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Title:	RIFLE, MILITARY -  U.S. RIFLE MODEL 1903 .30 SN# 282
Maker/Manufacturer:	SPRINGFIELD ARMORY
Date of Manufacture:	1903
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 932
Measurements:	OL:109.8CM 43 1/4" BL: 59.6CM 23 1/2" 8.5 lbs.

Object Description:

U.S. RIFLE MODEL 1903 .30 SN# 282
Manufactured by the Springfield Armory, Springfield, Ma. in 1903 - Standard U.S. Model 1903 bolt-action rifle with 5-round integral magazine feed mechanism. Turning bolt action with two lugs on the bolt head locking into the receiver. Weapon weighs approximately 8.5 lbs. Weapon modified in 1905/06 and then later altered to .30-06. Weapon was re-barreled in 1909.

Markings:
Receiver: U.S./SPRINGFIELD/ARMORY/MODEL 1903/282.
Barrel: SA/Flaming ball/3-09.

Web site photo shows West Point cadet armed with the M1903 rifle and Krag bayonet. West Pointers were one of the first troops to be issued the '03 rifle.

Notes: "The test rifle was finished at the end of August 1900 and was submitted for testing to begin at the start of October. The trial lasted two months 'as weather and other work permitted', and the recommendations made centred on improvements to the cartridge and magazine: a rimless round (of similar performance) was called for (it having been found that the rimmed rounds were prone to jam when the rim of the upper was behind that of the round below) and the magazine should be of the more recent staggered design, which would allow it to be enclosed within the stock where it was less likely to be damaged. The magazine cut-off - which in the original was modelled on that employed by the Lee-Enfield: a flat plate on a vertical pin, which was swung across to bridge the magazine and depress the cartridges - was criticised too, largely because it prohibited the recharging of the magazine with loose rounds when it was in place, and it was suggested that the cut-off system of the Swiss Schimidt-Rubin, which lowered the entire magazine slightly when the rifle was to be used in single-shot mode, should be substituted.
The first two suggestions were adopted, the last was not, though the cut-off was completely re-designed so that when it was engaged the bolt was prohibited from being withdrawn far enough to strip a fresh round out of the magazine, an altogether more satisfactory - and cheaper - solution; it also performed the function of a disengageable bolt stop. Subsequently, the slot milled in the receiver bridge top was also deleted, and the 'safety' lug's geometry was amended.
Cartridges and test rifles to that specification - 100 of them - were produced, in a variety of different barrel lengths, from 559mm to 762mm (22in to 30in), all of with one turn of the rifling in 203mm (eight inches) instead of the original 254 (10in), and were issued in February 1903 to an evaluation board consisting of a cavalry officer and two infantry officers, with an ordnance officer to act as recorder, which was provided with six NCOs to carry out firing tests and demonstrations. All in all, they fired 10,000 rounds through the rifles at Sandy Hook proving grounds, and demonstrated it at 10 Army posts, and came the conclusion that the 610mm (24in) barrel should be adopted, along with a cartridge developed at Frankford Arsenal which gave it the required muzzle velocity. They also recommended a number of slight changes to the rifle's furniture, and the addition of a spring-loaded bolt retainer.
Two rifles in the modified specifications were prepared and submitted to the Infantry Board at Fort Leavenworth and the Cavalry Board at Fort Riley, and both accepted them unanimously. The Chief of Ordnance, General William Crozier (who was to achieve lasting fame by rejecting the best light machine gun of World War I, the Lewis gun, because of a personal feud with it inventor, Isaac Newton Lewis), recommended its adoption and on 19 June 1903, after what was, for a time, a very brief gestation period indeed, the United States Magazine Rifle, Caliber .30, Model 1903, together with the Cartridge, Ball, Caliber .30, Model 1903 was approved by the Secretary of War, and the US Army at last had an up-to-date rifle.
Or at least, it would have, as soon as manufacturing could commence....The new rifle was to be made at Springfield where a single eight hour shift was suppose to produce 225 each day, and at the A NEW ROUND FOR THE MODEL 1903 - The firing trials had shown up one potential defect: the hotter-buring nitro-glycerine-rich propellant required to up the muzzle velocity in the shorter barrel produced unacceptable erosion with a 203mm (eight inch) rifling twist, and even as the tooling for the rifles were prepared, a series of further test were being carried out. The result was a return to the original rifling specification, one turn in 254mm (10 inches) or 33 calibres. Nonetheless the severe erosion persisted, and in 1904 the propellant load was reduced, which cut the muzzle velocity to 670 metres (2200ft) per second; even so, after little over 1000 rounds had been fired, the rifling in the first 50mm (two inches) of the barrel of a randomly-selected test rifle was completely obliterated (and 40 rounds fired as rapidly as possible actually caused charring in the stock). Clearly, there was a major problem at hand, particularly since it became known that same year that the German Army had adopted a lightweight pointed bullet which gave much better performance.
The result was the development of a new round using 3.04g to (47 to 50 grain) of a more powerful but much cooler-burning propellant developed by DuPont, and loaded with a flat-based, 9.7g (150 grain) cupro-nickel spitzer bullet, which produced a muzzle velocity of 823 metres (2700ft) per second and an extreme range of 3200mm (two miles). Thanks to the much flatter trajectory, as well as the reduced windage, as a result of the much slimmer profile, it was consistently more accurate than the old round-nosed 14.2g (220 grain) bullet. On 15 October 1906 the new round was standardized as the Cartridge, Ball Caliber .30, Model of 1906, which became known universally as the .30in-06, and work began on modifying the tooling which produced the barrels of the Model 1903 rifle, as well as modifications to the existing rifles themselves (though the latter was not to be concluded until stocks of the .30in-03 ammunition had been exhausted, in 1909).
The only major modification to the M1903 rifle was the fitting of a semi-pistol grip in place of the straight 'English' stock which had originally been specified, and that did not take place until 1929, but there was a short-lived attempt to convert it to semi-automatic operation by the addition of the so-called Pedersen Device (more property - and certainly more confusingly - the US Automatic Pistol, Caliber .30, Model of 1918), and that required a few modifications to the receiver - the magazine cut-off was discarded, and an ejection port for spend cases was cut into the left hand side of the receiver. Almost 102,000 M1903 rifles with these modifications were produced between 1918 and 1920, at which point the programme was abandoned." - Ford

