Notesofl ...
The Modet f 90343 Springfield,Taru story behind the developmentI of the U.S. Rifle, Cal. .30, Model
190343, stems back to the Br.itishevacuation of Dunkirk in 1940 whichleft England with less than one millionrounds of ammunition and sufficientrifles on hand to equip abouf 2 divisionsonly. Neally a million 1917 Enfieldrifles with amntunition immediatelyshipped to England from our own warreserve stores were only a stopgap. Toworsen matters, Springfield Armorywas at that time just getting into theswing of Ml (Garand) rifle productionand the comparatively few 1903 andl903Al rifles on hand were badlyneeded by our own folces and couldnot be spared.
In June of 1940, Sir Walter Leighton,a personal repl'esentative of Pr.imeMinister Chulchill, came to Washingtonwith the request that U. S. industrytool up to produce the .303 cal. Br.itishselvice rifle. Due to a critical shortageof machine tools at that time thisrequest could not be granted, but as a
Except for receiver markings, 190343liflcs made by this firm are of identi-cal pattern to those produced by Rem-ington. Plodtrction of 190343 rifles wascliscontinued by Remington in Feb-ruary 1944,
Old-timers familia with the beauti-fully-machined 1903 rifles of Spring-field Armory or Rock Island Arsenalrnanufacture are somewhat critical ofthese relatively crude 'war babies' ofRemington or L. C. Smith-Cor.onamanufacture. It is quite true that war-time expediency dictated many manu-facturing shortcuts, but the fact stillrenrains that the Model 190343 is anentirely serviceable and inher.ently ac-currte lifle capable of excellent scoreson the target l'ange or convcrsior to afine sporting arm.Strong by ony stondord
The modeln alloy steels used in itsfabrication, abetted by up-to-date heat-tleatment methods, provide a reservemalgin of stlength far gr.eater than the
compromise meastrre machinery forproducing the Model 1903 Springfieldrifle was removed from storage at RockIsland Al'senal and leased to RemingtonArms Co. by U. S. Or.clnance.
Completed 190341 rifles began com-ing off the assembly line by October1941, only 9 months after Renringtonsigned the British contract. A totat of348,085 190341 rifles were subsequent-ly manufactured, but due to the com-plex machining operations demandedby this model, daily procluction require-ments could not be met. To circum-vent this problem, Remington enginer.seffected a redesign of the tSOetwhich was approved on May 21, 1942.Thus was the Model 1903A3 rifle con_ceived. Only 24 parts of the originalModel 190341 remained unchanged.Twelve minor parts were eliminated nd
ng forgingeir produc-period, the
contract since our .*., *"tf i,,Brttt"'jtriggered by Pearl Harbor, created demand for rifles which could not other-wise be met.
Later production of 1903A3 rifles byL. C. Smith-Corona Typewriters, Inc.,began on OcL 24, 1942, and, did notstop until Feb. 19, 1944, after a totalof 234,580 rifles had been produced.2
average chambe pressure of both mili_tary and commercial .30-'06 anmuni-tion. In short, the receiver ancl bolt ofthe 190343 r.ifle are exceeclingly strongby any stanclard.
Riflemen accustomed to barrels withconventional 4-, 5-, or 6-groove riflingview with suspicion the 2-gr.oove barreicommon to many 1903A3 riffes. Thissystem of r.ifling was not adopted, how_ever, withont extensive tests. It wasfound that ther.e was little dierence inthe performance capabilities of the 2_and 4-gloove barrels; thus this mode ofrifling was approved for use in 1943.
ceiver blidge whererect optical relationThe range scale onof this sight is markations. The slide apetup and down this scale for desiredranges from the minimum 200 yds. set-ting up to 800 y
ter M directly followed by the year ofadoption-for example: Browning Auto-matic Rifle, Cal. .30, M1922 (not M-1922or M 1922). Limited alterations of stand-ard items were designated by addition ofthe letter M and a Roman numeral-forexample, the 75 mm. Gun M1916MIII wasthat gun with the third such alteration'(Ther were also at that time some Armyiems designated with "Marks", the ex-pression used in the nomenclature systemsf th" Britirh services and the U, S' Navy.)Existing items were redesignated. Thus theUnited States Rifle, Cal. .30, Model of1903, became the U. S. Rifle, Cal' .30'M1903.
