Model 1903 Model 1917/Stats

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eclancy

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Gentlemen,

First Happy Bird Day

Point of interest I think.
A Ordnance report dated March 2, 1937 shows the following:

Stats
Model 1903 901,548 of which 306,514 are in the hands of troops

Model 1917 2,174,855 of which only a small amount are in the hands of troops.

I wonder why so many 1917's as to Model 1903's ?
Just seems odd to me.

My sites with data and books and CD for sale. These are commercial sites. They also have Ordnance Data files posted there.
http://www.users.fast.net/~eclancy
http://www.garandm1rifle.com
Thanks again
 
Probably because your report is from the 1930's and the 1903 was selected as the official rifle of the US.

During WWI, the 1917 was the more common rifle.
 
The Model 1917 is simply a British P14, modified to use .30-06 ammunition. (the P14 was a P13 modified to use .303 British ammunition.)

The P14 was being manufactured in the US for the British, by Remington, Winchester and Eddystone, in considerable volume. They had just completed the contract when the US entered the war. We were then woefully short of arms, and were faced with conscripting, arming and training a huge army. We adopted the M1917 as a stopgap (we used a lot of other foreign weapons, too.)

Most American soliders in WWI were equipped with the M1917 -- the three commercial plants easily outstripped the government armories in production.

After the war there was serious consideration given to dropping the M1903 and adopting the M1917 as our standard rifle. You can see how close they came at the Officer's Club at Fort Benning, GA (the home of the Infantry.)

In those days, the Infantry insignia was literally 'crossed rifles" with the rifle in question being the standard issue rifle -- every time we changed rifles, we changed insignia. In the floor of the Officer's Club is a mosaic depicting the Infantry insignia -- and the rifles are M1917s!

(The current insignia are actually "crossed muskets" -- the M1795, which was our first official US-made musket.)
 
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