The American Springfield Rifle. The Springfield, or Model 1903 was a direct outgrowth of the Spanish-American War of 1898. U. S. ordinance experts recognized the superiority of the German-designed Mauser magazine rifles with which the Spanish were armed and studied them carefully. Over a period of time, a new design, the Model 1903 patterned unabashedly on the Mauser, was developed at the U. S. Government's Springfield Arsenal in Massachusetts. (The U. S. Government paid Germany for the use of certain Mauser design components.)

 

It was issued to American troops beginning in 1904. This rifle had a 24-inch barrel, some six inches shorter than the 1898 Krag (also known as the Krag-Jorgensen after its Norwegian inventors) -- the U. S. Army's first bolt action, smokeless powder rifle -- which it replaced.

 

The real improvements in the Springfield over the Krag were in the quality of the ammunition and in the ease of loading the new Springfield. The Model 1903 was loaded from a single five-round stripper clip rather than by dropping five separate loose rounds into the magazine as in the Krag. The ammunition was also modified from the round-nosed Krag and early Springfield .30-40 caliber cartridge with a rounded 220-grain bullet to a pointed 150-grain round known as the .30-'06 (thirty-ought-six) patterned again after the German-designed "spitzer" -- or pointed -- bullet. The "ought six" in the cartridge's name refers to the year the new round was adopted: 1906. The rimless .30-'06 cartridge survived as the standard in the U. S. Army through the Korean War.

 

The Springfield was replaced as the standard infantry rifle in 1936 by the semiautomatic Garand firing the same caliber round. But, the highly-accurate .30-'06 Springfield rifle Model 1903 with various modifications was in limited use in WWII (as a sniper rifle) and a generation later even in Vietnam.
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US Model 1917 Rifle
"American Enfield"

What about this other rifle called "The American Enfield"? The Model 1917, or The American Enfield, as it was popularly called, was two inches longer and nine tenths of a pound heavier than the Model 1903 Springfield rifle. But it was exceptionally strong. Some said it was the most rugged bolt action rifle ever manufactured. And, it remained in U. S. inventories until World War II when over a quarter of a million American Enfields were shipped to our allies under the Lead Lease Act.

The M1 Garand is a full blown combat rifle with maxiumum range of 3,200 meters and maximum effective range of 400 meters.....or the greatest distance at which the weapon can be expected to fire accurately to inflict casualties or damage. Fully loaded with 8-round en bloc clip, cleaning kit in butt stock, sling and with stock of dense GI issue wood the M1 weighed in at 11-1/4 lbs. The M1 came into production in 1936 using the .30-06 rifle cartridge.

The M1 was the designated service rifle of World War II and the Korean War for the United States Military. It was designed for semi-automatic fire using a spring steel clip containing 8 rounds. This is where the term "clip" originated. All other rifles used a detachable or fixed magazine.

 

The M1 Garand was designed for long range accuracy  i.e. battle zero was set for any target less than 200 yards It was the only rifle that had fully adjustable i.e. windage and elevation, rear sights.

The M1C, manufactured by Springfield Armory in late 1944-1945, mounted either a M81 or M82 scope, a T4 leather cheek pad, and an M2 flash hider.

The US Rifle M1 was the first semiautomatic rifle to be the standard small arm of the US Military, and the first semiautomatic rifle to be adopted by a major military power. It was the product of a genuine genius, John Cantius Garand. While the M1 Rifle was never officially referred to as the Garand, it is known by no other name so widely.

 

First adopted in 1936, the M1 Rifle served the US in World War II, Korea, a host of "police actions" and interventions, and, in the hands of allies, in the Vietnam War. Even there the US Army fielded accurized sniper M1 rifles even though the M1 had by that time been supplanted by the M14 and later the M16.

 

To many the M1 Rifle has a classic elegance and grace characteristic of a bygone era, when steel was forged in white heat and walnut was carefully shaped for both form and function. "There will never be again such a rifle, so brimming with the genius of an individual mind, so well constructed to outlive us all, so sculpted as to ask the hand to caress."

 

Criticisms of the M1 are its weight, limited ammunition supply, the fact that single rounds could not be pushed in (8 round clip, or nothing). Also, the spent clip was automatically ejected after the last round was fired, making a distinctive sound, which could be fatal in close quarter or sniper operations.

 

As a supplement to the Garand the M1 Carbine was developed. It was totally different design philosophy with a smaller, less powerful cartridge and an effective range of 300 yds max. It weighed almost exactly 1/2 that of the M1 Garand. In many ways you could think of the M1 Carbine as a moderately powerful, two-handed, long-barreled auto pistol with a shoulder stock.

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Note:I still own a Enfield,I sold my M1D Garand..because of the reason's listed above.Now I also have a M14A1 and a Remington M700,heavy barrel with ART2 scope.

