The new Rock Island Arsenal Museum...still full of Holy Grails.

[tark]

Earlier this year the newly renovated Rock Island Arsenal Museum re-opened after a three year long closure due to covid. Most of the guns are gone, because they had nothing to do with the Island's history and/or mission. It was a great collection, which we here all miss, but but they did not tell the story, or reflect the history, of Arsenal Island.

We did, however keep about twenty weapons that either manufactured on the Island or were connected to the Island in some fashion. Some were rebuilt here during wartime, some, actually manufactured on the Island, from start to finish. Some were modified into something else. The M-14 E.B.R. is one example. Apologies for the glare in many of the pictures. The Museum lighting, in conjunction to glass cases makes photography difficult.

The first picture is one of the holiest of all holy grails to a collector. The 1903 Springfield rifle, R.I.A. manufacture, serial number 1. It was taken directly from the assembly line and placed in the museum. It is in its original rod bayonet configuration and, of course, is still a 30-03. Parts of it were made in the actual room the museum is in, which was a machine shop. The picture behind the rifle shows this.

Picture #2 shows a 1901 prototype and a tool room prototype. The 1901 is stamped 1902 on the receiver. The Army only made a handful of the 1901 rifles. This was the gun that the Germans demanded royalties for because it so closely resembled a 98 Mauser action. ( It did and they got their royalties. )

Picture #3 is a Pederson device with all accessories. 65,000 were manufactured by Remington. The war ended before any were issued. A decade or so later the Army decided to destroy them all. By actual records, they destroyed 64,873. There are 127 still out there, many of which are in museums. That is why they bring a pretty penny at Auction. The rifle to the right of the P.D. is a 1903 converted to a semiauto rifle. I don't know if it is a 30-03 or an 06. It is a rather bizarre contraption. I have no idea how it functions or if it worked at all...but it is the only one in existence. It doesn't get any rarer than that.

Picture#4 is a display on the evolution of the semi-automatic rifle. These guns didn't really have much to do with the Arsenal's history but I think the Director decided to keep them because of their rarity and uniqueness. Everyone will recognize the Johnson rifle and the Pederson Carbine next to it. ( Serial # 2 ) The third rifle is a Thompson auto rifle. ( Yes, THAT Thompson. He designed more than just an Iconic Sub machine gun.) It is a .30 caliber...I think.

The last rifle deserves its own paragraph. It is a Model Shop Garand, serial #2. For the non Garand loving infidels, the first 80 M-1s were built in a prototype room called the Model Shop. John Garand himself personally supervised the operation. When the production began with serial #81 there were a few minor changes made. The word "semiauto" was dropped from the heel markings. The trigger guard was modified and a rear ring was added. This gun has three parts that are not original Model Shop parts. The front sight is from an early production gun. The op-rod is a dash-1 and that glossy stock is definitely not original. It has the relief cut for the later trigger guard. None of the Model Shop rifles are untouched, in their original configuration. Picture #5 is the markings on the heel of the receiver. Picture #6 is the muzzle end of the gun, showing the Model Shop gas trap gas cylinder and the type 1 gas trap front sight.

Most of the guns may be gone, but the museum now tells the story of the Island in a way it did not before. And there are still plenty of holy grails for us gun lovers to drool on. ( OK, at ) There are more, that I will post at a later date.

 

[12Bravo20]

A lot of people don't realize what all is done at Rock Island Arsenal. They have done more that just weapons over the years. The truck mounted machine shops that I used as a machinist in the Army were put together at the arsenal.

A lot of my family that were not in the military during WWII worked at the Arsenal. My dad still has a really big bench vice in his garage that came from there too.

 

[tark]

Their biggest contribution is probably the artillery recoil mechanisms and carriages they have manufactured through the decades. They also manufactured 85,000 Browning machine guns during WW II. That's a lot of machine guns. Dude, it was a big war!

 

[12Bravo20]

And a lot of stuff was contracted out to the nearby International Harvester plant during WWII as well. That is where my grampa worked at during the war and retired from IH. Most of my family is from the quad city area.