WW1 Shortage of '03 Springfields

[fjruple]

The M1917 Enfield suffered from the disease of "not being invented here." Even though the M1917 had an excellent showing at the National Matches, the rifle shooters did not like their Springfields being taken away. This created a natural biases against the M1917 as being too long, heavy and not balanced. Many folks forget the the M1903 was compromise between the US Army Schools of Infantry and Cavalry to eliminate two separate weapons for both the Infantry (Rifle) and Cavalry (Carbine). I have read that new adjustable rear sights were being development at the end of WWI for the M1917. The Brits also developed a fine adjustable rear sight for their sniper version of the Pattern 1914. The M1903 was also not without its problems, such as brittle receivers, the infamous low numbered receivers. The M1903 also required a PJ O'Hare M1903 Sight Micrometer for early match shooting. If the M1917 was developed further it would have been great rifle for National Match shooting. The Brits and the Commonwealth countries had no problem developing the Pattern 1914 into match rifle.
--fjruple

[psteinmayer]

Were these rifles fitted with different rear sights that would permit both fine windage and elevation adjustments or were they fired using the standard issue type sights?

As far as I know, they would have had to been an "As Issued" service rifle. That's definitely the case now-a-days! Anyone who scores a gold medal is required to have the rifle inspected, and if anything is found to be modified (other than modifications authorized by the rules) and the rifle and shooter is disqualified. This includes bedding and sight modifications (apertures can be enlarged though).

[Richard H Brown Jr]

Going back to the first page of this thread the NY Naval Militia is still in force, it's a reserve unit under NY control but can get called into Federal Servie by the US Navy. http://dmna.ny.gov/nynm/?id=history I suspect, that The weapons were *bought* from the arsenal by the state of New York to arm it's battalions as they were first established.

R Brown