The scope was constructed of steel and brass and the interior and exterior were painted black and it was quite heavy at 2.25 lbs (1.02 kg). The scope was prismatic design which means it used glass prisms instead of lens to focus and magnify the image, which is why they are short and compact. The Army changed to the lower magnification for the larger field of view and improved light gathering capability. The Warner and Swasey 1908 optic had a 6 power magnification, the later adopted 1913 version had a lower 5.2x power. For the Army, they elected to go for a prismatic “musket sight” developed by Warner and Swasey. Great Britain and Germany developed official schools and sniper programs through the WWI, but the US only participated in the British school on a limited basis and came late to the war.įor the “sniper versions” of the M1903 during WWI, there were two main scopes utilized, one adopted by the Army and the other by the USMC. That was the extent of the US Sniping program at the time. It was more a matter of taking a battle rifle and mounting some optics on it and then issuing the rifle to the best marksman. While the war department was working on developing scoped versions of the M1903, there was no real development of a complete sniper weapon system like there was just 25 years later. While WWI is considered the birth place of modern sniping and it was a time when much of the modern sniping concepts and practices were developed, a lot of the sniper programs and their rifles, were developed on the fly and were not nearly as defined as they were even during WWII. sniper program throughout the first World War. Honestly, that was about the extent of the U.S. They will be issued to and accounted for by the company commander, and, in his discretion, may be carried by the men at inspection under arms.” These sights will be supplied by the Ordnance Department and assigned to enlisted men who have qualified under these regulations as expert riflemen. “Telescopic Sight-To encourage efforts, to award efficiency, and to properly equip a special class of shots who shall not only be designated as expert, but who, in action, shall be employed as such, the telescopic sight is adopted. It stated in Chapter II, Section 235 of the Regulations: During the final development of the M1903 the Small Arms Firing Regulations of 1904 was released and authorized the issue of telescopic sights on rifles to specially designated marksmen. M1903 Springfield was introduced and into production, the Ordnance Department began developmental work on a telescopic-sighted version of the new rifle. There are few differences, other than cosmetics, from the original M1903 prototype rifles and while it was officially adopted in 1906, it retained the M1903 model number. The total length of the rifle was 43.2″ and it weighed in at 8.69 lbs. It had a 24″ barrel, a “turn-down” bolt, five round internal magazine that could be either loaded with a stripper clip or individually, and was fitted with a ladder style rear sight. The original M1903 rifles featured a straight stock, lacking the pistol grip that was added with the later A1 version of the rifle in 1929.
The rifle and cartridge were officially adopted by the US Military in 1906 and remained the standard service rifle for 40 years and served as a sniper rifle for nearly 60. 30 caliber pointed-nose bullet which would come to be known as the. When developing the M1903, Springfield Armory patterned it after the renowned Mauser designs and then paired it with a 150 grain. That is where the US M1903 rifle came onto the scene.
Additional Notes: These are rare and very collectible sniper riflesĪt the end of the 19th century, the United States needed a new battle rifle to modernize their current rifles and to bring them into the 20th century.
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