Monday, February 18, 2008
Gustloff-Werke, K98 BCD Code Mauser
The Mauser K98k was a 5 shot bolt action rifle and the main battlefield rifle of the Wehrmacht . Over fourteen million K98k's were produced from its adoption in June 1934 to the end of WW2 in May 1945. All fourteen million rifles produced in that time have all got different characteristics. Some K98k's were made with solid Walnut stocks, others of thin laminations and even a few rare Oak stocks. K98k's were manufactured with different butt plates and front sights. In the early years the small parts were milled and rust blued. Later, the small parts were stamped and phosphated. Many K98k's bear the different combinations of milled and stamped parts. Today, over 100 combinations of manufacturer codes and dates have been manufactured.
K98k
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Rifles Springfield M1903
Action: manually operated, rotating boltOverall length: 1097mm Barrel length: 610 mm Weight: 3.94 kg Magazine capacity: 5 rounds
The story of the "US Rifle, .30 caliber, M1903", otherwise known as a Springfield M1903, began late in XIX century, when US troops, engaged in the Spanish - American war found their bolt-action, .30 caliber Krags and .45 caliber single-shot Springfield "trap-doors" far inferior to the bolt-action Mausers, used by Mexican troops. It was soon discovered that more powerful and fast-firing rifle is required. The Krag rifles were too weak for ammunition desired by US Army authorities, and lacked some vital features, such as clip-loading, so in 1900 the state-owned Springfield armory was set up to build a new rifle, based on the battle-proven Mauser design. Springfield entered into negotiations with Mauser company and finally acquired the rights for Mauser bolt action for amount of US $200 000. At the same time, new ammunition was designed for the new rifle. It was a powerful, rimless cartridge that fired round-nosed jacketed bullet of 220 grains (14.2 g) at muzzle velocity of approximately 2300 fps (670 m/s) - about 300 fps (100 m/s) faster, than older .30-40 (Krag) cartridge did, resulting in 13% increase in muzzle energy. Both new cartridge and a new rifle were initially adopted in 1903, as a "US Rifle, .30 caliber, M1903", and a "cartridge, ball, .30 caliber, M1903", or .30-'03. Initial design featured a spike bayonet, but it was disliked by the president Theodore Roosevelt personally, so rifle was sent back to factory for redesign. With this design, Americans also adopted an idea of the common "short" rifle, originally invented by British wit their SMLE in 1904. This "short" rifle was equally suitable for both infantry and mounted troops. In the meantime, Germans introduced their "spitzer" bullet design - a relatively light bullet with point-shaped nose and better long-range ballistics, so, following the trend, US designers redesigned their newest .30-'03 cartridge to accept new bullet, weighting 150 grains (9.7 g) with the muzzle velocity of of approx. 2900 fps (880 m/s). This round was adopted as a "cartridge, ball, .30 caliber, Model of 1906", or, simply, a ".30-06". New rifle was re-fitted with sights regraduated for new cartridge, and was issued to US troops, but with the outbreak of the First World war it was soon discovered that US has insufficient numbers of M1903s to arm their expeditionary corps in Europe. US Army quickly adopted a Model 1917 rifle - Enfield pattern 1914 rifle redesigned from .303 British to .30-06, but this is another story. The M1903 rifles were manufactured by the state-owned Springfield armory and a Rock Island armory. Some early made (prior to ca. 1918) M1903 rifles were known by fragile receivers due to improper heat treatment, but the problem was soon cured by the introduction of the new steel treatment process.
During the interwar period, there was little development in M1903. In 1929, US adopted a modified pattern M1903A1, which was no more than the basic design with different type of stock, with semi-pistol grip instead of the straight, English-style grip. Few M1903A1 were made, however. With the outbreak of the Second World War US army again found itself short of rifles, and while the standard US rifle was already a semi-automatic Garand M1, it was decided that it must be supplemented by simpler and cheaper bolt-action rifle. The Remington Arms company was set up to create a simplified for wartime production variant of the M1903. Adopted in 1942, the M1903A3 rifles featured a number of parts made by stamping instead of machining, receiver-mounted peep-hole sights instead of the leaf-type tangent sights, and, on some rifles, A1 type stocks with semi-pistol grips (so called C-stocks). Some M1903A3 rifles were also fitted with 2 groove barrels instead of the more common 4 groove barrels. M1903A3 rifles were manufactured by the Remington Arms and a Smith-Corona Typewriters. The M1903A4 sniper rifles, manufactured by the Remington Arms co, were no more than factory 'accurized' M1903A3s with open iron sights replaced by telescope optical sights. This was probably the longest living version of the M1903, being used by the US troops until 1960s as a sniper rifles.
