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6/11/2025, 4:16:16 PM
Experimental variations of the US Model 1903 rifle:
-At top is the more-or-less final version of the rifle as of 1918.
-Below is the M1903 as adopted in 1903, in caliber .30-'03, with integral spike bayonet, and tangent-leaf rear sight.
-Below that is one of the variations tested in 1905 when President Roosevelt ordered the Ordnance Department to replace the spike bayonet with a more traditional knife-type. This one used a similar bayonet mount & front sight guard to the British Short Magazine Lee-Enfield.
-Next is a rifle with very finely-adjustable sights for target shooting.
-Below that is an experimental receiver-mounted rear sight and winged front sight guards. Interestingly I have seen a rifle identical to this one in WW1 photographs of ammunition being quality tested at one of the many private contractors supplying .30-'06 cartridges to the US government. No mention in the photographic plate caption is made of the special modifications to the rifle, so it may have just been sent there because it was no longer useful to the Ordnance Department.
-The final two rifles are different variations of muzzle brake trialed on the M1903. While they were effective at reducing felt recoil the muzzle blast was uncomfortable for other shooters on the firing line and so the feature was never adopted.
-At top is the more-or-less final version of the rifle as of 1918.
-Below is the M1903 as adopted in 1903, in caliber .30-'03, with integral spike bayonet, and tangent-leaf rear sight.
-Below that is one of the variations tested in 1905 when President Roosevelt ordered the Ordnance Department to replace the spike bayonet with a more traditional knife-type. This one used a similar bayonet mount & front sight guard to the British Short Magazine Lee-Enfield.
-Next is a rifle with very finely-adjustable sights for target shooting.
-Below that is an experimental receiver-mounted rear sight and winged front sight guards. Interestingly I have seen a rifle identical to this one in WW1 photographs of ammunition being quality tested at one of the many private contractors supplying .30-'06 cartridges to the US government. No mention in the photographic plate caption is made of the special modifications to the rifle, so it may have just been sent there because it was no longer useful to the Ordnance Department.
-The final two rifles are different variations of muzzle brake trialed on the M1903. While they were effective at reducing felt recoil the muzzle blast was uncomfortable for other shooters on the firing line and so the feature was never adopted.
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