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U.S. Springfield M1903 A3 Rifle

Brief info on the Springfield M1903A3

As America came into WWII it was noticed immediately that there just weren't enough individual rifles to both arm troops in battle and to train troops in the States....decision was made to use "substitute standard" U.S. Rifles.... these were "old" WWI M1903 and M1917 Enfields, the M1903-A1's made between the world wars and a new kid in town, the M1903-A3 "Springfield" that was actually made by Remington Arms Co. and L.C. Smith-Corona. The '03-A3 was similar to the '03 but with stamped parts and other manufacturing shortcuts to ease their production. As mentioned in earlier post '03-A3 had an outstanding aperture "peep" rear sight on the receiver bridge, a vast improvement over the original '03 and '03-A1 open rear sight. A very accurate sniper variant, the M1903-A4, came into being during WWII and remained in use on into the Vietnam War.

The M1903 and the M1903A3 rifle were used in combat alongside the M1 Garand by the U.S. military during World War II and saw extensive use and action in the hands of U.S. troops in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific. The U.S. Marines were initially armed with M1903 rifles in early battles in the Pacific, such as the Battle of Guadalcanal, but the jungle battle environment generally favourted self-loading rifles, later Army units arriving to the island were armed with the M1 Garand. The U.S. Army Rangers were also a major user of the M1903 and the M1903A3 during World War II with the Springfield being preferred over the M1 Garand for certain commando missions.

According to Bruce Canfield's encyclopedic U.S. Infantry Weapons of WW II, final variants of the M1903 (the A3 and A4) were delivered in February 1944. By then, most American combat troops had been re-equipped with the M1 Garand. However, some front-line infantry units in both the U.S. Army and Marine Corps retained M1903s beyond that date.