While the U.S. Army's Model 1903 Springfield rifle is one of the most well-recognized small arms of the 20th century, a lesser-known variant served as an important stopgap rifle in the early years of World War II. Thanks to the efforts of engineers and arms designers at Remington, the U.S. Army eventually adopted an official pattern of the Springfield termed the "Model of 1903A3." Watch our "American Rifleman Television" I Have This Old Gun feature above to hear the story of the "'03A3."
"In 1941, the United States decided, you know, things are kind of heating up here. And though they were armed with, you know, the fine M1 Garand, they decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to boost our arsenal a little bit and rebuild or have some new 1903 Springfields," American Rifleman Field Editor Garry James said. "So they contracted with Remington Arms, and for a short period of time, Remington, for two or three years, made pretty good copies of the actual 1903 Springfield."
The reason that Remington Arms was making models similar to the original M1903 Springfields was because the company had been given all the old tooling and machinery used by Rock Island Armory to manufacture M1903 Springfields in the early 20th century. However, Remington soon began to run into issues in using this older equipment.
"As the machines had been well-used and were wearing down, Remington continued to upgrade and modify not only the machinery but the manufacturing method," said NRA Museums Director Phil Schreier. "Until they consulted with the U.S. Army's Ordnance department in coming up with a new design nomenclature for the gun known as the A3, the Model of A3. 1903A3."
Notable features of the Model 1903A3 included the use of stampings for many of the parts, notably the trigger guard and magazine floorplate. The Model 1905 leaf sight, which had been located on the front receiver ring, was dispensed with in favor of a peep sight located on the rear receiver ring. Not only was this rear sight easier to manufacture, it also had the added benefit of being more similar to the sights employed on the M1 Garand.
"Not only did Remington make these guns, but so did Smith-Corona. Remington made about 700 and some odd thousand of them. Smith-Corona, about another 300,000," James said. "The guns were issued in small quantities to the military. The Marines apparently used some, but for the most part, the 03A3s were kept on the home front, given to, you know, plant guards, this sort of thing, and lots and lots and lots and lots of them were never issued at all."
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