Perhaps the most famous sniper variant of the rifle was the A4. It was the sniper rifle carried by Barry Pepper in the movie Saving Private Ryan, and it was based on the A3 rifle.
Remington began production of this sniper rifle in and unlike the regular A3 it lacked both a front and rear sight. The A4 was fitted with either a Lyman Alaskan 2. Production of the A4 ceased after June, with a total of 23, rifles being produced. Many of these rifles were modified or sporterized by hunters and shooters. Today unmodified and un-messed with rifles are in high demand and bring good money. Prices start in the dollar range for a standard rifle and go up depending on condition, variation, and other factors.
About Marc Cammack Marc Cammack has been collecting firearms since he was 14 years old. His interests are primarily military surplus firearms of the late 19th into the 's. He has studied these in depth, and currently volunteers at two local museums providing them with accurate information about their firearms.
He is a graduate of the University of Maine with a bachelor's degree in history. He has studied modern European and American history since the age of 9, and has been shooting since the age of He currently resides just outside of Bangor, Maine. Rifles Misc All rifles not covered elsewhere! In particular, are they safe to use? Is there anything else special about them I need to know about?
Thank you for your comments. In the book The Springfield rifles by Lt. William S. A company named Golden State Arms built rifles using investment cast receivers made in Yugoslavia and surplus parts. Workmanship was poor, with very poor fit and finish. The good news is, in, H. White Laboratory tested 3 of the N. If yours headspaces correctly, it should be safe to shoot.
Accuracy will depend largely on the condition of the barrel. Also, it is noted that final rifle assembly followed receiver serialization by an approximate average of 2 weeks. The factory shop-assembly process resulted in final rifle production in no particular SN order or sequence, therefore rifles with higher SNs than the number of rifles produced may exist for any given month.
These gaps in the SN sequence have resulted in more SNs assigned than rifles made. The total number of gaps is statistically estimated to be 33, based on known or observed SN data and purposely distributed proportionately for simplicity purposes each month for all rifles produced from January to the end of production. A SN duplicate merely represents more than one rifle with the same SN. This is more than likely explained by an extraordinary control system installed by Remington to rigorously monitor SN stamping both within the production plant, as well as a check-off at the terminal-shipping warehouse to assure only one completely assembled rifle per SN assigned.
After January 10, , Remington was directed to cease monitoring SN disorders since the Ordnance Department was no longer concerned about this problem. Thereafter, all internal accounting controls were removed, and both gaps and duplicates occurred without any corrective measures taken. Eventually, the Ordnance Dept. The design features controlled feed action. The bolt is worked to the rear and the first cartridge in the magazine feeds under the extractor. The case rim is solidly gripped in the extractor as the bolt rams the cartridge case forward.
The bolt handle is turned down to lock the action. The rifle is fired. The bolt is worked to move to the rear and extract the cartridge case. The claw type extractor maintains control of the cartridge case rim and brings the cartridge case to the rear with maximum leverage.
This type of action feeds at any angle and also offers positive feed and extraction. The action is very smooth, perhaps the smoothest of any bolt action rifle of the period between the years of and Fast follow-up shots are not difficult and feedway stoppages are unheard of. To get an impression of the capability of the Smith Corona as a battle rifle, most of the rounds were fired off hand. The rifle gave excellent hit probability in fast snap shooting to fifty yards.
Fast shots at yards were not particularly difficult on man sized targets. The ammunition used was a handload more or less duplicating the original service load, but using the Sierra grain Math King bullet over Varget powder in Federal cases. Naturally, we were curious as to the accuracy of the rifle over longer distances. Using the Hornady grain SST hunting load we settled down to fire a few yard groups. This loading has given good results in the past. Groups ran from 1. The Smith Corona A3 is a great recreational rifle with much to recommend.
This is a piece of history that should be appreciated. Smith Corona MA3 Serial number ranges 3,, to 3,, and 4,, to 4,, Overall length: Post a comment about this article below: Post Title:. Welcome back, google-bot! My Account Logout. Image Gallery. This article first appeared in SmallArmsReview.
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