M1917 Eddystone Serial Numbers - app-docs2’s blog

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How correct is my M1903 Mark I.

Date Answered:

02-27-2010

Name - Harry

Question - I am interested in determining the correctness,shootablility, and value of a 1903 Mark 1 Springfield Armory Rifle. Its serial number is 1035814. It has the following features. Barrel is 11-18 SA with flaming bomb behind the front sight. The front sight is dovetailed with a screw and alignment line at front of the sight.

The stock has finger grooves running along each side and a faint barely visible cartouche the appears to have letters RIA and below that FK in a box surronding the lettering.The stock also shows that it was built to provide relief for the hole in the receiver to be used for the pederson device. The butt plate has a crosshatch pattern but is not coarse. The bayonet lug has the letter H prominently stamped on it and the stock band has the letter U aligned with the lock it has a groove in its center. The letter P behind trigger is also virtually gone as stock appears to have been refinished. Additional markings are an R on the rear sight ladder which is blued while the base and knobs appears blue grey in color.

The bolt itself has the letter I or J and the number 5 on the bottom side of the back locking lug it is of straight configuration it also has the letter K with what appears to be a punch mark on the bottom side of the bolt handle. The bolt is blued. The magazine cutoff and bolt removal piece is blued.

The remaining parts barrel and hardware have a grey appearance that is even on all the parts it has a sheen to it and is not like the grey green I see on garands or 03a3 which puzzles me. I have not dissassembled the rifle any further to look for other markings. I prefer not to unless necassary to validate the rifle. I appreciate any help you can give me on this rifle as it originally belonged to a friends father. Thanks in advance

Answer:

Harry, let me first congratulate you on the very complete description you provided about your rifle. It certainly helps me to help you, when you do that.

As you know, you have a variant of the standard M1903 Springfield, which was made to use the so-called Pedersen Device, a pistol-like device that allowed the rifle to shoot pistol-sized cartridges semi-automatically. The rifle could still use standard 30-06 cartridges, as well. Below is a link to an excellent story on the Pedersen Device, which will fill you in on the history and details:

Regarding your rifle - here is what I can glean:

1 The receiver dates to late 1918 - the barrel is correct/original.

2 From your description, the stock appears to be a Mark I stock. The ejection port should be totally clear, if the stock is correct. The RIA/FK indicates the rifle was rebuilt or inspection at Rock Island Arsenal sometime in the 1941-46 period. Frank Krack FK was the chief small arms inspector during that period.

3 The upper band, lower band and buttplate probably date from the manufacture of the rifle.

4 The bolt may also be original, a J5 bolt was correct for this rifle at this time.

5 Although I cannot tell without a picture, it appears your rifle was refinished, probably during WWII. The original finish would have been a dull near-black Parkerizing.

These Mark Is were kept in storage until the early 1930s. At that time, the Pedersen Devices were nearly all destroyed and the rifles were reconfigured mostly to standard condition and issued. Mark Is are pretty common, but those in original condition are fairly rare.

There are some other details I would need to see, but they would require an exchange of pictures to tell for sure.

--Rick the Librarian.