POTD: Rare Springfield Armory Box Magazine 1903 Rifle
Sam.S 07.29.21
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Because 20 rounds of .30-06 Sprg is better than 5, here we have a 1903 Springfield rifle fitted with a 20-round box magazine. These box magazine 1903 rifles were produced in small numbers initially for air service at the dawn of dogfighting in World War One.
Before the time of front-mounted machine guns, pilots and copilots would have to defend and attack with the same small arms troops on the ground had. The box magazine 1903 was an initial attempt to have an edge, but warfare evolved so very fast in World War One and these were quickly done away with.
“This is an example of a late 1918/1919 production 1903 Springfield Rifle that has been fitted with the Rare 20 shot extended box magazine. The extended box magazine is one of the original WWI era magazines that were used/issued in the scarce 1903 “Air Service” rifle variation, which was intended to be used in WWI observation balloons and early WWI spotter aircraft. …
…These magazine are fairly scarce to find on today ‘s market as no one wanted them because they increase the weight of the rifle and extended below the stock which made firing in the prone position almost impossible to do. The rifle itself, as noted, is a late WWI production version that was rebarreled by Springfield Armory and is marked with the US Ordnance flaming shell over “SA/1-28”. The rifle has the correct milled barrel bands, trigger guard and floor plate and the bolt is a late WWII version that is marked “BF47″ on top of the bolt handle.”
Lot 3497: Springfield Armory U.S. 1903 Rifle 30 06 [Photograph found in Auction Catalog #49, Rock Island Auction Company]. (n.d.). Retrieved July 28, 2021, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/49/3497/springfield-armory-us-1903-rifle-30-06
