Marine A5 Sniper Rifle
02-11-2023, 10:32
Having, hopefully, convinced you that no rifle team rifles went to France with the 4th Brigade, I will make an attempt to explain the grand plan Holcomb, McDougal, Smith, and Fay put into action to supply the Marines of the AEF 4th Brigade with the finest sniper rifles possible. The four men were long-time friends and dedicated Marine rifle team shooters and had been on the Marine rifle teams for years. McDougal and Fay had been very successful team captains. All of them had won various significant matches and awards. All were, or would be, Distinguished Shooters. Fay was Captain of the 1916 rifle team, and the man who started replacing the thumbscrew WRA mounts on team scoped rifles that had "Springfield Marine" bases, with Niedner's tapered bases. Arguably, they knew exactly what was needed in a quality sniper rifle more so than any other men on earth.
Their plan was simple. They would design their idea of the perfect sniper rifle. It would be a 1903 Springfield with an A5 scope. In 1917, the A5 scope was one of the best scopes made in America. I use one on my hunting rifle, which happens to be a Sporter. Most of the claptrap you hear about fragility, difficult to remove, narrow field of view, poor light transmission, etc., is the brattling of an uninformed individual who has never used one except for an occasional visit to the range. The A5 was, and still is, a quality scope, if properly mounted. These men lived with the A5 on a daily basis. They knew firsthand of the accuracy issues caused by the Winchester OEM thumbscrew and "Springfield Marine" bases attachment arrangement. They had been replacing the thumbscrew mounts on their team rifles as far back as 1916. Niedner had been converting them to a taper base system originated by Dr. Mann and improved by Niedner.
The issue with the thumbscrews was, I believe, first broached by Ed Crossman around 1912, when Crossman noticed his A5 scoped rifle's zero would change as much as 2 MOA from day to day. After careful analysis, Crossman isolated the problem to the thumbscrew attachment of the A5's #2 mount to the "Springfield Marine" bases. Townsend Whelan followed with his own experience with the change in zero of A5 scoped rifles with the same result as Crossman. Published years later, this excerpt from Whelan's book explains the solution for the thumbscrew problem. The thumbscrew would be eliminated from the Marine sniper rifle by altering the WRA #2 mount to accept Niedner's taper bases. Problem solved.
5144051443
The Marine rifle team had been replacing their "Springfield Marine" bases for Niedner taper bases since 1916, when Capt. Fay became team Captain. The drawing on the upper right is a page from Niedner's Workbook, courtesy of the late Michael Petrov. It shows that Niedner was making taper bases for the Marine Rifle Team at Wakefield (home of the Marine rifle team) at least since August of 1916. Niedner also replaced existing OEM #2 mount "Springfield Marine" bases as shown by existing modified taper bases. Did I mention that Niedner's shop was 6 miles from Wakefield?
5144451445
Not only were 7.2" "Springfield Marine" bases replaced with Niedner taper bases, 6" OEM #2 flat bottom bases were replaced also, as shown in the photo on the left. The photo on the right shows various sets of Niedner taper bases. Note the narrow "Springfield Marine" screw-hole spacing of sets "A" and "C", and the plugged hole in set "A". These bases were used to replace existing "Springfield Marine" bases. Men who would go to this much trouble to replace "Springfield Marine" bases on their team rifles would never settle for those same bases on their sniper rifles, for any reason, and they controlled every aspect of the Marine sniper program.
To be specific, they had Niedner and WRA mount A5 scopes on Niedner's taper bases using modified Winchester #2 mounts, thus eliminating the use of the WRA OEM #2 mount, and it’s "Springfield Marine" bases, with its faulty thumbscrew attachment system. The mount itself would be modified to eliminate the grasshopper in exchange for a more reliable second spring loaded plunger. A clicker would be added to aid the sniper in counting clicks in dim light, and the micro-dials would be enlarged to enhance manipulation. Knowing they would be training men unaccustomed to scope usage, they chose to change the elevation adjustments to be graduated in yards, instead of Minutes of Angle (MOA), eliminating the need for a sniper to have to make mental calculations while under life or death circumstances. To enhance mount rigidity, they would also sweat the taper bases to the rifle’s barrel and receiver bridge, as well as the usual screwed attachment. This soldering process was a common practice by Niedner, and highly recommended by Edward Crossman and Townsend Whelen. As a result, all Marine orders for scopes mounted on sniper rifles, from WRA, would have their bases soldered (sweated) on. This is verified by a memo from WRA Vice President Harry Brewer to his staff.
51438
It reads:
"Bases of telescopes should be fitted with screws, but orders from Marine Corps bases should be sweated on. ????? customers may have his choice." H. Brewer
Only a moron would dispute the words of the Vice President of WRA, but I suspect there will be a dispute. I was told many years ago, by a retired Marine armorer, that the bases were soldered; but every time I mentioned that fact, I received enough flack to bring down a squadron of B-52’s. So, what does this mean? It means that if your WWI sniper rifle does not have its tapered bases soldered onto the rifle, you have an Army/Navy/Coast Guard/National Guard sniper rifle. If your rifle does not have Niedner taper bases, it is not a WWI Marine sniper rifle.