The experience gained by US troops during the Second World war showed that the M1 Garand rifle has a lot of things to be improved. The first was the feeding system with 8-rounds en-bloc clips that does not allowed the refilling of the partially full magazine. Others were excessive length and weight of the rifle. The cartridge used in M1 Garand and known as .30-06 (7.62x63mm) was too long and too heavy, effectively limiting the load of ammunition carried by each soldier. First attempts to improve M1 were made during the war, and numerous experimental modifications in .30-06 were built, mostly using the 20-rounds detachable magazines from Browning BAR M1918 automatic rifle. One of such prototypes was the T20 ("T" means "test") of 1944. T20 was basically the M1 Garand rifle fitted with 20 rounds BAR magazine and with selective fire capability. This prototype latter evolved into the T37 rifle, which had gas cylinder moved back a little and was chambered for newest American prototype cartridge - T65. The T65 was no more than .30-06 case, shortened by 1/2 inch (12 mm), but retaining the original ballistic properties due to modern propellants used. It was slightly lighter and cheaper to made than .30-06, and has long effective range and good potential for accuracy, both desired by US Army. The idea of truly intermediate round was not acceptable to the US Military at that period. In the early 1950s T37 evolved into the T44 experimental rifle, which featured redesigned, self-regulated gas system with short stroke gas piston. Further development and tests lead to the slightly modified T44E4 and T44E5 (heavy barreled squad automatic weapon) prototypes, which were finally adopted by US Army as M14 and M15 rifles in the 1957. The M15, a heavy barreled weapon, however, was never brought into production. It must be noted that T44E4 was extensively tested against the only other entree in the US trials, the T48 rifle (Belgian FN FAL rifle made under license in USA by H&R Inc.). Both rifles passed the trials with equally high results, but US finally settled on the T44 because it was slightly lighter, similar to M1 Garand in manufacturing and operation, and, above all, a "Native American" design.

 

The contracts to produce M1 rifles were issued to some US companies, such as Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge (TRW Inc), Harrington and Richardson Arms Co (H&R), Winchester-Western Arms Division of Olin Mathieson (Winchester) and Springfield Armory Inc (Springfield). Production was ceased by US Government in 1964, with some 1 380 000 weapons made. The termination of the production was the result of combat experience in the SE Asia, particularly in Vietnam. The M14 was too long and too heavy to be carried all day long in hot and wet climate. The 7.62mm NATO ammunition was too heavy, limiting the amount of ammunition carried by soldiers on patrols. The selective fire capability was mostly useless, since the M14 was way too light for powerful cartridge it fired, and climbed excessively when fired in bursts. In fact, most of the M14s were issued to troops with fire selectors locked to semi-automatic mode, to avoid useless waste of ammunition in automatic fire. The squad automatic version, known as M14E2, also was not too successful in its intended role. As soon as those deficiencies of the M14 became obvious for US Army Command, they started the search for lighter rifle, and finally settled on the Colt/Armalite AR-15 5.56mm assault rifle, adopting it as the M16A1. M14 was replaced as a first line weapon in the late 1960s, but is still used in small numbers by US Navy. It also served as a platform to build M21 Sniper rifles. Semi-automatic only versions of the M14 rifle are commercially manufactured for civilian and police markets by the Springfield Armory Inc since 1974 under the name of M1A. Some other US companies are assembling the M14-type semi-automatic rifles using military surplus M14 parts kits. Beginning in the early 1970s thousands of M14 rifles were given to several nations under military aid programs. In the 1990s alone, over 100,000 of these rifles have been given away to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey.

 

In general, the M14 was an outdated design at the moment of its adoption. It had the accuracy and range of an "old time" military rifles, but was too long, heavy and lacked the selective fire firepower of a true assault rifle, required in the modern combat. Nevertheless, it was a reliable and powerful weapon, often favored by users for high lethality, long range and good penetration.

 

The M14 is a gas operated, magazine fed, selective fire (originally) design. The gas system is located under the barrel, and has a short stroke (about 1 1/2 inch - 37 mm) gas piston which operates the M1 Garand style action rod. The gas system features an automatic gas cutoff feature, which limits the amount of gases used to operate the weapon. The rotating bolt is quite similar to one found in M1 Garand but it has a roller instead of the simple lug, which connects the bolt to the operating rod. The fire mode selector is located at the right side of the receiver, above the trigger, and could be removed if rifle should not be fired in bursts, or re-installed if required. The rear receiver bridge features the stripper clips guides, so the detachable magazine could be refilled in place by using standard stripper clips. The bolt stop device is incorporated into the left wall of the receiver and holds the bolt open when last round from the magazine is fired. The safety switch is similar to M1 Garand and is located at the front of the triggerguard. Standard sights consist of the blade front sight with two protective "ears" and diopter-type adjustable rear sight, mounted on the rear of the receiver. Barrel is equipped with long flash suppressor. To be used in selective fire mode, M14 can be equipped with light detachable bipod. The M14A1 Squad Automatic rifle differs from M14 in the following: the fire selector is always installed. The standard wooden single-piece stock with semi-pistol grip is replaced by the "straight line" wooden stock with separate pistol grip and with folding front grip under the forearm. The hinged shoulder rest is attached to the buttplate. Special removable muzzle jump compensator is fitted to the barrel, as well as lightweight bipod.

 

Mini-14 rifle was developed in early 1970s and introduced near 1974. To speak simply, Mini-14 is M-14 "clone", scaled down to use then-new 5.56mm / .223 Rem cartridge.

Mini-14 is somewhat similar in design to M1 Garand and M-14 rifles, utilizing same gas action with underbarrel gas piston, rotating bolt, positive safety with safety switch located at the forward part of the triggerguard. Mini-14s initially were manufactured in both semi-auto only "civilian" versions and in select-fire "military" versions, featuring flash hider and bayonet mounts. However, these "military" rifles weren't adopted by any military, and were used to some extent by some Police departments and Law Enforcement agencies across the USA. Those select-fire versions, known as AC-556 or Mini-14GB, were manufactured with one piece wooden stock or with pistol grip and side-folding metal buttstock.

In 1987, Ruger developed Mini-30 version of the semi-auto Mini-14, chambered in 7.62x39mm Russian cartridge.

All Mini-14s and Mini-30s are known as reliable rifles, but accuracy is inferior, compared to M16/AR-15 series.