springfield sniper 03

[tahunua001]

so today I was out fishing with a good friend and when the conversation turns to guns he lets slip that he just got his dads "springfield sniper rifle" and recently acquiring my own 1903A4 I was very interested. I asked him more about it and he said that it was a bring back and stayed in the mans closet until his dad got ahold of it a few years back when I asked to see it I was disappointed to say the least
post 800g serial springfield with a welded on bent knob with a hideous stock chop, replacement barrel, front sight subsequent drill and tap on the receiver...I felt a little sad to have to tell him that it was not a sniper rifle but he was pretty happy when I let him know about the history of the rifle and how all of the modifications were done.

[4V50 Gary]

Sad story.

[tahunua001]

yeah he loves guns and loves to learn their history but doesn't really know where to turn for research so he ends up having to trust what people tell him.

luckily I have a spare, inletted straight stock(I know, not correct) that is still full length(with hand guard) and with little more than an 8 dollar handguard ring and a 50 dollar bayonet lug from numrich I can convert his horrible sporterizing job into a pseudo-midgrade replica job.

yes the barrel will be blued, the receiver has slots for the rear sight hood(whatever it's called in the original o3s), and it'll be a straight stock instead of C or scant but it should raise the value a bit from bubba special to almost gibbs-grade rifle.

out of curiosity,

upon, closer inspection of the bolt,(I don't know the nonclemature yet) the bolt housing(part that the decocker goes inside) is marked "R"(which I know means remington) but the bolt knob does not bear the associated "R" or any other maker stamp. it does have very close to proper angle for the bolt angle and is actually a solid piece unlike the original appraisal as welded on. lastly, the safety(which does not work with the scope currently mounted) seems like it has an unusually long safety switch which I have never seen before, almost like the "tactical" ambidextrous charging handles for AR15s versus standard charging handles.
were some of these bolts made like this or was this an addon during the sporterizing process?

sorry for a lack of pics, neither of us have cameras at the moment.

[madcratebuilder]

it was a bring back

[hammered54]

so...it wasn't a bring back ?

[tahunua001]

haha nice.

bring back is my wording, not his. basically the claim was that it belonged to a sniper in WWII and when the war ended he took his old companion with him. of course this is nothing more than some grunt bringing back his rifle and chopping it up like all his buddies were doing to the mausers they brought back and somebody making up nonsense along to way to try and get rid of it.

[tahunua001]

well he just got the green light to do whatever he wants to the springfield so I'm going to slap on my spare springfield stock and turn it into an A4-gery it's going to be Legen....wait for it.....DARY!

[James K]

FWIW, it was illegal for GIs to "bring back" U.S. or Allied weapons. Enemy weapons were OK (not full auto though) and obviously German and Japanese guns were brought back by the ton. But bringing home a U.S. weapon was theft, pure and simple. Some got away with it, but quite a few GIs spent time in resorts like Ft. Leavenworth for "liberating" Uncle's gun.

Jim

[tahunua001]

very true, however it is a bit moot now since the statuette of limitations has run out on all those bring backs so anyone caught with one can't be prosecuted...not that it's very easy to prove anyway since there are no definitive paper trails.

also a select few were allowed to take their rifles home. Alvin York was awarded his rifle when he returned home from WWI for instance.

[madcratebuilder]

very true, however it is a bit moot now since the statuette of limitations has run out on all those bring backs so anyone caught with one can't be prosecuted...not that it's very easy to prove anyway since there are no definitive paper trails.

also a select few were allowed to take their rifles home. Alvin York was awarded his rifle when he returned home from WWI for instance.

"Bring back" is a term tossed about at gun shows to jack the price of a fire arm. Real bring backs had paper work like this.

[sgms]

Yes they did have paperwork but paper gets lost, destroyed, thrown away, ect. so it isn't often seen. In fact if that GI permission slip is with a matching gun you will pay more because of it.

[tahunua001]

interesting, that's the first time I've seen an actual piece of paper authorizing bring backs. I might steal that incase I ever see someone claiming to have paperwork with a gun.

for me if it's not an american gun and does not have an importer mark then I assume it was a bring back... I prefer those anyway, my savage no4 MK1* has the CAI etchings in it and I cringe every time I see it.

[James K]

A lot of folks deplore the import markings, especially of they are large and/or in a conspicuous place, but no milsurps could be imported without some mark, so the alternative is marked guns or no guns.

Those so-called "capture papers" were supposed to be given out for any and all captured enemy equipment that was going to be kept by the GI. There was no specific form; some were printed, but many were just typed and mimeographed.

I have seen papers like that for M1911A1 pistols, and M1 carbines, all fake. There are endless rumors and stories, but no officers legally set up tables and sold M1 rifles in a war zone, no soldiers legally brought back their issue weapon, General Patton did not hand out pistols or rifles in lieu of medals. But "I was given this rifle by Patton himself" sounds a lot better than "I got this rifle by courageously writing a check to DCM."

Jim

[madcratebuilder]

for me if it's not an american gun and does not have an importer mark then I assume it was a bring back... I prefer those anyway, my savage no4 MK1* has the CAI etchings in it and I cringe every time I see it.

Import marking did not start until the NFA in 1968. If your foreign made fire arm does not have import marks it's a pre 1968 import. Lot of fire arms got imported between 1948 and 1968. One exception is CMP, they are exempt from import marking the rifles they import.