The gun IS an SRS hit.
081439 REPLACEMENT FOR 598xxx
I am advised this is a "Special Target Rifle", an NM 1903 that served as an NM Rifle, but sold off afterwards.
598xxx apparently falls in among known NM rifles, too. The 1915 National Matches were the last full-on Matches before the US got involved in WW1. While we were not in the fight in 1916, a considerable amount of the Regular Army was down along the Mexican border, chasing Pancho Villa. And by August 1917, we were at war. The next National Matches fired with the 03 were in 1919; the 1918 Matches were fired, but with the M1917 "Enfield." The Roaring 20s at the National Trophy Matches were a time of innovation. Mobilubricant, "Tin Can" ammo, and all the rest. The era saw the .30-06 transform from a military round known for sharp recoil and report and almost insidious jacket fouling into the standard sporting caliber of North America. By 1939, the 1915 rifle would have been long in the tooth, and our unknown marksman may well have came to Perry or otherwise picked up the the Monday before the National Matches went hot, 8/14/39, and spent the few days he/she had working up zeroes. Not a stretch to infer a Golden Age "gun crank" had an armorer fit a double heat treat bolt to his/her new rifle to alleviate the stickiness the Nickel Steel receiver was known for to some degree.
The 1940 Matches (8/18-9/7/1940) were the last ones before WW2, as well as the last one where the M1 wasn't really competitive.
In 1953, the next National Matches, the 03 wasn't even a Service Rifle and the process that led to the M14 and eventually the M16 was underway. So, this "obsolete" rifle was fitted with the King Reflector sight and M2 stock she now wears and began a second career as an alternative to the Model 70 that was on back order after the war or unavailable due to the National Emergency at some point after September 1940.
This is my favorite part of this gun collecting hobby. See, to me a gun isn't a 'weapon.' It's a story, sometimes one you have to pull out of her, but a compelling one just the same.
1940 saw the National Guard staring down the barrel of mobilization so I would expect a lot of Guard teams wouldn't go to the Nationals in 1940. And the pending emergency was cause for M1 Ball to be issued to shooters instead of National Match ammo. Just like I came back from a match to find out Saddam invaded Kuwait in 1990, the 1939 competitor would have come back in after the matches on September 2 to hear that France and England had declared war on Germany, then come in the next day to find out Canada and Australia joined in.
One has to wonder if the 1939-40 National Match scorecards had rifle serial numbers on them....
