Original 03A4 - what kind of trigger would it have had?

[Bulldog Firearms]

I goofed and sold an 03A4 out of my store a few days ago that didn't have the original trigger in it. I advertised it as original, but never removed the rifle from the stock and didn't know it had an aftermarket trigger. What kind of trigger would it have had? Was it anything beside a standard 03A3 trigger?

Thanks for any help.

 

[cplnorton]

Just a standard 03a3 trigger.

There wasn't any difference in the A4 other than the removal of the sights and the addition of the scope mount and scope.

Army Ordance only required them to be a 3MOA rifle to pass inspection. They are nothing like what we think of in today's term of a being a sniper.

They were just an 03A3 with a scope.

 

[Bulldog Firearms]

Thanks for the fast reply. Glad it's not something super duper special that I have to find.

 

[Bulldog Firearms]

On a good one, what would you expect for accuracy?

 

[cplnorton]

I have an original one and with standard 1957 Lake City M2, I get about 1.25 MOA.

I think that is pretty consistent for standard M2. Handloads or match ammo can usually get you sub MOA if you do your part.

They can usually shoot. But nothing was really done to them from Remington.

The Marines did have a few and mentioned that if they fitted the stock better by removing wood and free floating the barrel, like they did on the Unertl rifles, and if they tuned the trigger, they performed pretty well.

The main problem of the A4 is the scope. Everyone hated the scope. The field reports detail the scope was horrible, and many complained about the lack of back up iron sights and the ability to quickly remove the scope if it was damage or fogged up. This included the Army reports from Europe.

But the A4 was never meant to be a long term sniper rifle. It was a placeholder as they developed a M1 Sniper rifle.

Honestly after the M1C was fielded in 1945, the documents at the archives basically show the A4's being rebuilt and put into war storage. After 1945 the A4 was basically done other than very sporadic useage.