1903

In mid-November 2008, I ordered a 1903 Springfield from the Civilian Marksmanship Program http://www.odcmp.com/. Two and a half months later, I got home from work to see a FedEx door tag on my screen door.



I jumped back in the truck, scooted to the FedEx hub in town, and picked it up.



Later that evening, once I had stopped jumping up and down in excitement I opened it.



Molly, my Boston Terrier, wonders what the fuss is all about.








I cut open the box, and here it is. CMP, bless their collective hearts, packs rifles in very sturdy cardboard boxes with waffle foam. Also included are the requisite paperwork and manuals, and a range safety flag (the yellow thing in the corner).

Close up of the receiver. It's a MarkI, which is a 1903 modified to take the Pedersen device (more on that later). Forgive my paranoia and blotting out the last part of the serial number. I would have preferred a straight 1903 without the modification, but that's all that CMP had in stock at the time and I'm somewhat impatient. Functionally a 1903 and 1903 MarkI are identical, and in all honesty the Pedersen cut-out is a neat historical side note. More on that later.

Later on, I'll detail my efforts to refinish the stock. The metal is staying as is, but the stock is getting a little cleaning up.