The rifles chosen to be altered by Marine Corps armorers, were in the main, very accurate pick-of-the-litter National Match rifles, or rifles built to match-grade specs with remarkably close tolerances and very slick actions.

Standard alterations included tapping the receiver ring and mounting a scope block expertly mortised in the handguard halfway between the front sight and the lower barrel band. The handguard was scalloped to accommodate the scope. Uniquely, armorers blued the bolts.

When all was said and done, the Marines produced a very accurate sniper rifle, which saw extensive service in World War II and later in Korea. If we had taken a poll during the live-fire exercise with Land’s collectables, this 1941 variation would have been the favorite, hands down.

Among rifles shot by those young Marines was one that was never officially adopted by the Corps, but used extensively by Marines—the U.S. Army M1903A4. The one on hand that day had a scant stock. Land says the rifles were never chosen for accuracy as were the Marine Model 1941s, although many shot well. “The ’03A4 rifles were produced with six different scopes. It started off with a Weaver 330, 2.5 power; then it went to the M73B1, which was a Weaver 330 with a military designation; then it went to the Lyman Alaskan all-weather; then they went to the M81 (crosshair) and the M82 (crosshair with post). Land said he believes that for all the hype about German optics, American wartime scopes were actually far superior.

For his remarkable live-fire hands-on demonstration, Land also provided two pristine M1 sniper rifles. The Marine Corps M1C differed from the Army version, having a much more robust Griffin & Howe side-mount rather than the standard Griffin & Howe unit. The Marine M1C, which saw extensive use in Korea as the MC-1952, also sported an uniquely USMC Stith-Kollmorgen 4X scope, according to Land, the best optic yet produced for the Corps. It saw service in Lebanon and Panama.

Also on the firing line was Land’s M1D with its M84 scope, a rifle not used by Marines in Korea, but, which like the M1C, was fielded in Vietnam. Land said both rifles, when used by Marine Corps snipers, were glass-bedded and given additional tuning by armorers.

For Land, that day on the range was an odyssey of sorts. “I’ve been collecting Marine Corps sniper rifles for probably 40 years, and this was the only time we had an opportunity to put them all on the firing line at the same time. When we first came up with this idea, I thought, there goes the value of my collection, but now I know that watching those Marines firing rifles used by Marines in their fathers’ or grandfathers’ or great-grand fathers’ generation made it more valuable than I can say.”