M1903 Springfield
The M1903 Springfield, officially the U.S. Rifle, Caliber.30, M1903, is an American five-round, non-removable, staggered-row box magazine-fed, bolt-action, repeating service rifle, used primarily during the first half of the 20th century.
The M1903 was first used in combat during the Philippine-American War and was officially adopted by the United States as the standard infantry rifle on 19 June 1903. It saw service in World War I and was replaced by the faster-firing semi-automatic eight-round M1 Garand starting in 1936. However, the M1903 remained a standard-issue infantry rifle during World War II, since the U.S. entered the war without sufficient M1 rifles to arm all troops. It also was used as a sniper rifle during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. It remains popular as a civilian firearm, collector's piece, a competitive shooting rifle, and as a military drill rifle.
History
Background
During the 1898 war with Spain, the Mauser M1893 used by the Spanish Army gained a deadly reputation, particularly from the Battle of San Juan Hill, where 750 Spanish regulars significantly delayed the advance of 15,000 US troops armed with outclassed Springfield Krag–Jørgensen bolt-action rifles and older single-shot Springfield model 1873 trapdoor rifles. The Spanish soldiers inflicted 1,400 casualties on the US in a matter of minutes. Likewise, earlier in the day, a Spanish force of 540 regulars armed with the same Mauser rifles, under Spanish general Vara Del Rey, held off General Henry Ware Lawton's Second Division of 6,653 American soldiers and an independent brigade of 1,800 men for ten hours in the nearby town of El Caney, keeping that division from assisting in the attack on the San Juan Heights. A US Army board of investigation was commissioned as a direct result of both battles. They recommended replacement of the Krag.The 1903 adoption of the M1903 was preceded by nearly 30 years of struggle and politics, using lessons learned from the recently adopted Krag–Jørgensen and contemporary German Mauser Gewehr 98 bolt-action rifles. The design itself is largely based on the Mauser M1893 and its successive models up to the Gewehr 98 rifle. The M1903's forward receiver ring diameter is, slightly over the ring diameter of the older "small ring" Mauser models and less than the "large ring" Gewehr 98s. The US military licensed many of the Mauser Company's and other German patents, including the spitzer bullet, later modified into the.30-06 Springfield. The M1903 not only replaced the various versions of the U.S. Army's Krag, but also the Lee M1895 and M1885 Remington–Lee used by the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps, as well as all remaining single-shot trapdoor rifles. While the Krag had been issued with barrel lengths of both 30-inch rifle and 22-inch carbine models, the Springfield was issued only as a short 24-inch-barrel rifle in keeping with current trends in Switzerland and Great Britain to eliminate the need for both long rifles and carbines.
The two main problems usually cited with the Krag were its slow-to-load magazine and its inability to handle higher chamber pressures for high-velocity rounds. The United States Army attempted to introduce a higher-velocity cartridge in 1899 for the existing Krags, but its single locking lug on the bolt could not withstand the extra chamber pressure. Though a stripper-clip or charger loading modification to the Krag was designed, it was clear to Army authorities that a new rifle was required. After the U.S. military's experience with the Mauser rifle in the 1898 Spanish–American War, authorities decided to adopt a stronger Mauser-derived bolt-action design equipped with a charger- or stripper clip-loaded box magazine.
Advances in small arms technology
In 1882, the bolt action Remington Lee rifle design of 1879, with its newly invented detachable box magazine, was purchased in limited numbers by the U.S. Navy. Several hundred M1882 Lee Navy models were also subjected to trials by the U.S. Army during the 1880s, though the rifle was not formally adopted. The Navy adopted the M1885, and later different style Lee M1895, which saw service in the Boxer Rebellion. In Army service, both the M1885 and M1895 6 mm Lee were used in the Spanish–American War, along with the.30-40 Krag and the.45-70. The Lee rifle's detachable box magazine was invented by James Paris Lee, and was very influential on later rifle designs. Other advancements had made it clear that the Army needed a replacement. In 1892, the U.S. military held a series of rifle trials, resulting in the adoption of the.30-40 Krag–Jørgensen rifle. The Krag officially entered U.S. service in 1894, only to be replaced nine years later by the M1903.Development
Thousands of Spanish Mauser M1893 rifles, surrendered by Spanish troops in Cuba, were returned to the US and extensively studied at Springfield Armory, where it was decided that the Mauser was the superior design.U.S. rifle Model 1900 .30 prototype
A prototype rifle was produced in 1900; it was very similar to rifle No. 5, the final Mauser M92 prototype in the U.S. Army rifle trials of 1892. This design was rejected, and a new design combining features of the M1898 Krag rifle and the Spanish Mauser M1893 was developed.U.S. rifle Model 1901 .30 prototype
Springfield began work on creating a rifle that could handle higher loads around the turn of the 20th century. The Springfield Model 1901 prototype combined the Krag–Jørgensen's cock-on-opening bolt, 30-inch barrel, magazine cutoff, stock and sights with the Mauser M1893's dual locking lugs, external claw extractor, and staggered-column magazine. Taking a cue from the Mauser Gewehr 98, a large safety lug was added to the side of the bolt behind the extractor, which engaged the receiver bridge and prevented the bolt from moving rearwards. The bolt handle was also bent downwards, to make it faster to operate. The Model 1901 almost entered production. Springfield was sure enough that the Model 1901 prototype would be accepted that they began making some of the parts for it, but it was not accepted; further changes were asked for.Adoption
Following then-current trends in service rifles, the barrel was shortened to 24 inches after it was discovered that a longer barrel offered no appreciable ballistic advantage, and the shorter barrel was lighter and easier to handle. This "short rifle" also eliminated the need of a shorter carbine for mounted troops or cavalry. A spike-type bayonet with storage in the forend of the stock was added to the design. This new design was accepted, type classified and officially adopted as the United States Rifle, Caliber.30, Model 1903 and entered production in 1903. The M1903 became commonly known among its users as the "aught-three" in reference to the year, 1903, of first production.Despite Springfield Armory's use of a two-piece firing pin and other slight design alterations, the M1903 was, in fact, a Mauser design, and after that company brought suit, the U.S. government was judged to pay $250,000 in royalties to Mauser Werke.