The Marines gave no consideration Dr. Mann’s patent, as Dr. Mann was deceased, but most significant, Dr. Mann’s patent was for special mounts that utilized a single tapered rib that ran the length of the barrel. Niedner's adaption to short tapered bases constituted an improvement to the patent, and thus was not subject to Dr. Mann’s patent rights. This is a common tactic used to avoid patent issues to this day. Mann’s patent was never an issue.
It is unknown who actually made the modified mounts. The logical entity is Winchester Repeating Arms (WRA). They had the tooling and the skilled manpower to do the job. Michael Petrov owned Niedner's tooling, and he told me Niedner's knurling tool did not match the knurling on the modified mount micro-dials. The last candidate for consideration was the Marines themselves, which did not have the very numerous jigs, nor the machinery that would be required to make the mounts. WRA is the logical candidate for making the modified mounts, as they already had the unmodified mounts in hand, as well as the equipment and trained manpower to do the job in a timely manner. WRA is the reasonable choice for the manufacturer of the Modified Marine Mounts, although it really doesn't matter who made the modified mounts.
51439
Back to the grand plan. Holcomb, as Inspector of Target Practice, would dictate and approve the design of the rifle, and place the initial order from WRA for 500 sniper rifles with Marine Mounts. McDougal would assist Holcomb until Holcomb took command of the 2/6, at which point McDougal would become Inspector of Target Practice. Fay would go to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and set up a sniper school at Deer Point, Cuba, and glean the Caribbean Marines for expert shots to equip and train as snipers, and eventually feed OSD’s SOS School with sniper candidates. Daulty Smith would train the snipers at OSD.
On 2 July 1917, Maj. Holcomb orders 500 scopes with modified mounts and Niedner's taper bases to be mounted by WRA on 500 rifles supplied by the Marines. On 11 Sept 1917, Maj. McDougal orders 250 more scopes to be mounted on rifles by WRA. From that point on, these modified #2 mounts will be known by various names, ie. "as approved by Holcomb", "special Marine mounts", and "Standard Marine Mounts" to name a few. All 900 scoped rifles are identical to each other. All have Niedner's taper bases and modified Winchester #2 mounts on 7.2" spacing, and the bases are both screwed and soldered to the rifle. At this point, the Marines have 900 identical sniper rifles, more than enough to equip all that needed a sniper rifle in the Marine Corps system. The last WRA order would be for 1000 A5 scopes to be used for a McDougal project we will discuss in a later post.
On 1 Aug 1917, Maj. Holcomb took command of the 2/6, and Maj. McDougal was promoted to Inspector of Target Practice. Maj. Fay assumed command of GITMO, and Maj. Daulty Smith is notified he will command the Rifle Range Detachment at OSD when it opens. Smith will train the OSD Sniper-Observer-Scouts (SOS). Their master plan is firmly in place, and these four officers have complete control.
Their plan was simple. They would design their idea of the perfect sniper rifle. It would be a 1903 Springfield with an A5 scope. In 1917, the A5 scope was one of the best scopes made in America. I use one on my hunting rifle, which happens to be a Sporter. Most of the claptrap you hear about fragility, difficult to remove, narrow field of view, poor light transmission, etc., is the brattling of an uninformed individual who has never used one except for an occasional visit to the range. The A5 was, and still is, a quality scope, if properly mounted. These men lived with the A5 on a daily basis. They knew firsthand of the accuracy issues caused by the Winchester OEM thumbscrew and "Springfield Marine" bases attachment arrangement. They had been replacing the thumbscrew mounts on their team rifles as far back as 1916. Niedner had been converting them to a taper base system originated by Dr. Mann and improved by Niedner.
The issue with the thumbscrews was, I believe, first broached by Ed Crossman around 1912, when Crossman noticed his A5 scoped rifle's zero would change as much as 2 MOA from day to day. After careful analysis, Crossman isolated the problem to the thumbscrew attachment of the A5's #2 mount to the "Springfield Marine" bases. Townsend Whelan followed with his own experience with the change in zero of A5 scoped rifles with the same result as Crossman. Published years later, this excerpt from Whelan's book explains the solution for the thumbscrew problem. The thumbscrew would be eliminated from the Marine sniper rifle by altering the WRA #2 mount to accept Niedner's taper bases. Problem solved.
5144051443
The Marine rifle team had been replacing their "Springfield Marine" bases for Niedner taper bases since 1916, when Capt. Fay became team Captain. The drawing on the upper right is a page from Niedner's Workbook, courtesy of the late Michael Petrov. It shows that Niedner was making taper bases for the Marine Rifle Team at Wakefield (home of the Marine rifle team) at least since August of 1916. Niedner also replaced existing OEM #2 mount "Springfield Marine" bases as shown by existing modified taper bases. Did I mention that Niedner's shop was 6 miles from Wakefield?