This modified system was not found tomeet the requirements of numerous andcomplicated items which appeared, and
U.S, Rife, Col..30 Ml9l7 morked "Model of1917", cortecl designotion ot time of mqnu'
foctu re
U. S. Rife, Col. .30, M90343 morked "Model-s;', r'colloquiol designotion of type rorely
seen morked on regulotion items
which had to be identified without con- The fitting of a target-type aperturefusion during development, engineering
i',i"Xltii tinini"Jit,',|'i'r:i
:i;base is not dovetailed to accommodatesuch sights' It is possible, however, to fileor mill dovetail in this base to accept theLYman 174 'XNA' or Redfield No' 66globe sights' An alternative would be toremove the entire Service front sight as-sembly from the barrel and replace it with
uction of the Lyman No. 77R globe sight with dove-Cal. .30, tail '' base attached to the barrel withstandard 2 screws. The Redfield No. 64 and Newtheletter International Military quick-detachablethe Sub- globe sights are of similar construction
machine Gun, Cal. .45, M3Al (not M3- nd feature hoods of somewhat largerA1) embodied a first alteration, in whichform it superseded the M3. While thenomenclature of items already standardwas not changed, alteration of them wasmarked by the addition of A and a num-'L i"-o.orance with the system. Thus Service barrel and with Service sight as-the Browning Automatic Rife, Cal. '30 sembly removed' Both -the Lyman andirilS8 ulti-'ut.ly became 1tr. VttStSeZ. Redfield globe flont sights are fLrrnished'-fir. .V.t.- aiso inclue the first com- with a vat'iety of interchnngeable insertsplete provision for designating develop- at no cxtra cost'ment iems. They were gi"tr rro6"r. pr- lf desired one can also install a drive-
".a ty the letier T', ui uit".utions riere on barrel band ramp sight base as made
irji*t" by addition of the letter E and bY Lyman, etc., for use. with the Lvmani. ."ri"f lumber ot tn
-atteiation. Thus 77R with 'AK' dovetail base or similat'
;ir; ;;y rifle standardized as the M14 tedfietd No. 65 installetl in the ramp dove-*u, itr. one designated utittg "uetopment tajl in lieu of the regtrlar sght' The band;, i
- (not f_), i- "io..
prcisely of.. the ramp will cover the unsishtlvT4485, spline cuts in the top of the balrel' There
The letters of this system appear to have a.re other possible target sight combina-U.n a".iu"a originally i.o-'':oO"t" and tions for use on the 190343 rifle, btrt theseifr.io* w:ords-in that connection. appear to be poptrlar with the majority offi"*""., " letters do not stand for any 5e61g5'-l\{''Vy''words, but with their adjoined numbersare themselves the designation. SPRINGFIELD NUMBERS
On May 8, 1958' the system was slmpll'fied by dropping the T and E designa- I have been told of 'low-ttttntberetl'tions. instead, Army items henceforth are Springfrelel rifles which nny be dattgerotrs,
though the reasott s ttot clear, Whot s thelact on this mattcr?-A.R.A.
Answer: Before World War I, Model1903 rifles manufactured at SpringfieldArmory and Rock Island Arsenal weremade of carbon manganese steel, case'
same nnmber throughout its historv, in- Li:;';.,f".1J.:'".it'i:""1ti:from high presstre or other abttse.
In 1918 the heat-treatment was changecat both Splingeld and l'ock Island anclthis greatly strengthened the receiver and
series, but this appe-rrs to- be or little prac- i,?lj; t|i"...;'t""r'tl;;'r:"ftt;t;itical importance'-E.H'H' at Spr.ingfield and about No. 285,507 at
Rock Island. It is practically impossible toburst a leceiver or break a bolt of rifles
190343 TARGET SIGHTS with serial numbers above those, thoughI tuistt ro rcttoca tttc,-frottr rt.tt.ct rc.or ;J:ir":itt":i.ilTo"'r",l""io"i,nor.u::f:'';
Service sigltts ol rny 190343 .rllle tvill:, per-it eno.rgh gas escape to iplinter the,righr,s sttirublc lor turg.cl t.l,:1,iui o,t.,,nll. rtocL or bulg*e thl -uguiin", an endangerr(ilgcs up tt tttttl itu ltttl.ittc 1000 yds. WIt4t the eyesighl of a shooter. not wearingshottkl I orlr?-S.R.'L shooting
-glur."..
Ansrvcr: lwoulcl r.ecrnmend the Ly- At No. 1,275'767 Springfield At'moryman 48S, Rcclfeltl olynrpic sights with changed the material in the bolt and re-long slicle (1'or 1000 yis.), rtl Lt *'i"h ceiver to nickel steel. At No.319,921 Rockp-.iO" changes in windage ancl elevation Island began trsing nickel . steel fot' someadjtrstmcnt e[ual to V,t ;1in\te of angle. of its receivers btlt continued with theSpecify that they be suppliecl with la'ge improved heat-tleated carbon manganesetarget-iype acljusiing knobs. Also stritabJe steel for othels' The nickel steel receiversis the 7+-minte Recelcl Moclel 70SSr were marked NS on the flont face btrt thislong slicle rnicl.ometer
