Rock Island Arsenal Model 1903 Serial Number Ranges
Berna Cagley
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.
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.
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.[8] 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.[9]
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.[10]
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.[8][11]
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 (14 g) round-tip bullet fired at 2,300 ft/s (700 m/s), it had a 150-grain (9.7 g) pointed bullet fired at 2,800 ft/s (850 m/s); 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 to the present day. 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 to see service after the Pancho Villa Expedition and during World War I but was eventually deemed inadequate and was removed from the US Army's inventory by the 1920s.[12]
The military tested several M1903 rifles with Maxim suppressors starting in 1909, and requisitioned 500 in 1910 to be used for recruit training.[13] 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 fact that suppressors would preclude the use of bayonets.[14]
By the time of US entry into World War I, 843,239 M1903 rifles had been produced at Springfield Armory and Rock Island Arsenal. 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. The carbon could be "burnt" out of the steel, producing a brittle receiver.[16] Despite documented evidence indicating some early rifles were improperly forged, actual cases of failure were very rare. Although several cases of serious injury from receiver failure were documented, the U.S. Army never reported any fatalities. Many failures were attributed to use of incorrect cartridges, such as the 7.9257mm Mauser.[17] Evidence also seems to suggest that improperly forged brass cartridge cases could have further exacerbated receiver failure.[18]
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".[17]
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 modified sear and cutoff to operate the Pedersen device; a specialized insert that replaced the bolt and allowed the user to fire .30 caliber pistol 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 was improved prior to 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 7.9257mm 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.[19] M1 ammunition, intended primarily for long-range machine gun use, soon became known by Army rifle competition teams and expert riflemen for its considerably greater accuracy over that of the M1906-round; the new M1 ammunition was issued to infantrymen with the Springfield rifle as well as to machine gun teams.[20] 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, now termed "M2 ball", for all rifles and machine guns.[19]
In the 1920s and the 1930s, M1903s were delivered to US allies in Central America, such as Cuba, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. Costa Rica troops were equipped with Springfields during the Coto War and some rifles were captured by the opposing Panamanians.[21] 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.[22]
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.[24]
World War II saw new production of the Springfield at private manufacturers such as the Remington Arms and Smith-Corona Typewriter companies. Remington began production of the M1903 in September 1941, at serial number 3,000,000, using old tooling from the Rock Island Arsenal which had been in storage since 1919. The very early Remington-made rifles are almost indistinguishable from 1919-made Rock Island rifles. As the already worn tooling began to wear beyond use Remington began seeking Army approval for a continuously increasing number of changes and simplifications to both speed up manufacture and improve performance. The milled parts on the Remington M1903 were gradually replaced with stamped parts until, at about serial number 3,330,000, the Army and Remington recognized that a new model name was appropriate. Other features of the M1903, such as high-grade walnut stocks with finger grooves, were replaced with less expensive but serviceable substitutes. Most milled parts made by Remington were marked with an "R".[25]
Production of the M1903 was discontinued in favor of the M1903A3. The most noticeable visual difference in the M1903A3 was the replacement of the barrel-mounted rear sight with a smaller, simpler aperture rear sight mounted on the rear of the receiver which was designed by Remington;[26] it was primarily adopted in order to speed familiarization by soldiers already trained on the M1 Garand, which had a similar sighting system. However, the leaf spring providing tension to the elevation adjustment on the new aperture sight tended to weaken with continued use over time, causing the rifle to lose its preset range elevation setting.[24] Other modifications included a new stamped cartridge follower; the rounded edges of the new design largely alleviated the "fourth-round jam" complaints of the earlier machined part.[24] All stock furniture was also redesigned in stamped metal.
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