Likely one of the first Marine M1903 Sniper rifles, M1908 Warner Swasey

[cplnorton]

This rifle stands a very good chance of being at the beginning of the Marine Corps Sniper program.

Not only is it likely this receiver was in the first shipment of M1903 rifles to the Marines, but it is also very likely this is one of the very first Marine Corps Sniper rifles. Except for a few vague references to some telescopic equipped Krags with the Marines in the Philippines, all USMC M1903 Sniper rifle history starts in 1909. Also there is an excellent chance this rifle was one of very first Marine M1903 Team rifles used in the 1909 National Matches at Camp Perry. 1909 was the first year the Marines used the M1903 at the National Matches.

In 1909 the Marines armed with the 1898 Krag had decided to officially adopt the M1903 Springfield. They planned on receiving the first shipments the following year in 1910. To prepare for the adoption of the new rifle, they decided to order 410 star gauged M1903 rifles to set up a summer training camp at Sea Girth, NJ. Of those 410 Star Gauged rifles, 10 of them were to be outfitted with the brand new Model of 1908 Warner Swasey Sniper scope that had just been released by the Army.

The idea of the summer camp at Sea Girth was to serve two purposes. First, Marines from all over the country would come and would be trained by some of the most famous Marines on how to operate and shoot the new Springfield Rifle. That way when the M1903's arrived in 1910, they already had some experience with the rifle. The 2nd goal of the summer training camp, was they planned on selecting the best marksmen that came thru the camp to become the 1909 Marine National Match team. The 410 star gauged rifles purchased in 1909 would become the very first M1903 rifles they used in the 1909 National Matches. This included the 10 Model of 1908 Warner Swasey Sniper Rifles they had ordered.

The rifle I have pictured below is a typical WWII Marine rebuild service rifle. It is sporting a 4/42 Sedgley USMC barrel with vise marks, a numbered bolt (though it does not match the serial number), the additional gas escape hole (incorrectly attributed to Hatcher), staked trigger guard screws, and a stippled butt plate.

The serial of this rifle, 352840 falls into a well known 1909 block of the first Model of 1908 Warner Swasey Sniper rifles. The receiver has been drilled by Springfield Armoy with three holes for the Warner Swasey telescopic sight mount, and you can see where they just cut the mount off the receiver and ground down the outside of the screws to make them flush. The factory WS mount screws were staked by Springfield Armory on the inside of the receiver when new, and that staking is undisturbed on this rifle.

This rifle serial (352840) does have a direct hit to a Marine Corps Document and a correlating hit in the SRS. In April 1929 at the Marine Detachment, Hampton Roads VA, rifle serial 352840 was found to be unserviceable and was to be sent back to the Philadelphia Depot for repair/rebuild. Now even though this serial is a direct hit on this document, Marine docs hardly ever detail if the serial is a Springfield or Rock Island make. There is a chance that this serial on the doc could be a Rock Island serial. Though the odds both serials served in the Marines is very unlikely, and since this rifle is unquestionably Marine Corps, the odds are overwhelming it is referencing this rifle.

Now even though I do not have the rifle serial numbers of the 10 Model of 1908 Warner Swasey's sent to the Marines in 1909, the Marines only had a handful of telescopic equipped M1903's prior to 1917. 1917 was when the Marines acquired 500 of the Winchester A5's sights. I know some books like to portray the Marines had a lot of telescopic equipped M1903's (Sniper Rifles) prior to 1917, but this is not accurate at all. It is stated repeatedly in the docs that the Marines only had a couple dozen prior to 1917. With 12 of them being Warner Swasey's. The Marines began experimenting with the telescopic sight in 1909, and it wasn't till 1917 when they finally bought them in any significant numbers.

This is the order in 1909 where the Marines ordered the 410 Star Gauged rifles, which 10 of them were the first Marine Sniper rifles ordered, the Model of 1908 Warner Swasey's which had just been released by the Army.

There are a lot of newspaper clippings I have found detailing this training camp set up in 1909 at Sea Girth. The articles are much too long to post here, but they do describe the Warner Swaseys being there, as well as the camp was selecting the Marines who would be on the 1909 National Match team, who would travel to Perry. There are also numerous mentions in these newspaper clippings they were taking the rifles from this camp to the National Matches, including the Warner Swaseys.

These Newspaper clippings are from the spring of 1909. Just a couple shortened ones for reference.

Now as I stated I see mentions of them taking rifles from the 410 rifles, including the Warner Swaseys to be used in competition at the 1909 National Matches at Camp Perry. I then find mentions of the Marines using those telescopic equipped rifles and winning competitions. Here is just one small article on this.

I will post the Marine doc with the serial and pics of the rifle in the next post.

 

[cplnorton]

This is the Marine Document with serial 352840.

Here are pics of the rifle.

https://i.imgur.com/EG6D7k5h.jpg

 

[cplnorton]

Now it should be noted it is extremely unlikely a Model of 1908 Warner Swasey could have come into the Marines other than the 1909 time frame.

There is really no evidence of the Marines pursing any Warner Swasey telescopic sights past the 1909 shipment. They were never happy with the scope and even when the revised Model of 1913 came out, they had no interest in it.

Also it's very unlikely this was a Army or Navy Sniper rifle and the Army or Navy removed the scope mount and then shipped the rifle to the Marines as just a standard service rifle.

The Army did not order the the mounts on the Warner Swaseys to be removed till 1930 that I can document. At that time, low number receivers were to be scrapped in rebuild, so it's very unlikely the Army converted this receiver to a standard service rifle receiver.

The Navy did not acquire M1903 rifles till 1918 at the earliest, and by then the M1908 Warner Swasey was obsolete. The Marines also did not receive any M1903's off the Navy till early 1942.

The Marines did not receive any new service rifles off the Army after 1919, except for some barreled actions from Rock Island Arsenal in the mid 20's. But these are very likely the Rock Island receivers that we see so commonly in the Marines, and also these shipments predate the Army's orders to convert the Warner Swasey receivers back to standard service rifles.

The real key in this is, if that 352840 serial on that 1929 dated Marine Doc is indeed this rifle, that date predates the Army order modifying Warner Swaseys back to standard service rifles, and also predates the M1903's coming from the Navy in 1942.

If that serial on that doc is indeed this rifle, then this rifle really has to be one of the first Marine Corps Sniper rifles acquired in 1909, and basically how the Marine Sniper program began. The experimentation of the new telescopic sights by the Marine rifle team members of that year, were the same guys who later started the Marine Sniper program and chose the Winchester A5 telescopic sight for WWI. Their experiences with the Model of 1908 WS in 1909, were what lead them to further research and adopt the WRA A5 in 1917. So without these Model of 1908 Warner Swaseys in 1909, the Marine Sniper program would not have developed in the way it did.

As far as I know, this is the only known Warner Swasey Marine Sniper Rifle to still exist. This is something I am still actively researching. Most of the documents that deal with this 1909 shipment would be at the Downtown DC archives. Which is an archive location I have not done much with. If I find anymore documentation to go with this rifle, I will come back and update this. My hope is I can find a document that details this serial to that 1909 shipment.

I thought some of you might find this really neat. I hope you enjoy it.

 

[Downtown]

Thank you. That is fascinating research.

 

[Downtown]

Here is a picture of a painted rifle.

 

[cplnorton]

While not Marines, this is a really great pic you never see.

 

[camocorvette]

I can't imagine the hours you have just in locating those documents. Thank you for showing that information. That's absolutely fascinating.

 

[USMCsean]

That's awesome man. I always love the detailed posts Steve!