By January 1905, over 80,000 of these rifles had been produced at the federally-owned Springfield Armory. However, President Theodore Roosevelt objected to the design of the sliding rod-type bayonet used as being too flimsy for combat. In a letter to the secretary of war, he said:
I must say that I think that ramrod bayonet is about as poor an invention as I ever saw. As you observed, it broke short off as soon as hit with even moderate violence. It would have no moral effect and mighty little physical effect.
All the rifles to that point consequently had to be re-tooled for a blade-type bayonet, called the "M1905". The sights were also an area of concern, so the new improved Model 1904 sight was also added.
The retooling was almost complete when it was decided another change would be made. It was to incorporate improvements discovered during experimentation in the interim, most notably the use of pointed ammunition, first adopted by the French in the 1890s and later other countries. The round itself was based on the.30-03, but rather than a 220-grain round-tip bullet fired at, it had a 150-grain pointed bullet fired at ; the case neck was a fraction of an inch shorter as well. The new American cartridge was designated Cartridge, Ball, Caliber.30, Model of 1906. The M1906 cartridge is better known as the.30-06 Springfield round, used in many rifles and machine guns, and is still a popular civilian cartridge. The rifle's sights were again re-tooled to compensate for the speed and trajectory of the new cartridge.
By the time of the 1916 Pancho Villa Expedition, the M1903 was the standard issue service rifle of US forces. Some rifles were fitted with both the Warner & Swasey Model 1913 and 1908 "musket sights" during the campaign, "musket sights" being the vernacular at the time for telescopic sights. The Warner & Swasey Model 1913 musket sight continued in use after the Pancho Villa Expedition and during World War I, but was eventually deemed inadequate and had been removed from the US Army's inventory by the 1920s.
The military tested several M1903 rifles with Maxim suppressors starting in 1909, and requisitioned 500 in 1910 to be used for recruit training. Anecdotal evidence indicates that some of the M1903 rifles during the Pancho Villa Expedition were fitted with Maxim suppressors, possibly making them the first suppressed rifles used in the field by the US military; however, during World War I American M1903s were not fitted with suppressors due to opposition from officers and the suppressor precluding the use of a bayonet.
World War I and interwar use
By the time of US entry into World War I, 843,239 M1903 rifles had been produced at Springfield Armory and the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois. Pre-war production utilized questionable metallurgy. Some receivers constructed of single-heat-treated case-hardened steel were improperly subjected to excessive temperatures during the forging process, "burning" carbon out of the steel and producing a brittle receiver. Documented evidence indicates that some early rifles were improperly forged, but actual cases of failure in use were very rare. Several cases of serious injury from receiver failure were documented, but the U.S. Army never reported any fatalities. Many failures were attributed to use of incorrect cartridges, such as the 7.92×57mm Mauser. Evidence also seems to suggest that improperly forged brass cartridge cases could have further exacerbated receiver failure.Pyrometers were installed in December 1917 to accurately measure temperatures during the forging process. The change was made at approximately serial number 800,000 for rifles made at Springfield Armory and at serial number 285,507 at Rock Island Arsenal. Lower serial numbers are known as "low-number" M1903 rifles. Higher serial numbers are said to be "double-heat-treated".
Toward the end of the war, Springfield turned out the Model 1903 Mark I. The Mark I has a cut on the left hand side of the receiver meant to act as an ejection port for the Pedersen device, a specialized insert that replaced the bolt and allowed the user to fire caliber.30 cartridges semi-automatically from a 40-round detachable magazine. The stock was also slightly cut down on the left side to clear the ejection port. In all other respects, the Mark I is identical to the M1903. Temperature control during forging had been improved before Mark I production. The receiver alloy was toughened by addition of nickel after Mark I production.
In 1926, after experiencing the effect of long-range German 7.92×57mm rifle and machine gun fire during the war, the U.S. Army adopted the heavy, 174-grain, boat-tail bullet for its.30-06 cartridge, standardized as Cartridge, Ball, caliber 30, M1. M1 ammunition, intended primarily for long-range machine gun use, soon became known by Army rifle competition teams and marksmen for its considerably greater accuracy than the M1906 round; the new M1 ammunition was issued to infantrymen with the Springfield rifle as well as to machine gun teams. However, during the late 1930s, it became apparent that, with the development of mortars, high-angle artillery, and the.50 caliber M2 Browning machine gun, the need for extreme long-range, rifle-caliber machine-gun fire was decreasing. In 1938, the US Army reverted to a.30-06 cartridge with a 152-grain flat-base bullet, designated "M2 ball", for all rifles and machine guns.
In the 1920s and the 1930s, M1903s were delivered to US allies in Central America including Cuba, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. Costa Rican troops were equipped with Springfields during the Coto War, and some rifles were captured by the opposing Panamanians. The Cuban Springfields were used by Batista forces after WW2 and later by the Revolutionary Armed Forces, for instance during the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation acquired some M1903 rifles configured like National Rifle Association sporter models in response to the 1933 Kansas City Massacre.
In service, the Springfield was generally prized for its reliability and accuracy, though some problems remained. The precision rear aperture 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 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 to be no improvement over the original one-piece Mauser design, and was a cause of numerous ordnance repairs, along with occasional reports of jammed magazine followers.