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USMC NM M1903s, M1903A1 Unertl Sniper Rifles & M1903A4 Sniper Rifles
The most iconic sniper rifle of the Second World War, the USMC M1903A1 8x Unertl equipped sniper rifle was the backbone of Marine snipers in WWII and Korea. Born of the Marine Corps’ elite Na…usmcweaponry.com
Lots of info in this article.
Beautiful clone you have there.
I track all the known real USMC Unertl Snipers. Right now I know of about 30, and a whole lot of fakes. That website you posted is most pics of my Rifle and Tim's. We both did a temendous amount of research on them to put all that info together.
As far as buttplates. Almost every legit rifle has what been nicknamed the "Coarse NM" buttplate. Thought that technically is not correct. It was just a design change in the 1920's at Springfield Armory. It was not exclusive to the NM. But that is the name that has stuck.
Besides that one, the most common one would be the Stippled Marine Style Buttplates.
So if you don't want to spend the $200 plus for the coarse style NM buttplate. Buy a flat buttplate and stipple it yourself. They look like they were hand done as you will never two the exact same.
You see them stippled with round punches and also flat chisel marks.
A flat buttplate is cheap and other than the time needed to stipple it, it would be just as correct as a the "NM" buttplate.
@crackerbrown
Can you share a pic of the butt plate?
This is only a curiosity from my point.
There are a few (4+) different styles of 1903 butt plate I've seen so far. One article said the USMC 1903 Sniper had NM butt plates with course checkering, 12 lines per inch (LPI) if my Google fu is worth a darn. Sarco has some for $275, which is more than I'm wanting to get that particular about. I have seen 20&21 LPI and smooth examples with and with out the trap door.
I'm looking for a cutting tool I can possibly cut 12 LPI on my smooth one using a bridgeport. I'm guessing these were maybe originally done on a shaper.
Another rabbit hole link-
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Pre War/WWII USMC M1903s
The mid 1930s would usher in many significant changes to the Marine Corps’ M1903s, some of which were not well known until recently. Archival findings have shed light on the details of what e…usmcweaponry.com
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1903 Springfield Heavy Checker NM Buttplate
1903 Springfield Heavy Checker NM Butt plate (SPF407)www.sarcoinc.com
Looks like 20 LPI and in excellent shape.