mawkie
C&R Whisperer
-I found a very nice Remington 1903A3 about 10-12 yrs ago and decided it needed a companion in the form of a Smith Corona 1903A3. But over all this time I just couldn't find what I wanted at the price I wanted. In the meantime prices on 1903A3s crept up and what was a typical $600-650 purchase is now a $750-850 hole in the bank account, if not more for an outstanding example.
-Then I ran across a gun auction catalog from the house where I acquired my Springfield 1911, outside of Hagerstown. The vast majority of lots were sporting arms and modern handguns. But there was a Smith Corona 1903A3 near the back of the catalog that looked very promising, even in the poor catalog photos.
-So I made a field trip of it enjoying the fall weather in my old Porsche. I'm glad I made the trip because the 03A3 was even nicer in the flesh. As close as you could get to unissued. The correct original blued and parked finishes and crisp stock markings. Not a single Remington marked part so I'm certain it's never been rebuilt or messed with. Four groove High Standard manufactured barrel, SC marked and 6-43 dated
-The kicker is the unusual and very uncommon "C" prefix on the serial number. This came about as Remington accidentally used some of the SNs reserved to Smith Corona. So a "C" was stamped to ensure no inventory control problems. It's estimated that roughly 4,000 out of roughly 235k Smith Coronas have this prefix. About 2% of total production. I'd never seen one in person up to this point and my Brophy reference book on the 1903 Springfield doesn't even mention it. That made me want it all the more.
Ended up getting it for just south of $800. Not a home run bargain but I'm super stoked. This was the one I'd been waiting for all these years.
-Then I ran across a gun auction catalog from the house where I acquired my Springfield 1911, outside of Hagerstown. The vast majority of lots were sporting arms and modern handguns. But there was a Smith Corona 1903A3 near the back of the catalog that looked very promising, even in the poor catalog photos.
-So I made a field trip of it enjoying the fall weather in my old Porsche. I'm glad I made the trip because the 03A3 was even nicer in the flesh. As close as you could get to unissued. The correct original blued and parked finishes and crisp stock markings. Not a single Remington marked part so I'm certain it's never been rebuilt or messed with. Four groove High Standard manufactured barrel, SC marked and 6-43 dated
-The kicker is the unusual and very uncommon "C" prefix on the serial number. This came about as Remington accidentally used some of the SNs reserved to Smith Corona. So a "C" was stamped to ensure no inventory control problems. It's estimated that roughly 4,000 out of roughly 235k Smith Coronas have this prefix. About 2% of total production. I'd never seen one in person up to this point and my Brophy reference book on the 1903 Springfield doesn't even mention it. That made me want it all the more.
Ended up getting it for just south of $800. Not a home run bargain but I'm super stoked. This was the one I'd been waiting for all these years.
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