There were also two more offsprings of the M1903 family. First was the M1903 Mark 1 rifle, developed during the Word War One by US engineer and designer Pedersen. This was not less than a conversion of the manually-operated rifle into the magazine-fed, semi-automatic rifle. Standard M1903s were altered to accept a so called Pedersen device, officially know as a "US pistol, semi-automatic, .30 caliber, M1918". This device was inserted into the modified M1903 action instead of the standard bolt, and featured a semi-automatic action with box magazine, that fired a specially-designed .30 caliber (7.62mm) straight-wall cartridges of relatively low power, allowing to every soldier equipped with modified M1903 to fire rapidly from the hip while advancing onto the enemy positions. The device was fed from 40 rounds magazines, and required an ejection port to be cut in the left wall of the receiver. The Pedersen device was later found ineffective and with numerous drawbacks, and in 1920s almost all "M1918 pistols" were scrapped and Mark 1 rifles converted to the standard pattern.
Second variation was the M1903A2, which was, basically, not a rifle, but a barreled action with mountings, intended to be inserted into and fired from the gun barrels for low-cost, short-range training. Initially intended for 3" (76mm) coast guns, this device was later adopted for numerous other large guns.
The M1903 rifle is a manually operated, rotating bolt,. magazine fed rifle. The action of the M1903 represents the modified Mauser action, with dual front lugs, that locked into the receiver, and an additional lug at the rear of the bolt, but unlike the Mauser design, on M1903 the rear lug was located horizontally on the bolt when bolt was closed, or in straight up position when bolt was unlocked. This required a split-bridge at the rear part of the receiver. The bolt handle was bent down and located at the rear of the bolt. The Mauser-type non-rotating extractor was used. On the left side of the receiver there was a magazine cut-off in the form of the bolt stop switch. This switch, when engaged, limited the bolt travel so the spent case still could be extracted but the new cartridge cannot be feed from the magazine, thus converting the rifle to the single shots. The safety was also of Mauser type, located at the rear of the bolt. The M1903 was a striker fired design, with cocking on the bolt open, and a firing pin knob protruding behind the bolt, so the action state could be easily checked manually or visually if it is cocked or not.
The box magazine was integral to the action and held 5 rounds in the staggered order. Magazine could be filled with single rounds or by using the 5-rounds stripper clips, which were inserted into the clip slots, machined into the receiver bridge.
The iron sights of the M1903 consisted of the blade front sight and a barrel-mounted tangent-type leaf rear sights. On the M1903A3 the rear sights were replaced by the peep-hole (diopter) sights, mounted on the receiver bridge, and M1903A4 sniper rifles had no open sights at all, instead these rifles were equipped with M73B1 2.5X telescopic sights (commercially known as a Weaver model 330).
The wooden one-piece stock with upper handguard has a distinctive shape. Most of the M1903 and some of the M1903A3 and M1903A4 rifles featured stocks with straight grips, while M1903A1 and some M1903A3 and M1903A4 were equipped with C-stocks with semi-pistol grips.
The story of the "US Rifle, .30 caliber, M1903", otherwise known as a Springfield M1903, began late in XIX century, when US troops, engaged in the Spanish - American war found their bolt-action, .30 caliber Krags and .45 caliber single-shot Springfield "trap-doors" far inferior to the bolt-action Mausers, used by Mexican troops. It was soon discovered that more powerful and fast-firing rifle is required. The Krag rifles were too weak for ammunition desired by US Army authorities, and lacked some vital features, such as clip-loading, so in 1900 the state-owned Springfield armory was set up to build a new rifle, based on the battle-proven Mauser design. Springfield entered into negotiations with Mauser company and finally acquired the rights for Mauser bolt action for amount of US $200 000. At the same time, new ammunition was designed for the new rifle. It was a powerful, rimless cartridge that fired round-nosed jacketed bullet of 220 grains (14.2 g) at muzzle velocity of approximately 2300 fps (670 m/s) - about 300 fps (100 m/s) faster, than older .30-40 (Krag) cartridge did, resulting in 13% increase in muzzle energy. Both new cartridge and a new rifle were initially adopted in 1903, as a "US Rifle, .30 caliber, M1903", and a "cartridge, ball, .30 caliber, M1903", or .30-'03. Initial design featured a spike bayonet, but it was disliked by the president Theodore Roosevelt personally, so rifle was sent back to factory for redesign. With this design, Americans also adopted an idea of the common "short" rifle, originally invented by British wit their SMLE in 1904. This "short" rifle was equally suitable for both infantry and mounted troops. In the meantime, Germans introduced their "spitzer" bullet design - a relatively light bullet with point-shaped nose and better long-range ballistics, so, following the trend, US designers redesigned their newest .30-'03 cartridge to accept new bullet, weighting 150 grains (9.7 g) with the muzzle velocity of of approx. 2900 fps (880 m/s). This round was adopted as a "cartridge, ball, .30 caliber, Model of 1906", or, simply, a ".30-06". New rifle was re-fitted with sights regraduated for new cartridge, and was issued to US troops, but with the outbreak of the First World war it was soon discovered that US has insufficient numbers of M1903s to arm their expeditionary corps in Europe. US Army quickly adopted a Model 1917 rifle - Enfield pattern 1914 rifle redesigned from .303 British to .30-06, but this is another story. The M1903 rifles were manufactured by the state-owned Springfield armory and a Rock Island armory. Some early made (prior to ca. 1918) M1903 rifles were known by fragile receivers due to improper heat treatment, but the problem was soon cured by the introduction of the new steel treatment process.
