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On average we tend to think of Springfield M1903 rifles as primarily a WWI rifle made by Springfield Armory and Rock Island Armory. Between the two government arsenals, 1,881,292 M1903 rifles were produced. Their long service life and use by all branches of the military has insured their place in the history of US martial firearms.
Production of M1903's ceased at Springfield in 1936 so that the Armory could concentrate on production of M1 Garand rifles. During the life of Garand production over twice as many were produced in 9 years, than during the entire production run of M1903's.
That didn't end production of '03's though, in 1941 Remington made a deal with the US government to purchase the tooling and plans from Rock Island Arsenal to produce M1903's. By 1942, they were turning out M1903 rifles that were, except for receiver markings, identical to late production Rock Island M1903 rifles.
A small quantity of early Remington M1903's were exported to England as part of the lend-lease program, but were never really used due to being in a non-standard caliber for the Brits. A small quantity of these made it back to the US in virtually unissued condition. Called the "Red Star" Remington's they are quite valuable. Upon the US entry into the war, all production was earmarked for US government use.
As time went by, the engineers at Remington suggested to the Ordnance Department, changes to save material and production time. As these changes were approved, they were integrated into production, eventually there were enough differences to warrant a name change for the resulting rifle.
Thus was born the "U.S. Rifle M1903-A3"
A contract with High Standard was offered by the US government, but due to the high demand on their production facilities, the contract was subcontracted with L.C. Smith-Corona typewriter company to produce M1903 rifles in 1941. Production didn't really get underway until late that year, by which time the rifle had gone through the myriad of design changes resulting in production of M1903-A3 rifles instead. The first rifles came off Smith-Corona's production line in November, 1941, actually beating out Remington's '03-A3 introduction of the 'A3 by one month.
Between Remington (1,414,993) and Smith-Corona (236,831), nearly as many variants of the '03 were made in four years as Springfield and RI made in 33 years.
With the recent acquisition of a '03-A4, I finally have all the major variants as made during WWII.
Top to bottom:
Remington M1903-A4 (August, 1943)
Smith-Corona M1903-A3 (February, 1943)
Remington M1903A3 (June, 1943)
Remington M1903 (August, 1942)
Remington M1903
Remington M1903-A3
Smith-Corona M1903-A3
Remington M1903-A4
As a side note; Both Remington M1903 (264,954) and S-C M1903-A3's (236,831) have a lower production run than Rock Island (348,414) did. Rifles from all three manufacturers are scarce in unaltered/unrebuilt condition.
Production of M1903's ceased at Springfield in 1936 so that the Armory could concentrate on production of M1 Garand rifles. During the life of Garand production over twice as many were produced in 9 years, than during the entire production run of M1903's.
That didn't end production of '03's though, in 1941 Remington made a deal with the US government to purchase the tooling and plans from Rock Island Arsenal to produce M1903's. By 1942, they were turning out M1903 rifles that were, except for receiver markings, identical to late production Rock Island M1903 rifles.
A small quantity of early Remington M1903's were exported to England as part of the lend-lease program, but were never really used due to being in a non-standard caliber for the Brits. A small quantity of these made it back to the US in virtually unissued condition. Called the "Red Star" Remington's they are quite valuable. Upon the US entry into the war, all production was earmarked for US government use.
As time went by, the engineers at Remington suggested to the Ordnance Department, changes to save material and production time. As these changes were approved, they were integrated into production, eventually there were enough differences to warrant a name change for the resulting rifle.
Thus was born the "U.S. Rifle M1903-A3"
A contract with High Standard was offered by the US government, but due to the high demand on their production facilities, the contract was subcontracted with L.C. Smith-Corona typewriter company to produce M1903 rifles in 1941. Production didn't really get underway until late that year, by which time the rifle had gone through the myriad of design changes resulting in production of M1903-A3 rifles instead. The first rifles came off Smith-Corona's production line in November, 1941, actually beating out Remington's '03-A3 introduction of the 'A3 by one month.
Between Remington (1,414,993) and Smith-Corona (236,831), nearly as many variants of the '03 were made in four years as Springfield and RI made in 33 years.
With the recent acquisition of a '03-A4, I finally have all the major variants as made during WWII.
Top to bottom:
Remington M1903-A4 (August, 1943)
Smith-Corona M1903-A3 (February, 1943)
Remington M1903A3 (June, 1943)
Remington M1903 (August, 1942)
Remington M1903
Remington M1903-A3
Smith-Corona M1903-A3
Remington M1903-A4
As a side note; Both Remington M1903 (264,954) and S-C M1903-A3's (236,831) have a lower production run than Rock Island (348,414) did. Rifles from all three manufacturers are scarce in unaltered/unrebuilt condition.
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