"Upon approval of the Chief of Staff, United States Army, the Corp of Cadets, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York, was equipped with the new rifle on March 23, 1904. As the cartridge for the new is different from that of the old rifle, it has been decided to make no other issues of the former arm except in Alaska, China and the Philippines, until a sufficient number have been completed to enable the entire Regular Army to be equipped at the same time. It is anticipated that this exchange of arms can be made in January next.
As a result of a series of tests, such minor details as the form of the striker point and the amount of its projection beyond the face of the bolt, the strength of the sear and main springs, and the twist of the rifling have been determined; a number of minor changes have also been made in some of its parts.
The following appendages have been designed and will beFor the purpose of determining that twist which would give the greatest length of life of the barrel, consistent with accuracy and stability of the bullet, firings were conducted with barrels rifled with a uniform twist of one turn in 8, 8 1/2, 9, 9 1/2, 10 and 11 inches....After firing 6,233 rounds with the 8-inch twist, the rifling was practically worn out, while after 6,073 rounds with the 9-inch twist, its accuracy had decreased only 56 percent. As calculations show that a uniform twist of one turn in 10.5 inches is sufficient to insure stable flight of the bullets, a uniform twist of one turn in 10 inches was adopted." - Report of the Chief of Ordnance, 1904

"German Patent-Infringement Claims - While the new .30-06 cartridge was a marked improvement over the original .30-03 round, its adoption was not without some controversy. When the M1903 rifle was standardized, the Ordnance Department was aware that the design likely infringed on some Mauser company patents.
On March 15, 1904, Gen. Crozier contacted the Mauser firm and suggested consultation on the subject. Eventually, it was determined that the '03 design violated five Mauser rifle patents and two clip patents. An amicable agreement was reached, and the United States agreed to pay Mauser royalties of 75 cents per rifle and 50 cents per thousand chargers (stripper clips) up to a maximum of $200,000. The final installment was paid in July 1909.
Shortly after the final payments were made to Mauser, another German firm, Deutsch Waffen-und-Munitionsfabriken, made a claim that the spitzer bullet of the M1906 cartridge was an infringement on its patents. The U.S. government replied that no patents had been violated, and the U.S. Army Ordnance Department had conducted experiments with sharp-pointed bullets at least as early as 1894. The German company disagreed and filed suit demanding a royalty of $1 per thousand cartridges (up to $250,000).
Before the suit could go to trial, World War I intervened, and the German bullet patent was seized by the American government under the Alien Custody Act. This put the issue 'on hold' for the duration of the war. However, in 1921, an international tribunal found that, although the initial German claim was without merit, the United States' seizure of the patent was a violation of existing treaties and awarded damages of $300,000.
By the time all appeals were exhausted and accrued interest assessed, the American government paid out more than $400,000 to settle the claim. It is interesting to note that the amount paid to settle an admittedly groundless claim was more than double the amount paid to satisfy the clear patent violations inherent in the M1903 and its charger." - Bruce Canfield, American Rifleman, September, 2006.

References:
Brophy, William S. THE SPRINGFIELD 1903 RIFLES. Stackpole Books. Harrisburg, Pa. 1985.
Campbell, Clark S. THE '03 ERA: WHEN SMOKELESS POWDER REVOLUTIONIZED U.S. RIFLERY. Collector Grade Publications Inc. Cobourg, Ontario, Canada. 1994.
Canfield, Bruce. A COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO THE '03 SPRINGFIELD. Andrew Mowbray. Lincoln, R.I. 1989.
Clark, David C. ARMS FOR THE NATION. Scott A. Duff. Export, Pa. 1992.
Colby, Gerard. DU PONT DYNASTY. Lyle Stuart Inc. Secaucus, N.J. 1984.
Ferris, C.S. & John Beard. SPRINGFIELD MODEL 1903 SERVICE RIFLE PRODUCTION AND ALTERATION. 1905-1910. C.S. Ferris. Arvada, Co. 1995.
Flayderman, Norm. FLAYDEMAN'S GUIDE TO ANTIQUE AMERICAN FIREARMS...AND THEIR VALUES. 8th Ed. Krause Publications. Iola, Wi. 2001.
Ford, Roger. THE WORLD'S GREAT RIFLES. Barnes & Nobles Books. N.Y., N.Y. 1998.
Hatcher, Julian S. HATCHER'S NOTEBOOK. The Stackpole Co. Harrisburg, Pa. 1962.
Poyer, Joe. THE MODEL 1903 SPRINGFIELD RIFLE AND ITS VARIATIONS. North Cape Publications, Inc. Tustin, Ca. 2001.
Walter, John. RIFLES OF THE WORLD. 2nd Ed. Krause Publications. Iola, Wi. 1998.