During the interwar period, there was little development in M1903. In 1929, US adopted a modified pattern M1903A1, which was no more than the basic design with different type of stock, with semi-pistol grip instead of the straight, English-style grip. Few M1903A1 were made, however. With the outbreak of the Second World War US army again found itself short of rifles, and while the standard US rifle was already a semi-automatic Garand M1, it was decided that it must be supplemented by simpler and cheaper bolt-action rifle. The Remington Arms company was set up to create a simplified for wartime production variant of the M1903. Adopted in 1942, the M1903A3 rifles featured a number of parts made by stamping instead of machining, receiver-mounted peep-hole sights instead of the leaf-type tangent sights, and, on some rifles, A1 type stocks with semi-pistol grips (so called C-stocks). Some M1903A3 rifles were also fitted with 2 groove barrels instead of the more common 4 groove barrels. M1903A3 rifles were manufactured by the Remington Arms and a Smith-Corona Typewriters. The M1903A4 sniper rifles, manufactured by the Remington Arms co, were no more than factory 'accurized' M1903A3s with open iron sights replaced by telescope optical sights. This was probably the longest living version of the M1903, being used by the US troops until 1960s as a sniper rifles.
There were also two more offsprings of the M1903 family. First was the M1903 Mark 1 rifle, developed during the Word War One by US engineer and designer Pedersen. This was not less than a conversion of the manually-operated rifle into the magazine-fed, semi-automatic rifle. Standard M1903s were altered to accept a so called Pedersen device, officially know as a "US pistol, semi-automatic, .30 caliber, M1918". This device was inserted into the modified M1903 action instead of the standard bolt, and featured a semi-automatic action with box magazine, that fired a specially-designed .30 caliber (7.62mm) straight-wall cartridges of relatively low power, allowing to every soldier equipped with modified M1903 to fire rapidly from the hip while advancing onto the enemy positions. The device was fed from 40 rounds magazines, and required an ejection port to be cut in the left wall of the receiver. The Pedersen device was later found ineffective and with numerous drawbacks, and in 1920s almost all "M1918 pistols" were scrapped and Mark 1 rifles converted to the standard pattern.
Second variation was the M1903A2, which was, basically, not a rifle, but a barreled action with mountings, intended to be inserted into and fired from the gun barrels for low-cost, short-range training. Initially intended for 3" (76mm) coast guns, this device was later adopted for numerous other large guns.
The M1903 rifle is a manually operated, rotating bolt,. magazine fed rifle. The action of the M1903 represents the modified Mauser action, with dual front lugs, that locked into the receiver, and an additional lug at the rear of the bolt, but unlike the Mauser design, on M1903 the rear lug was located horizontally on the bolt when bolt was closed, or in straight up position when bolt was unlocked. This required a split-bridge at the rear part of the receiver. The bolt handle was bent down and located at the rear of the bolt. The Mauser-type non-rotating extractor was used. On the left side of the receiver there was a magazine cut-off in the form of the bolt stop switch. This switch, when engaged, limited the bolt travel so the spent case still could be extracted but the new cartridge cannot be feed from the magazine, thus converting the rifle to the single shots. The safety was also of Mauser type, located at the rear of the bolt. The M1903 was a striker fired design, with cocking on the bolt open, and a firing pin knob protruding behind the bolt, so the action state could be easily checked manually or visually if it is cocked or not.
The box magazine was integral to the action and held 5 rounds in the staggered order. Magazine could be filled with single rounds or by using the 5-rounds stripper clips, which were inserted into the clip slots, machined into the receiver bridge.
The iron sights of the M1903 consisted of the blade front sight and a barrel-mounted tangent-type leaf rear sights. On the M1903A3 the rear sights were replaced by the peep-hole (diopter) sights, mounted on the receiver bridge, and M1903A4 sniper rifles had no open sights at all, instead these rifles were equipped with M73B1 2.5X telescopic sights (commercially known as a Weaver model 330).
