United States Rifles and Machine Guns

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The accompanying description of the methods used at the Spring field Armory in manufacturing the Springfield, 1903 Model Service Rifle was undertaken at the request of the Ordnance Bureau of the United States Army for the purpose of assisting manufacturers in undertaking large contracts for this arm should necessity arise. The immmiate necessity arrived before this plan could be carried out, but as the Springfield still remains the standard arm of the United States Army, the work remains of value for the future. The methods shown are those in use during the fall of 1916, some of these being since modified in accordance with manufacturing require ments. It is believed that this is the first instance of such an amount of detailed information being gathered into such a small compass where it is so readily available for use. The perspective drawings of oper ations are all from photographs, over 1000 being taken for this purpose. Credit for the plan of securing the material in this form belongs to John H. Van Deventer, Editor of the American Machinist, and we also desire to thank Col. W. S. Peirce, Maj. G. H. Stewart, Capt. R. R. Nix, T. H. Fletcher and Harry R. Johnson for valuable assistance in securing the material here presented.