![]() ![]() The new sniper rifle was essentially a slightly modified Model 1903A3 infantry rifle, which itself was a modification of the venerable Model 1903 Springfield. And it was widely used in the European and Italian theaters as well. 30-06 cartridge helped to overcome the somewhat deficient telescopic sight supplied by the small Weaver Corporation of El Paso, Texas. In the Pacific theater, where sight lines were often limited by heavy vegetation, the powerful. The Model 1903A4 may have been a compromise to get a sniper rifle into the front lines as quickly as possible, but it was certainly serviceable enough. Problems concerning supply and national priorities delayed the project initially, but by the end of 1943, the new Model 1903A4 sniper rifle began to reach front line troops. Army’s Ordnance Department decided that a sniper rifle could be made quickly and cheaply based on the Model 1903A3 rifle that was just beginning to come off the production lines at Remington’s plant in Ilion, New York. ![]() It has been suggested that any rifles that failed inspection as a sniper rifle could be returned to the factory and reissued as an infantry rifle. The USMC, taking much pride in their culture of marksmanship, was happy to make that trade, and the rifles served well throughout the war.The Model 1903A3 designation was left on the Model 1903A4 receiver. These scopes were a tradeoff, being significantly more fragile than the M73B1, but also being much better for long range precision shooting. The US Marine Corps, of course, had to be a bit different, and adopted their own sniper rifle variant in 1941, a 1903A1 fitted with an 8 power Unertl scope. The 1903A4 would remain in service after WWII, with later scopes being approved as replacements for the M73B1 (in this video, we will take a look at one equipped with an M84, the optic adopted for the later M1D). The rifle was taken out of production when the M1C sniper adaptation of the Garand was formally adopted, although production of the M1C would be delayed until the end of the war. The 1903A4 Springfield was the US’ first truly mass-produced sniper rifle, with more than 28,000 being manufactured during just two years of the war (1943-44). This was a low-power optic, but was centrally mounted on the rifle to avoid and of the windage issues caused by prismatic scopes. ![]() ![]() The primary sniper rifle used by the United States in World War II was the M1903A4 Springfield, a version of the exisiting 1903A3 with the iron sights removed and replaced with a Weaver 330C scope (adopted by the military as the M73B1). ![]()
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