WRA Ammunition Test Rifle Picture heavy

Been a while since I posted on here. So I figured this would be a good start. And I put these up on my website figured I'd throw them on here since everyone loves M1903s.

There's always been a lot of discussion about a group of a group of serial numbers in the 600,000 range under the citation "032619 INSP OF ORDNANCE WRA CO"

I've heard a lot of speculation these were 1903 A5 sniper rifles following World War I were sent back to WRA to be overhauled. (Which actually made sense) But the paperwork just didn't suggest that.

And one of the rifles just surfaced, so I thought I'd post pictures of the rifle along with the paperwork. Unfortunately, it appears the stock and handguard were modified post service. Which is a shame. But the a lot of parts appear to be replaced around the time of the documentation. One interesting modification is the filling in of the lower band spring. Caught me offguard when I saw it.

The ammunition tests must have been exhausting. At least one of the rifles is documented to having over 5,600 rounds fired through it whereas another had few as 82. One M1903 had 31,000 blanks fired through it. There were also M1917s used in the tests. One M1917 only had 15 rounds fired through it whereas another had 16,000 rounds fired.

Unfortunately, the duration, size and scope of the tests was not apart of the report. It would be nice to know more about the test itself, it just wasn't included. I did ask a friend who works at Cody which houses the WRA archives to look into it. See if anything surfaces on the test itself.

https://i.imgur.com/wG6s2e7.jpg

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Very nice, thank you for the great pictures and the documentation!

Wonder if any of those "dangerous" low numbered Springfields blew up?

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Originally Posted by 98src

Wonder if any of those "dangerous" low numbered Springfields blew up?

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No there was no record of any blowing up in the documents that I have. Even though they record how many rounds each rifle fired. One does say barrel sectionalized. Which I sort of take as it was cut apart to examine. As Andrew said one fired over 30,000 blanks. lol Many are in the 4000 or more round count. I did see one that said it fired 16,000.

Actually Winchester was asked about the M1903's blowing up in France by ordnance. As Ordnance was implying their ammo might be faulty. Ordnance detail they had reports of around 20 rifles that did. Winchester said that it could be because the parts were to brittle, but more likely it was defective ammo and they specifically call out Frankford Ammo.

Winchester details they think the issue were hang fires. That the primers were defective, it didn't fire when the trigger was pulled and as the solider or Marine opened the bolt because it didn't fire, the round exploded. They thought this is why the rifles were blowing up in France.

Ironic because among the Mauser style rifles, the '03 is easiest to recock without taking it out of battery. No bang? Count 10 Mississippi, recock, try again.

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Originally Posted by togor

Ironic because among the Mauser style rifles, the '03 is easiest to recock without taking it out of battery. No bang? Count 10 Mississippi, recock, try again.

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You know that and I know that. But take a semi-trained youth hunkered down in a trench with bullets flying over his head and his buddies touching off shots all around him, and he won't know if his rifle went off (fired) or not. A hang-fire could get real exciting, real quick!!!

J.B.

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Originally Posted by John Beard

You know that and I know that. But take a semi-trained youth hunkered down in a trench with bullets flying over his head and his buddies touching off shots all around him, and he won't know if his rifle went off (fired) or not. A hang-fire could get real exciting, real quick!!!

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While not connected, it falls in the same category: the Austrian Army during trials decided for the Steyr pistol design with stripper clips than for the P.08 design mainly because a soldier was not considered intelligent enough to load a round from the P.08 into the chamber, while with the Steyr he could shoot straight after filling the internal magazine.

While I would agree with with your observations on possible hangfires if we were on a firing range. I would not be counting to 10 Mississppi if I had 3 "Huns" charging me with fixed bayonets in 10 seconds it would be all over for me. I would clear out the defective cartridge and reload for the next cartridge. Pulling the striker back is also a deadly waste of time if the cartridge is truly defective and does not fire. If the cartridge explodes while being ejected then it's not going to be my day and it sucks to be me. If I should survive the S4 ammo officer is going to get an earful. I remember reading ammo reports that the US Cartridge Company (USCC) was know for making defective ammunition. I do not know if they made any .30-06 ammo but some of their .45ACP was defective.

U.S.C.C. made a lot of 30-06 ammo. It was under the control of Winchester in the Lowell Mass. area if I remember right.

Yes completely true that 10 Mississippis are a luxury that we who live in gentler times can afford, but those who carried the rifle into action could not. Pretty much impossible to get buy-in even if someone wanted to train that. No substitute for reliable ammunition. It does make me wonder what was taught for misfires, even if what was done was to quickly cycle the bolt.