American Rifle - Alexander Rose [141]
The rifle went back to the shop for additional work, then emerged as the prototype Model 1902. In early 1903 the Rifle Board reconvened to decide whether it was fit to replace the Krag and decided that it was. An experienced hunter himself, the president was a little concerned that the board had concentrated too intently on firepower at the expense of accuracy. Even if three of its four shooting tests had involved single-loading, they had been conducted at the distinctly diehard range of thirty-odd yards, and the board’s trial of just ten shots at five hundred yards seemed a distinct afterthought.
As Creedmoor was receding into dim memory and as the experience of recent combat itself had amply demonstrated, the pendulum had swung against the school of marksmanship. The elderly George Wingate of the National Rifle Association went so far as to declare that “now rifle shooting is virtually an unknown art.” As always, Wingate identified accuracy with American-ness, adding, “In the early years our ancestors won their liberties by their skill as marksmen, but now, with the cessation of those fighting days, little attention is given to the necessity of rifle practice.”32
Aware of the progressives’ complaints, Roosevelt proposed some trials of the rifle “at some place like that in Utah where several companies of men can be employed at firing [the weapon] at long ranges.”33 The board obliged and reported that at 1,500 yards the prototype Springfield penetrated pine boards 50 percent deeper than the Krag, while its accuracy at 500 yards was 14 percent better, and at 1,000, 4.6 percent. The board unanimously concluded that the “general design and ballistic qualities of this rifle are markedly superior to the present service arm.”34
Crozier’s new-look Ordnance Department celebrated June 20, 1903, as marking its liberation from the bonds of the past. That was the day the prototype M1902, having passed all its tests, was christened the “U.S. Magazine Rifle, Model of 1903, Caliber of .30” (better known as the Springfield Model 1903) and was authorized for manufacture.35 Soon afterward, on January 31, 1904, an overworked, exhausted Elihu Root, his laborious task of army reorganization finally finished, and having shepherded the weaponly representative of his reforms into production, resigned as the secretary of war and was replaced by William Howard Taft.
Once the new gauges, machines, dies, tools, and fixtures for the Model 1903 had been installed, the Springfield Armory, it was thought, would start making 225 per eight-hour day; Rock Island Armory would build another 125. But progress was so rapid that within a month Springfield was producing 400 per day. A year and a half later the national armories had 74,000 Springfields in stock. Some delays ensued thereafter as, in response to continuing progressive alarm that riflery was dying out, existing Springfields were outfitted with upgraded front and rear sights.36
The greatest change was to come on October 15, 1906, when the new .30-06 cartridge was adopted. (The “06” designated the year, in order to distinguish the ammunition from the original .30s.)37 This cartridge, explained Crozier to quizzical reporters, was markedly superior to its predecessor. It was tipped with what was known as a Spitzer bullet, a sharp-pointed projectile, as opposed to the old .30’s rounded nose. German-designed, it was also significantly lighter—150 grains versus 220—and was powered by a modestly increased powder charge.
It was, Crozier boasted, an astoundingly aerodynamic bullet that was capable of flying greater distances, experienced reduced vulnerability