Military bolt-action & semi-auto rifles, 1899–1946

What this entry covers

This is a class entry. Its wording is "All original military bolt action and semiautomatic rifles mfd. between 1899 and 1946."¹ It names no country, maker or caliber, but sets four tests: the rifle is original, it is military, it is a bolt-action or semiautomatic rifle, and it was made between the two years given¹. The wording does not say whether a rifle made during 1946 itself falls inside the range; this catalogue shows the years exactly as ATF prints them¹.

The entry sits in Section II, headed "Firearms classified as curios or relics, still subject to the provisions of 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44, the Gun Control Act of 1968."¹ The federal definition of curios or relics, which the list applies, includes firearms made at least 50 years before the current date and firearms that draw a substantial part of their value from association with a historical figure, period or event³. Whether a particular rifle fits this entry depends on the ATF wording above.

Shotguns, pistols and revolvers fall outside its words. They have their own class entries on the same page: the military shotguns entry and the military pistols and revolvers entry, each dated "prior to 1946"¹. A separate Section III entry covers a military rifle made before 1946 together with a "grenade launcher designed for the specific rifle"².

Identifying it

• The individual rifle's date, not the pattern's. Some patterns stayed in production after 1946. The Australian War Memorial holds an M1944 Mosin-Nagant carbine whose receiver carries the date 1948⁶, and another, catalogued under Poland and the Soviet Union, whose receiver is marked 1952⁷.
• Familiar patterns inside the window. Springfield Armory began making the M1903 in 1903 and built more than a million by 1936, with about a third of a million more from Rock Island Arsenal⁴. The Army adopted the semiautomatic M1 rifle in 1936⁵.
• Import marks. Licensed importers must mark imported firearms with their name and location (or name and abbreviated licence number), and with the country of manufacture⁸. An import stamp is applied by the importer and is separate from the rifle's military markings⁸.

Common confusions

• Rebuilt service rifles. The Civilian Marksmanship Program says most M1s went through at least one arsenal rebuild or repair, so few survive exactly as delivered⁹. The entry's wording does not say how such rebuilding bears on the word "original"¹.
• Assembled rifles. Some M1 rifles the program now sells are built on reclaimed receivers with new commercial barrels and stocks⁹, which sets them apart from rifles as they left service.
• Commercial rifles on military actions. Sporting rifles built for civilian sale are a different category; the entry's words speak only of military rifles¹.
• Other actions. The wording names bolt-action and semiautomatic rifles only¹.

History

The span opens at the close of the Spanish-American War, during which the United States found its Krag-Jorgensen rifle wanting and began work on a Mauser-based replacement, the M1903⁴. It closes after the Second World War, by which time the M1 rifle had been in Army service for a decade and Springfield Armory alone had made 3.1 million of them⁵.

Further reading

• The Springfield Armory National Historic Site pages^4,5 give the American side of the period, with production figures.
• Australian War Memorial records^6,7 show how markings and dates appear on individual surviving rifles.
• The regulations^3,8 give the definition of curios or relics and the import marking rules cited above.