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Old April 20, 2017, 01:22 AM   #48
supercub99
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 30, 2012
Location: Alaska
Posts: 146
Gentlemen, I have copied, pasted and blown the picture up. My thoughts are this....it is a hole!

A little background on the Hatcher hole to begin with:

Canfield's "An Illustrated Guide to the '03 Springfield Service Rifle" on page 108, it states - "The Hatcher Hole - In July 1935, the U.S. Army Ordnance Department mandated that an additional gas escape hole be added to the left side of the receiver in order to increase the margin of safety in the event of a cartridge case failure. Around this time, the bolt was also altered by enlarging the gas escape hole. This modification was incorporated in new production rifles shortly afterward and will be found on rifles made from 1936 until the end of production.
The U.S. Marine Corps followed a short time later and added the hole to the '03 receivers in inventory. The extra hole was added to many earlier receivers during arsenal overhaul. Any '03 receiver manufactured prior to 1935 with the additional gas escape hole on the left side of the receiver has been modified from its original factory configuration. This modification is known among some collectors today as the HATCHER HOLE, in recognition of Gen. Julian S. Hatcher, an early proponent of the feature. "

Although this rifle was made in 1937, I'm not certain of when the receiver actually made. Many parts and pieces were made and stored while production slowed to a crawl during that time.

That said, from what I can tell, it's a Hatcher hole, perhaps a little crude (unless you've seen some of the marine jobs) but none the less, it's a hatcher hole.
I will say though that I have seen mounts that did incorporate the hatcher hole in mainly T-3 Weaver side mounts. Those and some that used a T-4 and modified it a bit. They threaded the hatcher hole and stuck a screw in it. Here's a T-3 https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...pe-4-119104373
I only mention this as one could possibly say what your seeing is threading. I doubt it though. You can see the gas escape hole in the bolt.

These were actually a good system in that you didn't have to line up with the bore and were easier to load with the extra space on the right side. I had a Rem 03 sporter with a T-3 and a Weaver 330, shot great!
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