1903 Springfield Ammo Test: Is Your Rifle CMP Worthy?

Grand Rapids, MI USA -(Ammoland.com)- A friend of mine recently asked me a question about shooting in rifle competition. I primarily shoot in the CMP division at the Camp Perry National Matches and have more than a handful of medals to prove it. My enjoyment is genuine and the guns I use today are top quality… but are sometimes over one hundred years old. My friend’s question was about finding an accurate CMP rifle and what to expect from a gun you may find on the rack at a gun store.

For this article I wrangled five variations of the legendary 1903 Springfield rifle. They included the following:

Rifle #1: 1903 dated to 1915, fully original condition. The gun was in like-new condition. Muzzle and throat both gauged at 0.

Rifle #2: 1903 dated to 1923, replacement stock used. Rack-grade rifle in terms of quality. Muzzle was 3 and throat 4.

Rifle #3: 1903A3 dated to 1942, new stock used, custom fit. New Criterion barrel. Muzzle and throat gauged at .5 and 1. This rifle has been used heavily in competition, but is essentially a ‘new’ gun.

Rifle #4: 1903A3 dated to 1942, mix-and-match parts gun built on a drill rifle receiver. 1943 barrel attached that gauged 5 at the muzzle and 3 at the throat. Very rough gun overall.

Rifle #5: 1903A3 dated to 1943, all-original matching Remington. Muzzle gauges at 1 and throat at 0. This is the author’s personal rifle.

The interesting thing about these rifles is that all of them, despite being very different individually, are all legal to shoot in the Springfield Match at Camp Perry and may be similar to what you would find today