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Just my humble opinion: Don’t. The rifles have a long and notorious record for being unsafe. There is no way to make the rifles safe; that’s why they were removed from the nation’s stockpile. There is no way to tell if the rifle is unsafe until it blows up.

You just know if you touch it and the rifle goes toes up you’re going for a ride you really don’t want to take. DC

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I have one of those myself. Thousands of rounds have gone through it. Now I only fire cast bullet loads with it. Not all low numbers are unsafe and a few high number 03s did blow up.

That said, I wouldn’t want to work on any 03s for money, low number or not. It is because of the stigma around it. I don’t want to be blamed for work on a gun that is “known to be unsafe.” -TL

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I would think that if a 1903 anything was going to blow up it would have by now, assuming it hasn’t been hanging on a wall. Of course we that are aware of this issue would research serial numbers, always err on the side of safety etc., but just think about how many folks have no idea about this problem with these 1903’s. Personally I have never heard of any of these failing in recent years but that sure doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. I would be interested in knowing what Bob & Ken’s thoughts are on the subject.

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Please give Ken Brooks or Jack Landis a call. You will find their numbers in the GCA Magazine. As for me I would have to go along with the others, meaning I would not work on these weapons. Tony

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I don’t work on low number Springfield or Rock Island 03’s……sorry I don’t have the cut off numbers memorized. All the Remington 03’s and 03A3s are fine and some of the Rock Island and Springfield 03’s are OK but need to be above a certain number. I have that info at the shop not here at the computer. Ken