1903 magazine

[Jerome Cooper]

A gentleman who shoots at our range brought his 1903 Springfield and with it a magazine that holds 20 rounds. It is attached by first removing the floorplate. No one present had ever seen anything like it before. The owner said that it was an issue accessory that was manufactured at a time not long after the 1903 was in production and that it is now rare and expensive. I would assume that it would fit rifles of Rock island manufacture as well, but not O3-A3 rifles that have stamped one piece floor plates. Question; Is/was this magazine a genuine accessory or is it a reproduction of some kind of prototype/experiment and if so what would be its value? J. Cooper

Information

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[Chuckindenver]

magazine is likely an Air service magazine.
they came with a cover...more magazines then rifles.

[Dad]

Sounds like a M1903 Air Service Rifle magazine. The extended magazine replaced the normal floor plate of either a Springfield or Rock Island m1903.
They are rare and expensive, I believe there are some reproductions around.

Here is some more info on the Air Service Rifle:
The Springfield 1903 Rifles: The Illustrated, Documented Story of the Design ... - Google Books

D.

[browningautorifle]

We had a thread around here on that sort of thing...didn't you have an example you hand built Chuck? Or was that the bushmaster carbine??

[Fred G.]

The magazines would hold 25 rounds when attached to the rifle. No reproductions of this particular magazine have ever been made, but there are some being made for the 98 Mauser. Their follower springs though are made of band stock but are not bent correctly and are substandard and aren't like the originals of that design. The follower spring of the American version is superior and is made of wire. I recently located two that were being auctioned on Gunbroker by a gun store owner who mistakenly thought, or had been told, that they were reproductions. Doubtless the one who thought that was dimly thinking of the reproduction Mauser model. Anyway, I took full advantage of the opportunity and won both of them for $125.00 total with no competition. The auction just didn't catch anyone's attention who knew what they were I suppose. It happens from time to time. Today, you can buy one of the U.S. Springfield magazines, WITH the top follower retaining plate, for around $350.00 to $500.00 when they come up for sale now and then. With the original cardboard box that they came in, I've seen them priced at $1,200.00, but if one looks around, a less expensive one will eventually show up for sale. I have my two stored with two original web carriers that were meant to be used with the magazines. These carriers or pouches will be familiar to many and show up from time to time at gunshows and on ebay. However, allmost every one of them that can be found will be in unissued condition and will have dates of 1917 or 1918 on them. Since the use of the magazines was short lived and limited within airplanes, ballons and trenches for snipers, most of the pouches weren't used and so when obtained or run across by solders, they would be used for holding first aid equipt. or anything else that a fellow likes to carry with him. I've seen the pouches called messenger or corrier pouches. However the four grommets or eyelets, each in a seperate corner on the backside of the pouch, were not designed to keep water out but to allow moisture to dry out within the pouch... and from the magazines. Keeping dry on a European battlefield is pretty impossible. Anyway, here are some photo's of my original magazines, on and off the rifles.













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[Fred G.]

Here is a period photo of an Imperial German Infantry soldier using the Mauser version of an extension magazine that held only 20 rounds.

[browningautorifle]

Lovely stuff Fred. You seem to have all the small parts too.

[Fred G.]

Thanks Jim. Before I found out about the magazine pouches, I'd often wondered about where the rifle's floorplate and the magazine's retaining plate were stored while the magazine was attached to the rifle. Now I know. Inside the pouch of course. Recently, a 1903 25 round extension magazine was sold on gunbroker with a new made top plate that replaced the missing original plate. These plates are soft and not hardened as well as being made of an easily aquired guage of sheet metal. There is only one bend in them that's easy to make. cutting and trimming the hole within it as well as sizing the plate to the proper dimensions can be easily done. Anyway, the Magazine sold for $350.00. I suspect that with the scarcity of magazines on the market today, If one were to come up for sale or auction that doesn't have the original top plate, it'd be simple enough to replace it. However, the original top plates were Niter Blued. That might only be of concern to a purist though if the drop in price were to be accordingly adjusted downward $100.00 or $150.00 or more from say $450.00 to $500.00 . Fred

[Fred G.]

Here's something neat that I've been using on the target range. It's a Long Eye Relief Scope that I mounted on one of my 03's using a mount that is no longer made. It's been so long since they've been made and on the market (around 1968), that nobody I've ever spoken to has ever remembered seeing one. The mount is an early B-SQUARE Sight Base #18432. Unlike the other B-Square type on the market today, it is made for a true 1903 Springfield and not for a 1903A3, which the other mount actually was originaly for. I bought seven of them several years back on ebay from someone who'd come across the last of the old stock of them. They were selling them for $10.00 each. I stopped buying them after that because I thought that 7 was all that I would or could use, which is correct. However I didn't expect to see them disappear completely from the market. Well, they have. The sight mounts don't necessitate changing anything on the rifle or drilling any holes. It only requires removing the rear sight leaf and mounting the site base in its place. There are of course Allen Screws to adjust and use for securing the mount tightly. It's a great set-up and it doesn't wobble or loosen with recoil! It goes well with an 03 mounted with one of the 25 round extension magazines.





















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[Chuckindenver]

i built a replica Air Service rifle about 15 years ago for a Museum in Southern Co, i dont have any pics that i can access. sorry.