The wooden one-piece stock with upper handguard has a distinctive shape. Most of the M1903 and some of the M1903A3 and M1903A4 rifles featured stocks with straight grips, while M1903A1 and some M1903A3 and M1903A4 were equipped with C-stocks with semi-pistol grips.
When the "Tin Can" Changed History
Interesting read "By Dick Culver" concerning Brittle M1903 Receivers, Tin Plated Bullets, Mobilubricant, and the use of Cosmoline to solve the "Cupro-Nickel" metal fowling problem and how the solutions in some instances actually added to or at least compounded the problems. ----When the "Tin Can" Changed HistoryBy Dick CulverHow many of you have ever heard of lumpy metal fouling in the bore of aservice rifle? If you came along in the decades starting in the 1950s, theanswer is probably very few or none. To our predecessors however, metalfouling in the barrel of their favorite fowling piece was a very real problem. Whenprogressively larger deposits of jacket metal fouling start accumulating in thebore of their rifle it became ruinous to the accuracy. How the metal foulingproblem came about and how it was eventually solved is a fascinating piece ofhistory.Cut to a typical conversation on the Rifle Range at Guantanamo Bay Cuba circa 1908The year was 1908 and Marines on the rifle range were cleaning the new service rifle thatthey had just received as a replacement for the Krag. Tempers were getting a bit frayed, andthe NCOs were saying unkind things about the Army Ordnance people in particular andwhatever outfit had them constantly changing rifles in general. The troops however hadproblems of their own. --- http://www.bobrohrer.com/sea_stories...ed_history.pdf
U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30 Model of 1903
The U.S. M1903 Rifle was designed and
adopted to replace the Krag-Jorgensen rifle
and its .30-40 cartridge. Adopted on June
19, 1903, the M1903 Rifle
was chambered for the
Model of 1903, .30 Govern-
ment Cartridge (.30-03),
which had a 220-grain
round-nose projectile. The
Model of 1903 Rifle was
only in service a short period of time before some changes were made. One
of the most prominent up-
grades was the rechambering for the improved Model of 1906 cartridge,
which had a lighter, spitzer-
type projectile and an improved powder. A newly designed M1905 rear sight was also added. The rifles were manufactured by
Springfield Armory and Rock Island Arsenal from 1903 until 1914. Production was quickly resumed during 1917 with the U.S.
entry into World War I.
The M1903 Rifle in .30-06 caliber remained the standard service weapon of the U.S. until the adoption of the M1 Rifle in 1936.
During World War II, production of the M1 Garand was not able to keep up with the wartime demand. Thus, Remington Arms was
awarded a contract to resume manufacture of the M1903 Rifle. During production, there were many new features implemented into
the original design of the ’03 rifle to speed up production. These rifles were designated as the M1903 (Modified). Subsequently,
more improvements were made resulting in the M1903-A3 model, which was adopted on May 21, 1942. The 03-A3 had many
stamped parts, a new receiver mounted aperture rear sight and a longer hand guard. The L.C. Smith & Corona Company was
awarded a contract in February of 1942 to supplement production. The M1903 and its variants remained in service until declared
obsolete on July 24, 1947.
adopted to replace the Krag-Jorgensen rifle
and its .30-40 cartridge. Adopted on June
19, 1903, the M1903 Rifle
was chambered for the
Model of 1903, .30 Govern-
ment Cartridge (.30-03),
which had a 220-grain
round-nose projectile. The
Model of 1903 Rifle was
only in service a short period of time before some changes were made. One
of the most prominent up-
grades was the rechambering for the improved Model of 1906 cartridge,
which had a lighter, spitzer-
type projectile and an improved powder. A newly designed M1905 rear sight was also added. The rifles were manufactured by
Springfield Armory and Rock Island Arsenal from 1903 until 1914. Production was quickly resumed during 1917 with the U.S.
entry into World War I.
The M1903 Rifle in .30-06 caliber remained the standard service weapon of the U.S. until the adoption of the M1 Rifle in 1936.
During World War II, production of the M1 Garand was not able to keep up with the wartime demand. Thus, Remington Arms was
awarded a contract to resume manufacture of the M1903 Rifle. During production, there were many new features implemented into
the original design of the ’03 rifle to speed up production. These rifles were designated as the M1903 (Modified). Subsequently,
more improvements were made resulting in the M1903-A3 model, which was adopted on May 21, 1942. The 03-A3 had many
stamped parts, a new receiver mounted aperture rear sight and a longer hand guard. The L.C. Smith & Corona Company was
awarded a contract in February of 1942 to supplement production. The M1903 and its variants remained in service until declared
obsolete on July 24, 1947.
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