Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles 03A3s, WW II combat %?

From what I've read plenty of already issued to front line infantry units 03s saw combat early in the war until the Garands showed up but not many 03A3s. Seems like some 03A3s might have but it's my understanding not many. Any reasonable/verified estimates?

Early Pacific campaigns were fought with 1903 Springfields. The Marine Corp was late to issue Garands as they thought the troops wasted ammo. Not sure about the 1903A3 given its later production.

Some of the units fighting in North Africa, also used the Springfield rifles. Jim Gavin (82nd Abn) even carried his into the Sicily campaign (he wrote that against a German tank, he felt under-armed with it). Dunno if they were O3A3s, though, and he didn't document it.
I think that the O3A3s spent more time stateside as training weapons than overseas, though they might have used them in the Aleutian campaigns, too, and the Navy, who didn't really NEED the M1s, issued a lot of them.

Wikipedia. "The M1903 and the M1903A3 rifles were used in combat alongside the M1 Garand by the US military during World War II and saw extensive use and action in the hands of US troops in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific"
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Well, that settles it once and for all.

The reason 03A3's didn't see frontline action in 1942 is a simple one: they didn't exist in meaningful quantities yet. M1903A3 production didn't hit full stride (such as it was) until late 1942- early 1943, and by then sufficient quantities of M1's were in the pipeline to arm the combat services as their ranks grew. The good old pre-war '03 bore the brunt of combat use in those dark days of early-mid 1942. (Note though there's documented proof that indeed a bunch of M1's saw combat in the Phillipines, and the Marines on Guadalcanal weren't totally bereft of M1's even in the first couple months when the situation was truly in doubt before Marine and Army reinforcements arrived who were by and large armed with M1's.) The Marines didn't cling to the M1903 for sentimental or preferential reasons through 1942. They would've loved to completely re-equip with M1's but then, as now, suffered at the tail end of the government supply chain.

Because the 03A3 arrived late to the party, so to speak, it wasn't needed for frontline service, although more than a few made it overseas in the hands of support troops many of whom of course had reason to fire them in anger. It saw more use as "loaners" to Allies such as, but not limited to, the Free French, European resistance groups, Greeks, etc. Even then the preferred weapons for air drops and submarine delivery to remote locales were M1 Carbines and submachine guns - stuff that was smaller/lighter and represented the better bang for the buck on those delivery systems in which weight and size mattered greatly.

Those days right after Pearl Harbor saw Uncle Sam scrambling to pull his pants up and procuring weapons wherever/however he could. Any and all ideas for streamlining arms production were paid attention to. I've recounted before how the 03A3 came about, but here it is in a nutshell: Remington was engaged in building 1903's before the War started (for us), largely to supply rifles for Lend-Lease to England after they had their butts trimmed in the fall of France and lost significant material at Dunkirk. Remington was doing this mainly with resurrected M1903 machine tools that had been mothballed when Rock Island Armory ceased production of the rifle after the end of WWI. The tooling was old and wearing out when all of a sudden Uncle Sam said to Remington that they needed to ramp up production for us now. Remington engineers re-designed the 03 for easier/quicker manufacturing with minimal new machine tools (primarily punch presses to stamp out stock furniture (trigger guards/bottom metal, butt plates, barrel bands, etc.) and some internal parts - stuff that had previously been forged/milled. Uncle Sam went along with the revised gun and Remington got busy with it - and the 03A3 was born. Alternative/support manufacturing of the A3 was also taken up by the typewriter company Smith-Corona.

The government was pretty smart, I think, to spread out manufacturing and to manufacture a diverse range of weapons alternate to the official standard. Not all the eggs in one basket so to speak.

They probably did waste some, but when your life is on the line, I know I would be doing some spraying and praying

One of my great uncles was drafted in WWII and trained with an 03 Springfield, never saw an M1 Garand until he went to the Philippines. I would give a large sack of money to sit and talk with him for just a few minutes.......................

My uncle was drafted in 1940, trained with the '03, shipped out February 1942 to N.Ireland, 1st Infantry Division. Took part in Operation Torch (North Africa) then Sicily then D-Day and on through France into Germany before getting hit the third time and then home on a hospital ship - the whole time in combat with an '03 clutched in his hands. His MO (Infantry Scout) allowed him his choice of weaponry, and he stuck with the '03. (He said he was initially most infatuated with the 37mm anti-tank gun, until he saw rounds just bounce off German armor in Tunisia.) He said he saw no problem with the M1, just personally preferred the Springfield. He lived through a lot of bad crap, didn't talk about it at all until near his end when he opened up a bit. Most of what I know about him I got from my Dad who was the only guy he bared his soul to.

