M1903 Springfield
From 7th Cavalry Regiment Wiki
The M1903 Springfield is an American magazine-fed, 5-shot, bolt-action service rifle used primarily during the first half of the 20th century. It was officially adopted as a United States military bolt-action rifle on June 21 1905, and saw service in World War I. It was officially replaced as the standard infantry rifle by the faster-firing, semi-automatic 8 round M1 Garand, starting in 1937. However, the M1903 Springfield remained in service as a standard issue infantry rifle during World War II, since the U.S. entered the war without sufficient M1 Garand rifles to arm all troops. It also remained in service as a sniper rifle during World War II, Korean War and even in the early stages of the Vietnam War. It is found in COD5.
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History
The Model 1903 Springfield resulted from a period going back some thirty years. The Army had been looking for a replacement for the existing service rifle, the trap-door Springfield (i.e. the Model 1873), since the late 1870s. However, the Army was underfunded and regular Army soldiers continued to use the single shot black powder Model 1873, even though a variety of bolt-action rifles and carbines were also used by some state units, and more affluent soldiers often bought commercial weapons. The Army budget in 1865 had been over a million dollars, but this disappeared with the end of the U.S. Civil War. The Army's budget in 1892 was less than $50,000.
Spanish American War
The M1903 Springfield started it's development on a Mauser based design. The rifle is often said to have been developed because of combat in the Spanish American War, when Spain's troops were armed with Mauser Model 93 rifles. Mausers were loaded from a stripper clip, which allows fast reloading. The U.S military had fielded some removable magazine weapons earlier in 19th century (including the Spencer rifle in the Civil War), but the Krag was the standard Army service rifle and its 5-round magazine was reloaded one cartridge at time. Also, while the Mauser tested in the 1890s trial had a muzzle velocity about the same as the Krag, the new models being adopted by other countries had higher velocities and which the Krag could not handle.
The basic time line is that work began on creating a rifle that could handle higher loads and adopted some of Mauser's features, began around the turn of the century by Springfield, with a prototype produced in 1900, and going into production in 1903, thus gaining its nomenclature.
World War 1
By January 1905 over 80,000 of these rifles had been produced at the federally-owned Springfield Armory. However, President Theodore Roosevelt objected to the design of the bayonet used (a rod-type) as being too flimsy for combat. All the rifles to that point consequently had to be re-tooled for a blade-type bayonet. The retooling was almost complete when it was decided another change would be made, the switch to .30-06 ammunition. By the time of U.S. entry into World War I, 843,239 of these rifles had been produced at Springfield Armory and Rock Island Arsenal.
World War II Rebirth
World War II saw new production of the Springfield at private manufacturers Remington Arms and Smith-Corona Typewriter. Remington began production of the M1903 in September 1941, at serial number 3,000,000, using old tooling from the Rock Island Arsenal which had been in storage since 1919. The very early rifles are almost indistinguishable from 1919-made Rock Island rifles. The manufacturing process was changed early on and the new Springfield rifled made from that process where named "M1903A3".
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 US 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 favored self-loading rifles; later Army units arriving to the island were armed with the M1 Garand. The US 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.
Game(s) Specifications
COD5
- Unlocked at level: 3
- Cartridge: .30-06 Springfield
- Capacity: 5-round loaded individually in an internal magazine or with 5-round stripper clips.
- Rate of fire: 69 rounds/min
- Reload time: 1.5s for 1st round, 0.5s for each subsequent round / 2s if scope equiped, add 1.65s
- Starting ammunition: XX rounds
- Max ammunition: x rounds
- Attachment(s):
Real Life Specifications
- Manufacturer: Springfield Armory
- Designer: Mausser
- Cartridge: .30-06 Springfield
- Capacity: 5-round non-detachable magazine, loaded individually or with 5-round stripper clips, 25-round stripper clip
- Rate of fire: 15 rounds/min
- Barrel: 610 mm (24 in)
- Muzzle velocity: 2,700 feet (823 meters) per second
- Operation: Bolt-action
- Weight (unloaded): 3.9 kg (8.67 lb)
- Length: 1,115 mm (43.9 in)
- Attachment(s):
