M1903 Springfield & Rock Island

What this entry covers

ATF lists "U.S. Rifles, Model 1903, manufactured by Springfield Armory or Rock IslandArsenal, all cal.’s, all variations."¹. The test is the maker. The entry gives no date and no serial range, and it covers every caliber and variation those two government plants produced¹. The years shown on this page are therefore an editorial production period, not ATF's¹.

The entry does not name Remington, which made the M1903, M1903A3 and M1903A4, or Smith-Corona, which made the M1903A3, during the Second World War^1,3. Two related entries are listed separately. One covers rifles "marked Rock Island Arsenal" whose receivers were made before June 30, 1919 and assembled at Springfield after March 1927, "with serial numbers higher than 1257766"¹. The other covers the "Bannerman Model 1937, Springfield rifle"⁶.

Identifying it

• Receiver. Marked U.S., the plant name (Springfield Armory or Rock Island Arsenal), Model 1903 and the serial number⁴.
• Barrel. Marked behind the front sight with S.A. or R.I.A., the Ordnance flaming-bomb insignia and the date. Barrels from 1905 carry only the year; later ones carry month and year⁴.
• Serial and year. The National Park Service publishes approximate year-by-serial tables for each maker, numbered by calendar year³. The tables contain a few apparent typing slips, so a second reference is worth checking.
• Low numbers. Receiver heat treatment was improved at about serial 800,000 at Springfield and 285,507 at Rock Island. Rifles below those numbers are called low numbers by collectors^3,4.

Most M1903s were rebarreled in service; even Springfield's serial No. 1 carries a 1909 barrel, so a barrel dated later than the receiver is common⁵. Rock Island rifles assembled late may carry a 1908 stock stamp on earlier parts⁴. The entry's own wording turns on the maker¹.

Common confusions

• Mixed-maker rifles. About 8,000 sets of Rock Island parts were assembled at Springfield after the First World War and given Springfield stock stamps⁴. Separately, around 25,600 unnumbered Rock Island receivers were finished and numbered at Springfield in 1927⁴. That later group appears to match the separate entry quoted above¹. American Rifleman's serial estimates for these rifles start at 1,275,767, while ATF's wording reads "higher than 1257766"^1,4.
• Mismatched parts. Outside those cases, a Rock Island receiver with a Springfield barrel indicates a mismatch⁴.
• Calibers. The first rifles were chambered for .30-03. Production then moved to .30-06, and earlier rifles such as serial No. 1 were converted^4,5. The entry reads "all cal.’s"; the sources consulted for this note list no other calibers¹.

History

The M1903 was adopted on June 19, 1903, and replaced the Krag–Jørgensen⁵. Springfield made more than one million by 1936, and Rock Island added about a third of a million². Rock Island assembled its first rifle in December 1904, stopped in November 1913, resumed in 1917, and finished its last complete rifles in fiscal year 1920⁴. Published totals for Rock Island's pre-war output range from just under 235,000 to over 263,000⁴.

Further reading

• The National Park Service production page³ gives the year-by-serial tables for all four makers.
• The Rock Island Arsenal Model of 1903⁴ covers markings, the heat-treatment change and the 1927 Rock Island receivers.
• Springfield Armory's First Model 1903 Rifle⁵ follows one rifle through its alterations, a useful model for reading service changes.