I was on a weekend motorcycle ride in the Ozarks and stumbled across a heck of a deal on a USGI M1903 made by Remington in 1942. I'd stopped to visit a friend at his home and noticed the neighbors were having a garage sale across the street. My friend said he'd been over their earlier and they had a couple of rifles for sale. I walked on over to see if there was anything interesting and noticed the M1903 and asked if I could take a look. Looked to be all original with "R" marked parts including the bolt and bore was shiny and clean.

I asked the fellow sitting in the lawn chair guarding the cash box what he wanted for it and he said, "make me an offer."

I made him a low ball offer thinking this was the start of negotiations.

"Sold!" he replied and held out his hand for the money.

I paid the man and took the rifle back to my buddy's house and asked him to hold it until I could come back when I wasn't on my Harley. I finally got it home and confirmed it's a 100% original Remington M1903 (modified). I stripped it down and let the metal parts soak overnight in mineral spirits and commenced to strip down the stock, steam out the dings, and do a refinish with boiled linseed oil. Turned out to be a very nice '03.




Stock completely stripped down to show the black walnut.




Stock with one light coat of Chestnut Ridge Military Stock Stain




Stock with several hand rubbed applications of BLO mix




Finished project.