Floor Plate Falling out

[Jeepster]

I just picked up a sweet '03 (Remington) Serial #3,000,000 range (1942). Took it out to shoot yesterday and the floor plate and entire magazine assembly fell out of the bottom every 4th or 5th round. Took it home and took it apart. The rear edge of the floor plate is sharp. The floor plate latch is sharp and the latch spring is very firm and stiff. I am thinking there must have been some gunk between the latch and plate, so I cleaned it thoroughly with Gun Scrubber, pick some RemOil on it and reassembled. It snapped into place nicely and I am hoping this will fix the problem. Has anybody else encountered this problem? Is it common on the '03? I am new to the '03, '03-A3 family (I do know the difference between the two) and am curious about this. Thanks for replies!

[Art]

This is indeed a problem with M1903 rifles, though not a common one. It is one of the reasons, along with saving money, that the feature was dispensed with in the M1903A3 rifle. Hopefully you've solved the problem in your case.

[Cosine26]

According to Roy Dunlap ( an army armorer and gunsmith) in his book "Ordnance Went Up Front", this was a common problem with Remington manufactured M1903's. I do not know his solution to the problem. I have never had the problem with SA or RIA Trigger Guard Assemblies.

[Jeepster]

Well, cleaning it up did not help at all. So I ordered new latch, latch pin, and latch spring and a new floor plate from Numrich. New parts. I'm thinking there is enough wear somewhere between parts or a weak spring to make this happen. I'm thinking matching all new parts in that area will cure it. If anyone else has intel on this problem I would very much appreciate hearing about it.

[rebound]

I think your proplem might NOT be over if you get repro junk fron Numrich.
Look for good old U.S.A. made SA or RIA parts...
FWIW...

[Jeepster]

Oops. I did not know that Numrich parts are questionable. Is that consensus here?

[chuckindenver]

avoid gunparts corp, and Sarco, both have been selling a large amount of Asian made crap, if you PM me i may have a new floorplate, spring and catch.
or try Bill Ricca.

[John Beard]

I just picked up a sweet '03 (Remington) Serial #3,000,000 range (1942). Took it out to shoot yesterday and the floor plate and entire magazine assembly fell out of the bottom every 4th or 5th round. Took it home and took it apart. The rear edge of the floor plate is sharp. The floor plate latch is sharp and the latch spring is very firm and stiff. I am thinking there must have been some gunk between the latch and plate, so I cleaned it thoroughly with Gun Scrubber, pick some RemOil on it and reassembled. It snapped into place nicely and I am hoping this will fix the problem. Has anybody else encountered this problem? Is it common on the '03? I am new to the '03, '03-A3 family (I do know the difference between the two) and am curious about this. Thanks for replies!

The problem you experienced is very common with Remington M1903 rifles having their original trigger guard and floorplate.

Remington failed to machine the floorplate surface on the trigger guard sufficiently forward into the front tang. As a result, the floorplate is blocked from going completely forward so the latch can engage. A solution is to simply grind back the front lip of the floorplate slightly until it latches.

A much more common problem, however, is improper insertion of the floorplate into the trigger guard. This problem is not limited to Remington rifles, but also occurs with Springfield and Rock Island rifles. The proper technique for inserting the floorplate is as follows:

(1) Place the front of the floorplate down onto the magazine well.

(2) While holding the floorplate all the way to the rear up against the trigger guard loop, slowly lower the floorplate down onto the magazine well.

(3) While pressing the floorplate firmly against the magazine well, slide the floorplate straight forward until it latches as usually denoted by an audible "click."

All too often, the floorplate is simply inserted and jammed up and forward against the trigger guard. When this method is used, the floorplate commonly sticks in the trigger guard without latching. And then it flies open under recoil when fired.

Hope this helps.

J.B.