03 & 03A3 ???? is this true?

[OLDER THEN DIRT]

A relatve of mine who knows very little about firearms except what he reads & is told by I don`t know who purchased a Remmington 03A3. He wants to shoot it. He was told that you can load up the 5 rounds in the mag well , drop a round in the chamber, push down on the loaded mag & close the bolt on the round that is chamberd. Now you have 6 rounds to rire. Is this true, I never heard of this myself? Thanks in advance.

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[browningautorifle]

Now you have 6 rounds to fire.

I've done this but that way it's more trouble than it's worth. It doesn't afford you anything anyway...6 v/s 5?

[BEAR]

That is what the magazine cutoff is for. The magazine would hold 5 rounds in reserve and the soldier loaded and fired one round at a time. By the the military thought process of that day, the soldier is not wasting ammunition. Kind of like the automatic, 3 round burst, semi auto selector switch controversy from several years ago.
But to answer your question, yes, that can be done.
Oh, by the way, did you know that the US M1917 held six rounds in the magazine? But that's a story for another day.

BEAR (BDY)

[browningautorifle]

But to answer your question, yes, that can be done.

Yes, it can.

did you know that the US M1917 held six rounds

Yes, I had several and did it too. Didn't make much difference...

[Rick the Librarian]

Like I said, more trouble than it is worth - unless maybe on the battlefield and even then ...

[browningautorifle]

It'd be faster to just snap in another clip of five than mess around...

[butlersrangers]

The Magazine Lee-Metford, Magazine Lee-Enfield, C.L.L.E., S.M.L.E. MkI & MkIII , all had a magazine cut-off until it was eliminated on production of the S.M.L.E. MkIII*, during WW1.

The cut-off reappeared on post WW1 British rifles like the S.M.L.E. Mark V and S.M.L.E. Mark VI (#4 Rifle prototype).

Some ideas seem so good, or at least neutral, that they have a hard time 'dying'.

At least with the U.S. Krag-Jorgensen and British Lee rifles, it was easily visible to the Sergeants, if a man in formation did not have the magazine contents 'blocked off'.

The 1903 and 1903A-3 cut-offs were not so obvious.

Attachment 87896

[Rick the Librarian]

Actually, with the larger cutoffs of the M1903 and 03A3, I'd argue that the cutoffs were even more obvious than on the Krag.

[browningautorifle]

I sort of see it like that too, I think they'd be visible if one looked.

[philb]

hi, that's an old trick used to do it to my K98's also & my P17 when doing ww2 reenactments