Original Item: Only One Available. The M1903 Springfield, officially the United States Rifle, Caliber .30-06, Model 1903, is an American five-round magazine-fed, bolt-action service repeating rifle, used primarily during the first half of the 20th century.

The M1903 was first used in combat during the Philippine–American War, and it was officially adopted by the United States as the standard infantry rifle on June 19, 1903, where it saw service in World War I, and was replaced by the faster-firing semi-automatic eight-round M1 Garand starting in 1936. However, the M1903 remained in service as a standard issue infantry rifle during World War II, since the U.S. entered the war without sufficient M1 rifles to arm all troops. It also remained in service as a sniper rifle during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. It remains popular as a civilian firearm, historical collector's piece, a competitive shooting rifle, and as a military drill rifle.

When the U.S. entered the war, just like every other involved country, it had a similar need for rifles. The Springfield Armory had delivered approximately 843,000 M1903 Springfield rifles, but due to the difficulties in production, rather than re-tool the Pattern 14 factories to produce the standard U.S. rifle, the M1903 Springfield, it was realized that it would be much quicker to adapt the British design. Although it might have been faster to retain chambering for the .303 British military cartridge, the design was modified for the U.S. .30-06 Springfield cartridge to simplify ammunition logistics. The Enfield design was well-suited to the .30-06 Springfield; it was a big, strong action and was originally intended to employ a long, powerful, rimless bottlenecked cartridge. Accordingly, Remington Arms Co. altered the design for caliber .30-06 Springfield, under the close supervision of the U.S. Army Ordnance Department, which was formally adopted as the U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, Model of 1917. In addition to Remington's production at Ilion, New York and Eddystone, Pennsylvania, Winchester produced the rifle at their New Haven, Connecticut plant, a combined total more than twice the 1903's production, and was the unofficial service rifle. Eddystone made 1,181,908 rifles – more than the production of Remington (545,541 rifles) and Winchester (465,980 rifles) combined. Although standardization with interchangeable parts was intended, early Winchester rifles (including the first five-thousand with a simple W on the receiver rather than Winchester) used slightly differing parts, causing interchangeability issues with the rifles produced by Remington and Eddystone until Winchester corrected the problem in later production.

Design changes were few; the stripper clip feed, internal box magazine, bolt face, chamber and rifling dimensions were altered to suit the .30-06 Springfield cartridge and the US pattern 5-round stripper clips, the stock was slightly redesigned, lightening it somewhat, and the volley fire sights on the left side of the weapon were deleted. The markings were changed to reflect the model and caliber change. A 16.5-inch blade bayonet, the M1917 bayonet was produced for use on the rifle; it was later used on several other small arms including the M97 and M12 trench shotguns.

The new rifle was used alongside the M1903 Springfield, and quickly surpassed the Springfield design in numbers produced and units issued. By November 11, 1918 about 75% of the AEF in France were armed with M1917s.

The rifle carry case is of an earlier type as it still has the top leather closure flap, while the later models had used canvas. These cases would have been used to keep your rifle protected from the elements while it was not being used. The case is complete with all buckles, straps and correct carry sling. There is no significant damage present, but there is fading present on the material as well as areas of staining and rust.

Comes more than ready for further research and display!