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The Springfield 1903 Rifles
The lifetime work of the rifle's premier authority. Exhaustive research has taken Brophy into some of the rarest collections in existence.
616 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1985
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March 10, 2022
As the title indicates, this book is devoted strictly to the M1903 Springfield rifles. It begins with a little information on the ill-suited M1901 Springfield, which was canceled before ever becoming more than an historical footnote. The M1901's most important role -and the reason for it's inclusion in the book- is that the development led to a major reworking, which in turn led to what became the M1903 Springfield.
The book is replete with photos -albeit entirely in black and white- either taken by the author, or found in the National Archives. As a result, some of the photos are not very good quality, and unfortunately some did not take to reprinting all that well, appearing overly dark, making it quite difficult to make out details.
That aside, it is perhaps the most complete resource for historical information relating to the M1903 rifle. It has a good amount of coverage devoted to the earliest 'rod-bayonet' variants, along with the changes in chambering and sighting adopted in 1905 and 1906. There are many technical drawings reproduced, along with text from various manuals reproduced in part.
A fair portion of the book covers everything from issue cleaning tools, to slings, scabbards, and other accessories.
A major drawback however, is the very light coverage of the M1903A3 variant produced in WWII. It is almost as though the author only included it as an afterthought, so brief is it's mention that one could almost miss it while flipping through the book.
However it remains 'the' bible for M1903 researchers and collectors, and provides a good starting point for the more advanced of those to learn.
You will not find a lot of information about parts variations, unless they were actual design changes. So it may be of limited use to the collector only interested in what information is relevant to them.
The book is out of print now I believe, and it may be best to locate the book in a library to see if it meets your requirements, before spending the money out of print books tend to demand. It is and older book, is a little dated in parts, certainly lacks some information, however what is there is pretty good.
The book is replete with photos -albeit entirely in black and white- either taken by the author, or found in the National Archives. As a result, some of the photos are not very good quality, and unfortunately some did not take to reprinting all that well, appearing overly dark, making it quite difficult to make out details.
That aside, it is perhaps the most complete resource for historical information relating to the M1903 rifle. It has a good amount of coverage devoted to the earliest 'rod-bayonet' variants, along with the changes in chambering and sighting adopted in 1905 and 1906. There are many technical drawings reproduced, along with text from various manuals reproduced in part.
A fair portion of the book covers everything from issue cleaning tools, to slings, scabbards, and other accessories.
A major drawback however, is the very light coverage of the M1903A3 variant produced in WWII. It is almost as though the author only included it as an afterthought, so brief is it's mention that one could almost miss it while flipping through the book.
However it remains 'the' bible for M1903 researchers and collectors, and provides a good starting point for the more advanced of those to learn.
You will not find a lot of information about parts variations, unless they were actual design changes. So it may be of limited use to the collector only interested in what information is relevant to them.
The book is out of print now I believe, and it may be best to locate the book in a library to see if it meets your requirements, before spending the money out of print books tend to demand. It is and older book, is a little dated in parts, certainly lacks some information, however what is there is pretty good.
Displaying 1 of 1 review