Springfield 1903 vs 1903A3 vs 1904A4 - Development and History 

I fully regret not going for military surplus rifles in the past!!! I don’t have many regrets in my life but this is definitely one of them!!!!!!

I have a 1903 A1 Springfield. Made in 1928 and never issued. It was purchased through Miltec who made arrangements through the Springfield National Monument to crate and remove for sale. Comes in Springfield marked and serialized Military crate. Unfired until 2022. Flawless, highly figured Eastern walnut. Like driving a new model T off the showroom floor!

Brophy,s book ,big red book ,is greatly informative also. Deep detail on the 1903 subject.

There were actually sufficient numbers of M1 Garands to outfit the Marine Corps at the outset of WW2. The Marine Corps top brass chose to keep the accurate, proven 1903 A3. They issued the M1 to second line troops initially to see how the new rifle functioned. The Marine Corps changed its mind and decided to make the M1 the standard issue rifle but the initial Marine units had already sailed for the Pacific theatre. There were a few Marine units equipped with M1’s, notably the 2nd Marine Raiders and some engineer units. It was neither insufficient numbers nor preferential treatment of the Army that saw Marines landing on Guadalcanal with 1903 A3’s, but the intransigence of their top officers.

Talk about inflation. I see the '03 rifle is selling now for what the Garand did a few years ago! Don't forget, on April 19th, 1775 is the reason we can talk about these rifles today!!

Love the 1903,s . Have a few of them. One has a bull barrel,another has a Star gaged barrel.another is made up of a 1903A4 sniper set up . Has an Alaskan scope on it . Great set ups with my handloads. The star Gage is set up for 1993A1,C stock is the only thing that makes it aA1. Great shooters ! Great round ,3006.

I ❤ 03s

Excellent presentation on the Springfield, Chris; thank you!!!

Amazing video Chris. Very in depth and love the historical perspective.

Great video! Learned so much about these rifles. Thank you

I have a Remington 1903-A3 from September 1943 and a 16” bayonet from 1943.

Wonderful video! Thanks for the information

Great stuff Chris, I learned several things I didn’t know about these rifles. Especially the 03A4; I wasn’t familiar with the optics they were issued with or how low powered & tiny they are. Makes me appreciate our modern glass even more than I already do.

👍👍 Always love your posts... Very informative. Happy Easter.

outstanding video; very informative! thanks a lot.

Great job and video.

Nicely done! Ian better watch out …

the history lesson is amazing...well done! It is amazing to watch the development of technology over time.

Great informative video!!!!

Good video. Thank you.

I still need to get myself a nice 1903A3. I don’t mind the scant/semi pistol grip stock but I’d definitely prefer a C or full pistol grip stock.

Thanks!

FYI: No Spitzer for the Spanish on the Spanish US war. 7mm was superior to .30-40 by virtue of size and MV, but both were round noses.

In 1980 in walked into a southern Illinois junk shop that had a barrel full of 1903 Springfield, 1898 Mauser and 1917 Enfeild .30-06 rifles.." YOUR CHOICE, $75"...should have bought the whole barrel!

Nice. I have an unissued Remington 03/A3 with the OG stock stamp like that.

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Springfield looks Beautiful

My local shop has 1903s and 1903A3s. I'm leaning more towards the A3. They're a bit heavy and feel solid.

Thank you for the info. I'm curious: Did Remington convert any A3s into A4s at the factory? I ask as I own a 1903-A3 manufactured December of '43. The forward receiver ring is marked 1903-A3. However, the bolt is the A4 type, and the scope ring mounts have the exact same patina as the rest of the metal components of the rifle. Additionally, the holes drilled to attach the scope mounts were precisely placed to not damage the identification markings on the forward receiver ring. Also, the threads for the scope mounts are pristine, as if they had never been removed before.

Well done...I was researching the M1917 Enfield because I thought that the M1903 Springfield was the only service rifle the US Army and Marines used during WWI and the more I looked into the two rifles, the more intrigued and fascinated I became learning about them. Well done, presented and great lecture.

I have a Remington O3A3 my father-inlaw used in Dday day 2 and France. it's in great condition, still hase the cleaning kit in the butt.

Can you review a lyman 48 sight on some of these rifle sir. Ty

I have the A-1 and load for it, also the 1898 Kraig.

I've seen it stated that in WWI, the Americans had the best target rifle, the Germans the best hunting rifle and the Brits the best combat rifle... Do you consider the heat-treat issue of low number rifles a non-issue? From what I've read, it didn't seem to be a problem. Many of those rifles were used by the Marines up into late '42, including the hard fighting on Guadalcanal.

I just got out my 1903 that my uncle brought home from Vietnam . It is marked Rock island ser #3817XX. I was curious to know if it was all matching but no ser# on the bolt or anywhere else except a P stamped on the stock. Am I missing something? I can't believe that the bolts were unserealized

Wish I had at least one each of 1903 & a 1903-A3. I only have the Model of 1917

I know I spelled unerdal wrong. They were a Pittsburgh company

The bolt sounds smooth and positive,,you can tell this one is a precision rifle ,like raking a 1911 Kimber it just talks to you

Ok so how do you load the a4 with a stripper clip??

I have a Smith in corona A3. Released from the armory with a straight stalk. Barrel date 1943. You did failed to mention the unerdal scopes

Hey brother I have a question! I recently acquired a m1903 for around 800 bucks... the serial is in the 600,000's it's date on the barrel 6-17 however it has that C pistol grip stock you mentioned around min17... but you said the C stock only came out in 1929... also by sights / top metal portion, goes all the way to half the gun like the first 1903 but it has the C grip on it? Could you help out a little. Thanks!

It was always my understanding a 1 straight stock a 2 C stock A3 straigh stock A4 C stocks. The Springfield 4 groove rifling. Remington 2 groove rifling. Smith and corona 4 groove rifling

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I've always found that magazine cutoff to be baffling, just the entire thought process behind it feels like people who were way behind the times adding in a pointless feature. Anyways other than that unsolicited complaint, really nice presentation.

I have NO idea what he is talking about with regards to making a "cavalry carbine" version of the 1903 post WWI. The 1903 design was, from the outset, intended to serve both as the standard rifle for the infantry and the cavalry with this "intermediate" length. Recall that the previous Krag-Jorgensen was made in a long infantry rifle and a shorter cavalry carbine and the Army wanted to have just ONE rifle for both and the 1903's intermediate length was found acceptable.

If you buy a 1903 they have weak firing pins pick up an extra

He confuses the story of the U.S. Model 1917 rifle in his telling. Remington, Eddystone, and Winchester had been contracted by the British government during World War I to make Pattern 1914 rifles for them; that contract had finished by the time the United States government decided that 1903 production at Springfield and Rock Island would not meet the expected demand. The US government did not ever seriously consider commandeering any Pattern 1914 production for American use. The Army would have liked for Remington, Eddystone, and Winchester to make more 1903s, but the difficulty and delay in creating three brand new production lines was unacceptable. The Pattern 1914 design only required minor changes to use the .30-'06 cartridge and alter a few other minor things to create the Model 1917 rifle and the Army found that acceptable. Because much of the tooling was already in place in their factories, the three commercial makers were able to very rapidly get the M1917 into full rate production and by the war's end they had made over 2 million rifles (over twice the number of 1903 rifles) which made the substitute-standard M1917 the most common rifle in US military service during the war.

Great video thank you for the very detailed information