National Match 1903 rifles

[sakorick]

That's very interesting. So it would seem a few lucky civilians got the jump on congress at least two years ahead of everyone else. I wonder if anyone has compiled a list of National Match serial numbers by year? John Beard perhaps?

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[Smokeeaterpilot]

That's very interesting. So it would seem a few lucky civilians got the jump on congress at least two years ahead of everyone else. I wonder if anyone has compiled a list of National Match serial numbers by year? John Beard perhaps?

It's definitely possible. But I can't say it with absolutely certainty, there's always the possibility that WD Bulletin is very specific on sales only to officers. But from what I found it at NARA, it does not seem limited to officers. Civilians being eligible is an opinion based on the memo and later correspondence discussing the number of civilians eligible to compete on State NG teams. I do not know if there were civilian only teams. Someone else may be able to answer that such as John Beard.

The majority of the National Match SNs I found in the 1919-1920 era were documented to NM Ammo testing, most were already known with a few new ones. I don't recall finding any sales documents. Not saying they didn't happen or the files don't exist, I just didn't come across any.