Springfield M1903A4

About the Springfield M1903A4

The Springfield M1903A4 was the standard-issue sniper rifle of the United States Army during World War II, based on the M1903A3 infantry rifle fitted with a Weaver 330C (M73B1) 2.75x telescopic sight on a Redfield Junior mount. Unlike the Marine Corps' hand-tuned M1903A1 with Unertl 8x scopes, the Army's M1903A4 was a mass-produced sniper weapon with modest optics, reflecting the wartime need for quantity over precision. Approximately 28,365 M1903A4 rifles were produced by Remington from January 1943 through 1945, serving in every theater of the war from North Africa to the Pacific.

While the Marine Corps had a long tradition of precision marksmanship with hand-tuned Springfield rifles and Unertl scopes, the Army's M1903A4 program was more pragmatic, selecting rifles from standard production that met minimum accuracy requirements. The M1903A4 saw its most famous action during the Normandy invasion and the Battle of the Bulge, where Army snipers used the rifle to disrupt German operations despite the limitations of the 2.75x Weaver scope.

Springfield M1903A4 specifications

The M1903A4 was criticized for its low-magnification 2.75x Weaver scope, which was far less capable than the 8x Unertl scope used by Marine snipers or the 4x scopes used by German and Soviet snipers. The scope mount required removal of the iron sights, meaning the rifle had no backup sighting system if the scope was damaged. The rifles were produced by Remington Arms at their Ilion, New York facility. Despite its limitations, the M1903A4 remained in limited US Army service through the Korean War and was not officially replaced until the adoption of the M21 in 1969.