Start of stamping barrels with the star gauge registry number

[Smokeeaterpilot]

Thanks for the kind words guys. I do love it and enjoy sharing to help get more information out there. Even if it's already known, its great to see it on period documentation.

Have you guys found any documentation discussing the 1903 sporters?
Curious if you’ve learned anything interesting there.

To answer your question yes, there's a ton of information in there. I'm just starting to get into it. I spent the last couple of years digitizing everything in the Chief of Ordnance General Correspondence files starting at 1915 concerning small arms. Rifles, Automatic Rifles, Krags/Cadet Rifles and Automatic Pistols and Revolvers. I just reached the beginning of 1919, and looked ahead a few boxes to see what's in there. And NRA sporting rifles are mentioned.

This one jumped out and I love it.

I like it for several reasons.

1) It shows that the Ordnance Department considered making sporting rifles out of the M1917 rifle during the Great Depression
2) Rock Island Arsenal was proposing it.
3) Hatcher even acknowledges, "while it will provide a certain amount of work." (To me this reads as a positive. As creating busy work is good for the Arsenal)
4) It shows that the NRA Sporters were aggravating the private commercial manufacturers.

I'm copying everything in the boxes to build a substantial reference library. So more will come, but I'm still in the early stages of it. But I'm happy to share along the way.