm, sears sold the buffing wheels as well as the buffing compound. Finally new bbl off the pipethreading machine and get to polish the unmounted barrel. Take everything to gunsmith along with a steel Lyman 57 sight for springfields. And he would supply the banded front sight. $200 later all the bits and pieces are together and gloss blued. Now I need a stock $25 later I got the stock.I had sanded and polished all the metal work to the best of my ability. Couple weeks later and $200 poorer I had me a genuwine honest to gosh hunting rifle.So a lotta me whent into that rifle way before the smith got it. Still have it today To make it all military all I have to do would be install issue front and rear sights and bed in a "C" stock with acra glass bedding. Si if you take your time aand plan And since I have a couple VZ24 stocks floating around it out you two can have a worn out military rifle transformed into something you would be proud to own. Next canidate is a 1937 CZECH VZ 24 action all polished and ready to have either an Iranian 8mm barrel or just maybe a 7.65x54 argy carbine barrel installed. remember the more work you can do yourself the cheaper it will be. Have fun

There's no reason to do it now, just leave them alone.....if you need to change parts to repair them, fine, but I still don't see why people are buying Mosins and chopping them up. I once almost got in a fistfight with a guy at a gun show, maybe 10 years ago, there was a Finn capture 1891 Mosin long rifle priced at $100 and I happened to walk up and it was sitting on the rack, no one was "holding" it. He was telling his friend he was going to buy that and cut it down to make a hog rifle or some garbage like that......It was a pre-98 antique, so I walked up and grabbed it, gave the dealer $100 in cash and the prospective Bubba started running his mouth at me that he was buying that, no....no hands on the gun, it's still for sale, Bubba.....

Yes, back in the 50's people were buying 03 Springfields for $5 out of a barrel at the hardware store and using them as pry bars, truck guns, fence posts whatever....back then it wasn't a big deal.....but there aren't "millions" of them left anymore. The British made millions of Brown Besses too over a 100 year period......is anyone chopping them up?

My grandfather hunted extensively with a sportorized 03 - killed stuff just as dead as my pre 64 M70. Whether it was done by a professional or bubba, it's part of the evolution of firearms in the U.S. When one buys a firearm, it's there's to modify as they please, including the generous application of pink Duracoat to an $11K model 17.

I cringe every time I see a nice milsurp that Bubba has gotten a hold of. They might have sold for nothing back in the 50s but now some can bring a lot of money. Now a days doing a bubba job on a milsurp could be the act of taking a $1500 rifle and making a $150 out of it.

Would you bubba this?

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LIVE FROM THE DAWGHOUSE

So what, as long as it's not your rifle they ruined. I know what you're saying, it's similar to some individual who modifies a perfectly nice car in some absurd manner, e.g., installing dual 6" exhaust stacks that protrude from the bed of a new Dodge Diesel pickup to make it look like a KW, and then hangs a set of huge, bull balls from the trailer hitch.

I am one of the nay sayers when it comes to altering military arms. These are pieces of history. True there are many millions made, but they are still historical. There are plenty of commercial guns to butcher out there. I do not go with the thinking "its mine and I will do whatever I want with it". We are only temporary owners of any object. With this thinking, someone over the decades would have painted a moustache on the Mona Lisa, had Abraham Lincoln's pocket knife ground down and spray painted, and Michael Angelo's statue of David, surgically enhanced. Many of these arms were used in an epic struggle for life, family, and country.

Now that I am off my soap box, I grew up in a time when it was almost expected of a person to buy a cheap military firearm and sporterize it. Some stunningly beautiful sporters have been built over the decades. Some of the most rugged, dependable firearms are military. These were built to be peon proof. They were used as jack handles, pry bars, boat paddle, and various other uses other than shooting. These activities would render most commercial guns useless after the first few minutes. Then they were subject to years of outdoor muck and mud, rain and snow without and gun case to sleep in. If I wanted the ultimate dependable gun it would be based on a 98 mauser action or a Springfield 1903. Most altered arms I saw when growing up were not like most here. They were welded on, hacksawed off, horse rasped, and glued. They were made to work.

It's not the same. Modified cars have parts changed out or added. For the most part the original parts can always be put back. It's not so with milsurp guns. Cutting the wood and barrel, drilling holes, cutting off sights. None of that can be undone. No different then hacking up a classic smith revolver

I pulled this Mosin carbine out of the original stock and cut down a full sized stock and did some camo paint. It shoots well with the 147 grain surplus stuff. I saved the original stock and can drop it back in at anytime.