M1903 with a 20-round magazine.

9 Responses to M1903 with a 20-round magazine.

1. Merle says:

   April 2, 2018 at 10:56 pm

   So who does this conversion?

   Merle
2. David says:

   April 2, 2018 at 11:42 pm

   That reminds me very much of the Mauser anti aircraft 20 round mag from WWI – is this a conversion of one of those?
3. Chet says:

   April 3, 2018 at 5:31 am

   Looks like a retrofitted BAR mag.
4. Ray says:

   April 3, 2018 at 9:55 am

   That is a 2000++ dollar a pop M1917 “Air service” magazine. One of the rarest military collectables on earth. Only a few hundred were ever made for WW1 aircraft observers. The weapon was a horrid failure in combat. The magazine is fixed to the weapon and almost imposable to reload with stripper clips (the only way TOO reload). The idea was to arm the aircrews with a “sporterized” cut down M1903 with that magazine. They were ordered into production without testing. Once the Army brass realized how unworkable the magazine/rifle combo was, they VERY quietly killed the idea and put the few that had been manufactured into storage, until they were sold as scrap in the 20’s or 30’s, and the rifles all converted back to standard “03’s”. Few remain today. Its a nice toy for the rich, but has no practical application.
5. Ray says:

   April 3, 2018 at 10:06 am

   PS. That M1903 has an ultra rare single bolt “high wood” stock. That lumber was only made in that configuration in 1909. It also has pre ww1 “dished” wind/elevation knobs and a pre ww1 hand guard. It also looks to have a pre-1917 bolt. I’ll bet that is a “low number” ’03, rebuilt at Springfield sometime after WW1 as it is “parker process”(post 1917 all new rifles and rebuilds) finished ,instead of rust blued(pre 1917 all rifles)
6. Ray says:

   April 6, 2018 at 8:15 pm

   In the US Army book “Rules for the management of the Rifle Cal. .30 M-1903” it calls o-600 yards “short range” 600-1200 yards “mid range” and above 1200 yards “long range. With exact ordinate and data tables for indirect fire. They were used in mass fire drills to create “beaten zones”. The job taken over by the machine gun.

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8. Silence DoGood says:

   April 12, 2018 at 7:47 pm

   Here’s one at Rock Island Auctions, complete w/25-round mag, incorporated into a Cameron-Yaggi sniper’s mirror-operated trench gun.

   https://tinyurl.com/yckssat4
   • Ray says:

     April 14, 2018 at 5:02 am

     There were only a tiny number of experimental “Trench Sniper” rifles made. They never went into production and never saw actual service. That was the only model to use the air service magazine. There are only about six or seven known examples of any and all models of the “trench sniper”. I’m amazed that didn’t bring more at auction.

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