One hundred years ago, April, 1917, the United States of America entered World War I. As our troops marched toward the battlefields of war, they carried the very popular M1903 Springfield rifle. The American dough boys loved this gun and still today the M1903 is coveted by gun collectors.
Probably several members of the Rockwall Gun Club have it in their gun safe and still in use on the range. The early history of the M1903 started with our armed forces using the standard Krag-Jorgeson rifles during the Spanish American War. 
The Krag had shown many weaknesses during that conflict. One was the lower muzzle velocity than the Mauser used by the Spanish Army. It was also difficult to load magazines which required the insertion of one round at a time, which is not good when a charge of the enemy is headed your way. Shortly after that war engineers at the Springfield Armory began designs for a new rifle and produced its first operational prototype in 1901 and to their surprise, the US Army turned it down. So back to the drawing board went the Springfield engineers and in 1903 they presented the new M1903. This time the US Army gave it a thumbs up and this new rifle was accepted into service.
The new M1903 was a composite consisting of the best qualities from several weapons. The new cartridge was a 30.6 Springfield with a five round clip bolt action and a strong muzzle velocity of 2,800 feet per second. The range increased to 2500 yards and weighed just over eight pounds. By 1905 Springfield had built over 80,000 and the M1903 replaced the Krag, much to the delight of our soldiers.
Our guys appreciated the shorter barrel, less weight and especially the accuracy; for WW1 war was supposed to end all wars. Springfield produced nearly 850 thousand M1903's. After WW1, this rifle remained the standard American infantry gun until the introduction of the new M1 Garland in 1937. But the M1903 was so loved by our soldiers that many were reluctant to switch.
During the early years of WW11, the M1903 was used in North Africa, Italy and in the Pacific. By 1943 the Garland finally replaced the tried and true M1903 for a great majority of units. It was still being used for a while with the Rangers, Military Police and the Free French forces. When the War ended, most M1903's were retired from service except for the sniper version. This famous rifle is still a sought after gun for not only collectors, but for hunters as it is very accurate, durable and uses standard 30.06 ammo. You can still find them at gun shows or ask around at the Rockwall Gun Club located at 15950 State Hwy 205, in Terrell, TX or by calling (972) 551-0470 and they will probably know where to find a M1903. Stay tuned for another story about the guns that made America.
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