Changes

Officially designated as the 'United States Rifle, Caliber .30-06, Model of 1903 ' and referred by the troops as the “03” '03' or simply as the “Springfield”'Springfield', the M1903 Springfield is an American magazine fed, bolt-action repeating rifle. It served as the main infantry rifle of US forces during World War 1, and it remains popular today as a civilian firearm, historical collector's piece, competitive shooting rifle, and military drill rifle. The M1903 has seen frontline service in nearly twenty wars in a period of 70 years.

The US Chief of Ordinance Adelbert Buffington Department authorized the then-federally owned Springfield Armory to begin working up a prototype rifle. The first prototype Springfield produced would be the Model of 1900 .30 Prototype, which had design elements incorporated from both the Krag–Jørgensen and Spanish Mauser Model 1893. This prototype also featured an exposed magazine and follower, and a magazine cut-off styled after the Lee-Enfield. The Model 1900 prototype would be rejected, and a second prototype would be introduced a year later. The US Rifle Model 1901 .30 Prototype ditched the exposed magazine and follower in favor of a Mauser-style internal magazine, and incorporated additional features from the Mauser 1893 and Gewehr 98 rifles. A unique style of magazine cutoff would also be added to the rifle. The 1901 prototype was almost accepted, but additional changes were requested by Chief of the Ordinance Buffington's successor William CrozierDepartment. The final design had the rifle shortened down from a length of 30 inches to 24 inches, creating an infantry long gun with the ability to act as and a carbine for cavalry troops. A spikerod-type rod bayonet was added to would be affixed under the design, with storage in the fore end of the stockbarrel. This new design was accepted, officially adopted as the 'United States Rifle, Caliber .30, Model 1903', and entered production that same year.<ref name = "informational video othias">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhh4wIS6zMI C&Rsenal's video on the M1903 Springfield]</ref>

By January 1905 over 80,000 of the 1903 pattern rifles with rod bayonets had been produced at Springfield Armory. However, President Theodore Roosevelt objected to the design of expressed displeasure at the sliding rod-type bayonet, stating that he believed it to be too flimsy for combat use. All 1903 pattern rifles had to be re-tooled with bayonet lugs to allow mounting of the M1905 pattern blade bayonet. In addition, a new pattern of ladder sight was added. The retooling was almost complete when it was decided another change would be made, this time to the ammunition. During the development and experimentation process for the M1903, pointed ammunition had begun to see use over in Europe. These new cartridges were a marked improvement over the old roundnosed ammo. A new 'Spitzer' pattern pointed cartridge was developed for the Springfield rifle to replace the current .30 caliber bottlenosed rounds. This new cartridge would come to be the 'Caliber .30, Model of 1906', more commonly known as the .30-06, one of the most legendary cartridges in American firearms history. The .30-06 would go on to see use in a wide array of rifles and machine guns, and would remain in standard US military service up until the adoption of the 7.62 NATO cartridge. The .30-06 it remains a popular caliber with civilian and recreational shooters.<ref name = "informational video shooting usa">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9rJe1iK7vI Shooting USA's video on the M1903 Springfield]</ref>

Despite the numerous alterations made by Springfield Armory's use of a two-piece firing pin, a unique magazine cut-off, and other design alterations, the M1903 was still clearly a Mauser-derived design. In addition, the Springfield had been designed for use with stripper clips, and invention that Mauser also held the patents on. Chief of Ordinance William Crozier would contact Mauser in spring of 1904, and after some negotiations the two parties would come to an agreement: Mauser would receive 75 cents per rifle made, and 50 cents for every 1,000 stripper clips made. All totaled, the US government would end up paying Mauser $200,000 in royalties.

By Despite the M1917 American Enfield being produced in larger numbers, the M1903 Springfield was the official infantry rifle for the United States during the First World War. When the time of U.S. entry into entered World War I, a total of 843,239 of these M1903 rifles had been produced at Springfield Armory and Rock Island Arsenal. However, there was a problem: subjection to excessive temperatures during heat-treating was causing receivers to become brittle. This was a huge problem, as an improperly forged receiver could blow out, causing serious injury to the user. An investigation found that many forges did not have the proper instrumentation needed to accurately read temperatures inside the furnaces. Pyrometers were installed in December 1917 to accurately measure temperatures during the forging process. The change was made at approximately serial No. 800,000 at Springfield Armory and serial No. 285,507 at Rock Island Arsenal. This situation resulted in “Low-Number” low serial number M1903 Springfields rifles being regarded as unsafe for use.<ref name = "Low-number Springfields">[https://thecmp.org/sales-and-service/m1903-m1903a3-rifle-information/ Civilian Marksmanship Program's statement on low-number M1903 rifles]</ref>

Despite the M1917 American Enfield being produced in larger numbers, the M1903 Springfield was the official infantry rifle for the United States during the First World War. In service, the Springfield was generally prized for its reliability and accuracy, though some problems with the design remained. The rear ladder sight was located too far from the eye for efficient use, and the narrow, unprotected front sight was both difficult to see in poor light and easily damaged. The U.S. Marine Corps issued the Springfield with a sight hood to protect the front sight, along with a thicker front blade. The two-piece firing pin/striker also proved not to be an improvement over the original one-piece Mauser design, and was a cause of numerous Ordnance repairs, along with occasional reports of jammed magazine followers. In World War II, the shortage of M1 Garand rifles would prompt the manufacture of additional M1903 Springfield rifles. Remington began production of the M1903 in September 1941, and the Smith-Corona Typewriter Company also began production would follow suit in 1942. In 1941, M1903 production was discontinued in favor of the M1903A3 variant. The most noticeable visual difference between the original M9013 and change for the M1903A3 was the replacement of the barrel-mounted rear sight with a smaller, simpler an aperture rear sight mounted on the rear of the receiver. This was done in order to speed up familiarization of the rifle by soldiers already trained on the M1 Garand, which had a similar sighting system. The M1903 and the M1903A3 rifle were Springfield was used in combat alongside the M1 Garand by the U.S. military during World War II, and saw extensive use and action in the hands of U.S. troops in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacificacross every theater. By early 1944, most American combat troops had been re-equipped were armed with the M1 Garand. However, some front-line infantry units in both the U.S. Army and Marine Corps retained their M1903s as infantry rifles beyond that date and continued to use them alongside the M1 Garand until the end of the Second World War in 1945. The M1903 would see limited service as a sniper rifle all the way up through the Korean and Vietnam wars, when it would be phased out of service entirely.<ref name = "military factory entry">[https://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/detail.asp?smallarms_id=53 Military Factory's article on the M1903 Springfield]</ref>