Originally Posted by
JWM
My take on the WWI era activities between Winchester and Springfield armory mostly concerned improving the accuracy of existing Springfield rifles like the 1903 and 1917, for example, in order to get the most advanced sniper rifle that could be had for our European forces.
In my limited opinion, to do this would require the focus of such programs to include the testing of ammunition as has been so well noted, to include, the testing of different weight/length of barrels, and an awful lot of different fixed and telescopic sights of varying lengths, plus various mountings and bases for same. The era of telescopic sights was on a roll which is why Winchester got involved with them to begin with and obviously, they were in demand commercially and militarily during this era, right to this day and time.
In line with such rifle and sight tests would be to put the finished product in the hands of military men to get their opinions. In order to do this Winchester would have to know where to ship the finished products. At which time military units would have begun their tests. I and my fellow Marines back in 1961, I think it was, before the Corps adopted the M-14. Our test rifles were from a couple of different countries.
Back during the WWI era, it appears that some field testing was in order, with big contracts in the making, but apparently the end of the war stopped that, nonetheless, some of these rifles appear to have made it from the Winchester factory to the military from what I can gather from Brophy's book on The Springfield 1903 Rifles, and some other research material.
As for evidence of any kind, simply because one type of document does or does not mention that telescopic sights be included, one should not assume that such sights were not ordered to be affixed to the rifles in question. Especially where Springfield rifles are concerned, because their records appear to have left a lot to be desired, and from a historical standpoint, more often than not, existing Winchester records will not show special ordered sights either. That said, when involved in any sort of such research, evidence of any kind should be recorded and viewed and weighed on its own merit prior to making conclusions. To quote one of America's most gifted research scholars, Elizabeth Shown Mills, "Direct evidence may be clearer to grasp, but indirect evidence can carry equal or greater weight."
With this in mind, I don't expect anything at all will be solved until the evidence being discussed is published in it's totality, and referenced in such a manner that it can easily be verified by any interested party...just my two cents. I'm still very grateful to have the discussion being made by each of you fine folks on this forum.
James