Springfield M1903 Rifle

The M1903 Springfield is a bolt-action service rifle adopted by the United States Army in 1903, produced at the government's own Springfield Armory and built around a controlled-feed bolt action closely derived from the Mauser rifle design, closely enough that the United States government later paid Mauser's manufacturer a licensing settlement over the similarity. It served as the standard American infantry rifle through the First World War, chambered in the .30-06 Springfield cartridge that itself became a long-lived standard American military round, and though the semi-automatic M1 Garand replaced it as the US Army's primary infantry rifle beginning in the later 1930s, the M1903 remained in extensive American service through the Second World War in secondary roles including as a grenade-launching platform and, fitted with a telescopic sight, as a standard American sniper rifle. Its accuracy and reliable action kept variants of the design in specialized military and competitive marksmanship use for decades after it ceased to be a front-line infantry weapon.