Yeah, it's why I'm into 03's.....

I study WW2 photographs. There are many photos of soldiers carrying 1903's and 03-a3's throughout the war. Just yesterday saw a quick clip of several GI's marching through a bombed-out town and they were armed with 03's. I have even seen several 1917's being used. In one photo I saw, someone had laid out a display of all US guns used on an island invasion. There was a 1903 NRA sporter among the group.

Interesting! I would love to see that pic. Maybe that explains the awful condition of one of the NRA Sporters in my collection!

I have a Remington 03-A3 rifle in unissued condition. Inherited it from my Dad who bought it from a guy who bought it cheap for joining the NRA. At least that’s what Dad told me. He may have got it through the DCM

I think a fair amount of 03-A4 snipers were issued for combat use.

Yup, stamped parts and two groove barrels. And they worked just fine.

I had an 03-A3 that I basically stole. It would not feed the last round at all. And it looked brand new.

I bought the rifle, took it home and then took it apart. After verifying all the critical stuff as good, I happened to notice it had a milled follower so I ordered the proper stamped follower. Fed just fine after.

It was one of those rifles where somebody offered the right money. It was still a good price, but considering what I paid for it, it was a deal for both of us, and the gesture was reciprocal, he had sold me a couple guns for damn good prices.

Still a springfield junkie don't have a rock island 03 but do have remington and springfield 03's as well as smith corona and remington 03-A3's. Never could afford minty dressers, allways bought bubba sporterized ones. I've enjoyed the hell out of using them. My mom's dad carried one in ww1 and my dad qualified with an 03 serving in ww2. They are still a good rifle. Mb

My dad came home with Mausers ( thought the were a great hunting rifle until he found a 99 savage LOL), so I had them around when i was a youth, My Uncle drug home a bag full of Lugers- (was in the supply depot, when war ended it was must of been a interesting time), neither thought it was a good idea to relocate back home with a '03, didn't know much about the 03's until I bought a Jaeger modified one probably 20 plus years ago now, I find them as a good action for my tinkering, I have a couple in 308 norma, a couple in 358 norma , then i used one to build a 6.8 western, all will do what asked, maybe not bench rest rifles, but my the taxidermy bills these rifles have caused me are enormous. I don't think there is a action much smoother than the chrome bolt Smith Corona's, I sold one to a guy wish i hadn't now but made room for something new. The last couple I used to build I sent the action up to JKOB and had a swing safety put on them, you have a old school action with a slight user friendly twist. Not for everyone but for me I like a gun from the past that does not have one piece of plastic in the action or anyway one can be added, BTW I have nothing against composite stocks LOL

I seen some appeared to be originals at a gun show, WOW they had no qualms about asking alot.

I haven't seen any mention of percentages of A3s in combat but they most definitely were there throughout the war. Mike Venturino had mention of a Smith Corona "Springfield" (S/C only made A3s) being policed up after the break out from Anzio which would have been mid-1944. He also mentioned seeing a picture of a US soldier using an A3 in Burma or China, I don't remember. A grenade launcher for the Garand was not approved until December 1943 so a platoon would be issued up to 3 Springfields to be used as such throughout the war. Some number of those would have been an A3.

Then, there are various allied units such as the Free French, Poles, Chinese, Greeks, etc. that were issued US arms. I've seen many pictures of the Poles in Italy being armed with Model 1917s so it would not be surprising to me to see them and others carrying A3s either. That history books mostly tell of the US fighting and winning WWII with a little spassistance from Great Britain, it is not surprising there is so little mention of the various "Free" forces that contributed as they could. They were often issued second tier equipment as the parent military armed their own forces with the most up to date equipment.

So, A3s may not have made up a large percentage of frontline US arms they likely made up a far larger presence than believed. With the Garand getting so much of the publicity, rightly or wrongly, the other arms have been left far in the shadow.

Dad said you never leaned your Garand against a tree, while eating, some jarhead would leave his 03, and vanish with the Garand. Island hopping the Pacific, Americal Division, WW2!

I love them have several and lots of parts all of them bubba modified