Why U.S. Govt Still Making 03/A3's in 1944?

[1903Collector]

Incorrect. The Springfield Armory had already repurposed or scrapped all tooling. Springfield did not resume production because all available capacity was dedicated to M1 Garand ramp-up and production. Rock Island tooling and some qty of finished and WIP goods were taken out of government storage and transferred to Remington Arms. This was done to take advantage of the much shorter time-to-production made essential by the downward spiraling turn of global events that made US involvement in what would become he second World War imminent! Smith Corona was contracted to tool up with the help of RA.

One factor many dont think about is that RA and SC were private sector companies and their production and cancellation thereof was based upon contract terms. The government procurement office (GAO) and the War Production Board (WPB) had to balance order cancellation to the effect on businesses and employment. Lastly the production cost and lead time to manufacture M1903A3s was less than that for the Garand.

By 1944 there were indeed hundreds of thousands if not millions of M1 Carbines and M1 Garands produced (despite the incorrect posted herein that referenced production of less than 200000 (my guess it referred to Carbines, and by 1944 that number could ONLY apply to just one of the 9 volume Carbine manufacturers), yet existing production capacity of Garands (intended as front line battle rifles) and Carbines (initially intended only as a replacement of the 1911 and Thompson M1 for rear area use) was still not enough to meet demand for both new issue and replacement of arms lost, captured, or destroyed in the theatres of war. Lastly, in 1944 the war in Europe was still far from over and the inevitable invasion of Japan was looming. The number of Garands and Carbines envisioned to be needed was still daunting. Domestic, rear area, occupation, and POW rifle demand were served well by the 1903 while demand as the Garand and Carbine were prioritized for battle troops.