M1903A4: America's WW2 Sniper Rifle
The United States Army entered World War Two with neither sniper rifles nor a sniper training program. As troops began to see combat, requests began to come back to the War Department that both were urgently needed. The newly-adopted dM1 Garand rifle was going to be a bit tricky to mount optics on, so while that program began a contract was made with Remington to product a scoped version of the M1903A3 Springfield rifles. This was designated the M1903A4, and it would serve as the US Army's standard (and essentially only) sniper rifle during the war.
The 03A4 used a Weaver 330C commercial scope (given the military designation M73B1) on Redfield Junior mounts. The scope offered just 2.5x magnification, and used a simple crosshair reticle. It was reasonably effective, but not hardened for military service. The rifles did not have any other particular special work done to them, like bedding or improved triggers. A total of 28,365 were delivered, all made by Remington. They are found in the following serial number ranges:
3,407,088 - 3,427,087
4,000,001 - 4,015,000 (only about 3,000 in this block were used. Some duplicated 03A3 numbers; these were given an addition "Z" prefix)
4,992,001 - 5,784,000 (only about 6,300 were used of this block) |
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