Springfield 1903A4 Gibbs Sniper Rifle

Hey guys, welcome back. So today we're taking a look at the model 1903A4 Springfield, which is a U.S. service rifle that was designated as a sniper rifle. This is a replica rifle manufactured by the Gibbs Rifle Company and we're going to take a closer look at this rifle here this afternoon. The 1903A4 Springfield was based on the 1903A3 Springfield rifle. Remington was directed to manufacture this rifle based on the 1903A3 rifle and it was accepted as a standard sniper rifle in January of 1943. This rifle differs from the standard 1903A3 Springfield in a number of different areas. First of all, it's missing its front sight. The barrel is cut for the front sight but it's not present on the rifle. It's also wearing a two and a half power weaver scope on redfield rings and it's missing its rear aperture sight. The rifle also has a standard wood stock, which is called a C-style stock, which has a pistol grip on it. These rifles remained in service throughout World War II. They remained in service during the Korean War and saw limited use in the Vietnam War as well. This rifle is manufactured by the Gibbs Rifle Company. Gibbs came into possession of a number of original Remington receivers with downturned bolts when they purchased the Parker-Hale Company in the 1990s. They started manufacturing these rifles because Camp Perry started allowing retro sniper rifles in their matches. The only thing that they needed was the original two and a half power weaver scope, which was no longer in production and they were kind of hard to find on the surplus market. That's where Hilux Leatherwood came in. Hilux Leatherwood is manufacturing an exact replica of the M73B1 scope, which this rifle wears. Now this scope did change later in the war and used the same scope that the M1C and M1D sniper rifles use based on the M1 Grand Action, but this is the period correct rifle scope for the early 1903 A4 rifles. Now the Gibbs rifle is a replica. This is not an exact, I mean it is an exact copy of 1903 A4 Springfield, but it is not a real one. The receivers are correct, the downturned bolts are original and correct. However, it has a brand new barrel on it. My barrel was manufactured in 2011. It has a four groove barrel, which is correct, period correct, and it has the same twist as the original 1903 A4 sniper rifle as well. It has replica, Gibbs manufactures the replica Redfield rings, and again Hilux Leatherwood manufactures this scope. This is also a new production C-style wood walnut stock, but they've gone ahead and manufactured it with the proper cartouche stamps in the wood. It looks really sharp. Now Gibbs has made no effort to conceal the fact that this rifle is a replica. You're not going to purchase one of these thinking you're getting an original and then buying this replica. It is clearly marked as a Gibbs rifle. The Redfield scope mount is marked Gibbs, and on the side of the scope it's also marked Gibbs, and you can clearly tell that it's a replica scope. It has all the other features of the 1903 A3 rifle, such as the stacking loop up here, and then it has sling mounts front and rear as well. The rifle comes in a cardboard box with an original period, it's not original, but it's a period correct leathered sling. It's also a replica. It comes with a canvas carrying bag, and then a copy of the original U.S. military service manual for the rifle. The 2.5 power magnification scope, it's an interesting scope to use. The clicks on it are very positive, but it only has about 16 MOA of adjustment, which is accurate or period correct for the original scope as well. However, where this differs a little bit from the original is it has modern glass, modern coated optics, and it's built probably a lot better than the original was. This scope is a good looking scope. You can't really tell it from the original. It has laser etchings on the knobs versus indentations of the original, but looking at a picture of this next to the original scope, you really couldn't tell it apart aside from the markings here on the side. I'm shooting at a steel ringer at 200 yards, and I'm hitting it every single time. It has a simple crosshair inside the scope, but the optics actually surprisingly clear for having such a small tube. That small tube is what limits your adjustments in terms of windage and elevation, how many clicks of adjustment you have in the scope. Now, if you can't get the rifle centered by or zeroed by making adjustments to the left and right and up and down elevation adjusters, you can make gross adjustments to the base by loosening this bolt and tightening the other or vice versa, and you can slide it back and forth to get it on target. We're down at the 100 yard line after firing five rounds of this FN manufactured 1953 year date stamp on the head military surplus ammunition. Five rounds fired, and it looks like it hit in a one and a half inch group. I'm impressed with military surplus ammunition shooting one and a half inches with a two and a half power scope. You couldn't really ask for any more out of the Gibbs 1903A4 rifle. Next up, I'm going to fire three rounds of this federal gold medal match ammunition, which has a 168 grain Sierra Match King in it. I'm only firing three rounds because I have very limited amount of ammunition out here this afternoon. I want to do some long range shooting with it as well using this ammunition. Got a nice stout kick. Let's run down range and see how it did. Okay guys, we're back down here at the 100 yard line after firing three rounds of the federal gold medal match 168 grain Sierra Match King bullets. Guys, I don't know what to say. That's a one quarter inch group using a two and a half power scope and a rifle that was designed back in the 1940s. I'm thoroughly impressed. The point of impact shifted about one inch down, maybe a half inch over from the surplus ammunition that we were firing earlier this afternoon, but that's to be expected. That one quarter inch group at 100 yards was not expected. Keller, me impressed. Okay guys, some final thoughts on the Gibbs 1903A4 replica rifle. I've been very impressed with the accuracy and performance of this rifle. It's surprisingly accurate. I don't think I've ever shot a 30-06 rifle that's more accurate than this rifle. The action is nice and smooth. It started off a little bit gritty, but with a little bit of lubrication, a little bit of use, it's loosened right up and it moves nicely in the receiver. There's been some discussion on the internet about the receivers that are used in the manufacture of these rifles. Now, these are original Remington receivers. However, they were at one time drill rifles and what they did, they being the government, to the drill rifles was they tack welded the magazine cutoff switch and they dropped a bead on the barrel and the receiver of the rifle to keep the barrel from coming away from the receiver. When Gibbs got these rifles, which they purchased these receivers from Parker Hale in the 1990s, when they got these rifles, they cleaned up those welds, they removed the tack welds, and basically refinished the entire rifle. Now, they've done testing of these receivers and they tested the same specs that were originally required by the US military. Sometimes they even test better. There's been a lot of banter back and forth on the internet claiming that doing the welds on these receivers damaged the heat treating of the receiver and you run the risk of the rifle blowing up in your face, which simply isn't true. What I'll do is I'll put a link in the description below to a white paper that Gibbs Rifle Company has published about these receivers that will answer a lot of those questions if you've heard those rumors on the internet. Overall, for the price of the rifle, I'm very impressed. At $999 from AIMSURPLUS, guys, you can buy an AR-15, a good quality AR-15 for $1,000, $1,200 bucks. The price of $1,000 for this rifle really isn't that bad. Also, I've purchased original 1903 Springfields and the originals will cost you not the A4s, but the original 1903 and the A3 Springfield. Those rifles will cost you in the $700, $800 range. This replica with a really nice high-lux scope with a brand new barrel, brand new stocks, all that stuff, at $1,000 bucks, in my mind, isn't that bad. I was very happy to get this rifle. If you guys have any questions about the Gibbs 1903 A4 rifle, swing by our Facebook page. You can find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com forward slash military arms. As always, everybody, thanks for watching. Thanks for those subs, and we will talk to you guys soon.