I watched "Saving Private Ryan" recently and noticed the Sniper "Jackson" who was left handed cocking the right handed rifle with his left hand. Anyone want to guess what the rifle it is without looking it up?

dave@vabch

lee enfied 303.

He also ripped off about six or seven shots - from a five round magazine well. Bit of license there, to be sure, like his changing scopes without re-zeroing, something that's hard to do nowadays much less then with a Weaver 330C.

You got it Red, Probably did not spend much on it either.

Dave

My best guess is a 1903 springfield which was the rifle most snipers in the U.S.A. used in WWII , At that time most of the weapons used 30/06 rounds the BAR, the 1903, the M1 Garand both water and air cooled light Mch Guns. ect. howie

still made in the USA, it fly's in the M1 Garand which by the way is still sold in the USA

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my father was sationed in Aruba during WWII and Guard duty was done under the cliff that dumped food from the Mess Hall's over a cliff but there where some WILD dog's waiting for left overs

my Dad told me that one night while he was doing Guard Duty with a M1 Garand with 30/06 would send a wild dog (flipping 25 feet) over the cliff, 20 pound dog at 40 yards shooting with open sights

warren



and remember "it's 30% the gun and 70% the shooter"

Although they were sort of second-line sniper rifles by that time. There was a 1903 Springfield used in WWI but it wasn't too successful. Scopes were a bit primitive then. By WWII, the US still did not have a dedicated sniper rifle. The 03-A4 was nothing more than a special run of the 03-A3 regular rifle with the bolt handle ground down to clear the scope, sights removed and a Redfield Junior base added. No special trigger job, barrels, etc (with the exception, perhaps, of those destined for the Marines). The US didn't even have a military rifle scope - the army went into sporting goods stores and bought up Weaver 330's and Lymans. I doubt an Army sniper would have had a Lyman Super Spot full target scope as in Saving Private Ryan, especially along with a Weaver. There were too few scopes to go around. (Weaver even ran ads in sporting magazines that asked "Where's the Weavers? They've gone to war!") There wasn't even special ammunition. A sniper would go to the ammo depot and sample lots of GI ammo until he found one which shot well, then grab as many boxes as he could get. And the snipers worked in two man teams, as well, with the odd man as the spotter. It was kind of on the job training. Things sure have changed a lot!

It is a Springfield 1903-A4 and very few were used in Vietnam.

I forgot to add; typically the 03-A4 came with a different stock (hunting rifle style pistol grip) than the standard model. There are other differences but the PG is the easiest to spot.

but they were arsenal reconditioned and held in storage as a backup until the early '60s. Then they were sold through the Division of Civilian Marksmanship. Many were the basis for surplus sporters, as they were, what?, about $25. Now that's $25 X 100 for a mint A4. I believe the semi-pistol grip stock is referred to as a type "C".