Most of you are probably familiar with the Civilian Marksmanship Program, CMP for short. Qualified buyers can buy rifles, ammo and other shooting supplies from them, and they run a lot of competitions around the country. One of the rifles you can get from them is the 1903 and 1903A3 Springfield rifles, the last bolt-action battle rifles issued by the U.S. military. What I really wanted was the -A3 version, so I figured in a few months I could probably swing it. Then came September.
Then came a notice that CMP was down to the last 1000 of the Remington-made A3 rifles, which they expected to last about 6 months. I held off for about a month, dutifully considering bills, etc. Then I thought about what usually happens; there's something I really want, but I hold off until things look a bit better, and when I go back it's gone. The other way this works is you find something at a gun show, decide to look around a while first, and when you do go back, somebody else bought it. In this case, I thought that with word if these being the last 1000 got around, they weren't going to last as long as they thought. So I did it; I placed my order.
Not quite two weeks ago, FedEx delivered this to my door:
Alright, technically they didn't deliver it to my door. Remember some posts a while back about FedEx and timing? Yeah, they cleverly managed to come by 10-15 minutes after I left the house. Every damn time. So actually had to haul my fat ass at least four miles away to pick it up at their office(thenerve of those people!). However, when I opened the box, it were worth it, bubba. There, wrapped in a green bag and layers of cosmoline was this example of the U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, 1903A3.
And when I say 'layers of cosmoline' I ain't woofin'; when the thing was last worked over at the arsenal they'd heavily greased the bore, then the inside and outside of the action and barrel and the trigger and magazine, then reassembled it. Yes, I used rubber gloves to get it out of the bag.
(Side note: years ago the first milsurp rifle I ever bought was a #4 Mk1 Enfield; the bore was full of grease, so was the entire action-including the inside of the bolt- and they'd greased the outside before putting it back in the wood, and then greased the outside of the whole thing! God, it was a mess to clean up, and I didn't know then the things I know now to make it easier.)
I've got some pictures that show just how greased this one was, but it was a bleepin' fight to get this one shot posted, so if I can I'll add the other pics in later.
It took about two days to get the metal and wood cleaned, and I found, among other things:
The bore is spotless, shiny with sharp rifling.
The muzzle appears to show very little wear, especially for a rifle made in 1943.
The trigger is a two-stage military, the second stage light with just a hint of creep, which about ten minutes with a stone took care of. I've handled modern rifles, new ones, with worse triggers.
And this is one of the smoothest bolt actions I've ever handled, with no sign of slop or great wear.
I've only been able to shoot it at a local indoor range so far, and it did not disappoint. I'm really looking forward to weather nice enough to hit the outdoor range so I can try it at 100 yards. And I really wish I had access to a longer distance.
Final note for now: two days after I got it, I was looking at The High Road and in Rifle Country was a post: CMP 1903A3's all gone. My first thought was "Damn, they went fast!" and my second was "Lord, I'm glad I ordered it when I did!".
And I'm still damn glad. Even though it's caused me to say "Budget? WHAT budget?". And then the computer crapped out, and oh crap...
Note: CMP still has the earlier 1903 Springfield-made rifles, at least for now. If I had the money(how many damn times do we say that?) I'd order one of them; a friend got one a while back, and it looks to be in as fine mechanical shape as mine.
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