"Springfield Marine" Bases
Next, we will take a look at the 1926 WRA drawing depicting the "Springfield Marine" bases as depicted on page 507 of Brophy. There has been much speculation about this drawing, resulting in some individuals making the absurd claim that this is a drawing of the Marine Mount. This is a drawing of two sets of WRA bases, and no scope mount of any type is depicted.
The difference in use for the two sets of bases, one labeled "Springfield" and the other labeled "Springfield Marine", is the base spacing on the 1903 Springfield rifle. The "Springfield" set of bases is for 6" spacing on a 1903 Springfield rifle. The "Springfield Marine" set of bases is for 7.2" spacing on a 1903 Springfield rifle. We will concentrate on the set of bases for 7.2" spacing, since all the WWI Marine sniper rifles had scopes mounted on 7.2" spacing, which no credible individual disputes.
WRA OEM Bases for M1903.jpg
The origin of the name "Springfield Marine" for these bases is unknown. The only place this name is known to have been used is for this drawing, made a couple of decades after the bases were known to exist. Anyone, at any time, ordering a Winchester A5 scope to be mounted on a 1903 Springfield rifle by WRA on 7.2" spacing would have these bases attached to that rifle. Use of this set of bases was not limited to the Marines, as they are a commercial set of bases available to anyone from about 1910 forward.
A 1903 Springfield with an A5 scope mounted in OEM #2 mounts on "Springfield Marine" bases is the most commonly encountered scoped '03 there is. They are definitely not rare. I have owned several. Think of all the military rifle teams, Army, Coast Guard, Navy, the numerous National Guard units, and others, that have used them in matches for decades. Add to that the vast number of civilians that owned them, or their shooting clubs owned them, and I am aghast they sell for the prices they bring. Of course, almost every seller claims his rifle to be a "Marine sniper rifle", with absolutely no evidence of such a claim being authenticated. All because of the myth that Marines used rifle team rifles in France. As long as collectors willingly get sucked into this scam, they will continue to sell way beyond their value.
I will be so bold as to point out that there is no shortage of "experts" to verify "Springfield Marine" based scoped rifles as Marine sniper rifles, and they usually own one they proclaim to be a "rare variant". By the way, I own one, but my rifle is not a Marine sniper rifle. I D&T'ed it and mounted the scope myself. It is a 300K LN rifle that had a ruined barrel (since replaced), because I thought collectors would have enough sense to know rifles under 600K were never Marine sniper rifles. Beware!
As for the name of the bases, maybe the Marines were the first to ask WRA for scopes to be mounted on 7.2" spacing. That seems reasonable, since in the very early days before the war, the 1903 was not available to the public, unless you were someone like Townsend Whelen, Ed Crossman, or Teddy Roosevelt, or belonged to an elite shooting club like Niedner.
The concept to remember is that there is nothing "special" or unique about the "Springfield Marine" set of bases. They were the WRA commercial set of bases for 7.2" spacing on the 1903 Springfield rifle. If you ordered your A5 scope to be mounted on 7.2" spacing, nothing more needed to be said. You would receive your rifle with a set of "Springfield Marine" bases. What was "special" and unique was a set of Niedner taper bases attached to a WRA #2 mount. The mounts "approved by Holcomb" were the "special" #2 mounts modified to accept the Niedner taper bases.
Comparison of the Two Mounts - Annotated.jpg
Of Humorous Note:
It is unfortunate that the steel rings surrounding the scope, and housing the micro-dials, are called mounts. These mounts are mounted on a rifle using bases. One mounts the mount.
Sounds a bit silly.
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Originally Posted by cplnorton
