Modified 1903A3

[Scarface]

Swapping sea stories over a few beers a friend told me that he knew of WWII Marines who had modified 1903A3 Springfields to accept the magazine of a Browning Automatic Rifle. Has anyone on this forum ever hear of such a modification?

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[daveboy]

Others more knowledgeable than me will reply soon, but in the meantime...short answer is yes. Some 03s were modified to take BAR magazines.

daveboy

[browningautorifle]

It was a very rare mod and very few exist today. An original will cost a great deal, equal to the gross national product of a small country...

[A square 10]

these were not anything that saw real service , more on the order of an experimental rifle ,

[emmagee1917]

It would require vast modifications on machinery p'robly not available , but then again , so did the ANM2 .30cal " stinger " , so one can never say never. More likely , however , would be that someone saw an air service mag on an '03 or on an A3 with an '03 triggerguard. This replaced the flat floorplate with a 20 rd extension floor plate. It held 25 rds , was basicly non-detachable in use , and looked a lot like a BAR mag , though longer in hight and narrower in width.
Chris

[Chuckindenver]

someplace i have a picture of a A4 with a BAR modified to fit, in service..

[browningautorifle]

Just make it up Chuck...then take pics? Carbine of course!

[Scarface]

Thanks guys. Thought the whole idea was a little over the top but certainly couldn't discount the resourcefulness of brother leathernecks. Chuck, a picture, besides being worth a thousand words, would be priceless.

[emmagee1917]

Ok , found the thread and pictures , so , yes , they did. However , the mods were welded to the floorplate of the triggerguards and therefore non-detachable as we think of such .
First , air servive mag on an '03 sniper.
U.S. Springfield Model 1903 Bolt Action Sniper Rifle for Jim T..
Now the Bar mag modification.
03A4 with BAR mag?
HTH , Chris

[Chuckindenver]

yup, thats it...i looked but couldnt find it.