Is yours sporterized? My buddy is thinking about sporterizing his, I told him that he will have as much into that as buying a good used rifle. His dad said it shot fine, he would just like to have something with a scope. I think the peep sight will be good in lower light coyote hunting though.
I have a sporterized version, looks the same as any other bolt action.
I love mine, has never given me any problems. Always shot tight groups, but your friend should definitely check the serial number on it and compare that to the list of models that had issues. Some never made it into the last part of the process for 2nd heat treating, and several of those had the receivers blown apart... but very few. It's a nasty thing thats stuck with the rifle (kind of like how a select few dumb hunters make the rest of us look bad)
There are a few companies out there that make aftermarket stocks for the 1903, parts are fairly common and you can never go wrong with a 30-06