5144451445
Not only were 7.2" "Springfield Marine" bases replaced with Niedner taper bases, 6" OEM #2 flat bottom bases were replaced also, as shown in the photo on the left. The photo on the right shows various sets of Niedner taper bases. Note the narrow "Springfield Marine" screw-hole spacing of sets "A" and "C", and the plugged hole in set "A". These bases were used to replace existing "Springfield Marine" bases. Men who would go to this much trouble to replace "Springfield Marine" bases on their team rifles would never settle for those same bases on their sniper rifles, for any reason, and they controlled every aspect of the Marine sniper program.
To be specific, they had Niedner and WRA mount A5 scopes on Niedner's taper bases using modified Winchester #2 mounts, thus eliminating the use of the WRA OEM #2 mount, and it’s "Springfield Marine" bases, with its faulty thumbscrew attachment system. The mount itself would be modified to eliminate the grasshopper in exchange for a more reliable second spring loaded plunger. A clicker would be added to aid the sniper in counting clicks in dim light, and the micro-dials would be enlarged to enhance manipulation. Knowing they would be training men unaccustomed to scope usage, they chose to change the elevation adjustments to be graduated in yards, instead of Minutes of Angle (MOA), eliminating the need for a sniper to have to make mental calculations while under life or death circumstances. To enhance mount rigidity, they would also sweat the taper bases to the rifle’s barrel and receiver bridge, as well as the usual screwed attachment. This soldering process was a common practice by Niedner, and highly recommended by Edward Crossman and Townsend Whelen. As a result, all Marine orders for scopes mounted on sniper rifles, from WRA, would have their bases soldered (sweated) on. This is verified by a memo from WRA Vice President Harry Brewer to his staff.
51438
It reads:
"Bases of telescopes should be fitted with screws, but orders from Marine Corps bases should be sweated on. ????? customers may have his choice." H. Brewer
Only a moron would dispute the words of the Vice President of WRA, but I suspect there will be a dispute. I was told many years ago, by a retired Marine armorer, that the bases were soldered; but every time I mentioned that fact, I received enough flack to bring down a squadron of B-52’s. So, what does this mean? It means that if your WWI sniper rifle does not have its tapered bases soldered onto the rifle, you have an Army/Navy/Coast Guard/National Guard sniper rifle. If your rifle does not have Niedner taper bases, it is not a WWI Marine sniper rifle.
The Marines gave no consideration Dr. Mann’s patent, as Dr. Mann was deceased, but most significant, Dr. Mann’s patent was for special mounts that utilized a single tapered rib that ran the length of the barrel. Niedner's adaption to short tapered bases constituted an improvement to the patent, and thus was not subject to Dr. Mann’s patent rights. This is a common tactic used to avoid patent issues to this day. Mann’s patent was never an issue.
It is unknown who actually made the modified mounts. The logical entity is Winchester Repeating Arms (WRA). They had the tooling and the skilled manpower to do the job. Michael Petrov owned Niedner's tooling, and he told me Niedner's knurling tool did not match the knurling on the modified mount micro-dials. The last candidate for consideration was the Marines themselves, which did not have the very numerous jigs, nor the machinery that would be required to make the mounts. WRA is the logical candidate for making the modified mounts, as they already had the unmodified mounts in hand, as well as the equipment and trained manpower to do the job in a timely manner. WRA is the reasonable choice for the manufacturer of the Modified Marine Mounts, although it really doesn't matter who made the modified mounts.
51439
Back to the grand plan. Holcomb, as Inspector of Target Practice, would dictate and approve the design of the rifle, and place the initial order from WRA for 500 sniper rifles with Marine Mounts. McDougal would assist Holcomb until Holcomb took command of the 2/6, at which point McDougal would become Inspector of Target Practice. Fay would go to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and set up a sniper school at Deer Point, Cuba, and glean the Caribbean Marines for expert shots to equip and train as snipers, and eventually feed OSD’s SOS School with sniper candidates. Daulty Smith would train the snipers at OSD.
On 2 July 1917, Maj. Holcomb orders 500 scopes with modified mounts and Niedner's taper bases to be mounted by WRA on 500 rifles supplied by the Marines. On 11 Sept 1917, Maj. McDougal orders 250 more scopes to be mounted on rifles by WRA. From that point on, these modified #2 mounts will be known by various names, ie. "as approved by Holcomb", "special Marine mounts", and "Standard Marine Mounts" to name a few. All 900 scoped rifles are identical to each other. All have Niedner's taper bases and modified Winchester #2 mounts on 7.2" spacing, and the bases are both screwed and soldered to the rifle. At this point, the Marines have 900 identical sniper rifles, more than enough to equip all that needed a sniper rifle in the Marine Corps system. The last WRA order would be for 1000 A5 scopes to be used for a McDougal project we will discuss in a later post.
On 1 Aug 1917, Maj. Holcomb took command of the 2/6, and Maj. McDougal was promoted to Inspector of Target Practice. Maj. Fay assumed command of GITMO, and Maj. Daulty Smith is notified he will command the Rifle Range Detachment at OSD when it opens. Smith will train the OSD Sniper-Observer-Scouts (SOS). Their master plan is firmly in place, and these four officers have complete control.