Customer Reviews

Springfield 1903 Rifles, The

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

COLONEL BROPHY'S BOOK IS "THE" GUIDE FOR THE COLLECTOR OF THE MODEL 1903 SPRINGFIELD AND ITS VARIATIONS. COVERING THE RIFLE'S DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION PROGRESSION...THIS BOOK CLEARLY IDENTIFIES WHY THE RIFLE WAS DEVELOPED, HOW IT WAS DEVELOPED AND PRODUCTION MEANS AND METHODS. FOR A HISTORY BUFF, ARMS COLLECTOR, OR A PERSON WHO FOLLOWS DESIGN TECHNOLOGY. IT ALSO ILLUSTRATES HOW THE GUN WAS DISTRIBUTED TO THE ARMED FORCES BEFORE WWI, USED IN WAR, LATER SOLD ON THE CIVIL MARKET AND RETURNED TO PRODUCTION FOR USE THE WWII. OF SINGULAR INTEREST TO PEOPLE WHO WOULD BUY THIS BOOK IS THAT: IN AN ARTICULATE MANNER THE TEXT DESCRIBES ISSUES THAT WOULD BE NECCESSARY TO DECERN THE HISTORICAL VALUE OR "COLLECTABILITY" OF THIS RIFLES

Many books have been written about the U.S. M1903 Springfield Rifle, and this one is the very best, bar none. It gets down into the technical and minutiae without becoming a bore, and has enough of life inserted to make it readable. If you need a textbook on the M1903, this is The Book to own. now I have to consider disposing of several books I have purchased, as they are no longer needed>

Have a lot of springfield books, but this one is by far the best.
I don't know why I didn't buy it earlier. Very informative and a lot of great information.
If you like springfield 03's you need this book. A little expensive, but worth it.

This book contains a huge amount of very detailed information. It is relatively expensive, but it contains enough information for two books. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the M1903 Springfield.

I'm a firm believer that you can never have too many reference works in your field of interest. I bought this book as I had very little information on the Springfield rifles. This is one of the most comprehensive single subject books that I've come across and I'm very happy to have it on my shelves. It gives a very full rundown on the history of the rifle, all the various versions, the accessories and users. Its lavishly illustrated, well written, well laid out and it comes in a proper binding that makes it a pleasure to use.

I can't speak too highly about this volume and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in military firearms.

The book is really great, with a lot of work evidently put in on it. I would consider it a must for any serious collector's library. However, be forewarned, all of the photos are in black and white, and some are too dark to reveal the detail you would like to see for identification purposes. Having that been said, I still would want it as a part of my reference library, if not, but for the devotion that Lt. Col. Brophy put into it.

The first center-fire rifle I ever shot was a Springfield '03/A3 my Dad got from the Division of Civilian Marksmanship (DCM) during the late 1940s. I got my first antelope with that rifle and I still have it.

Dad said that it was a replacement for an older M 1903 he'd sent back to the National Rifle Association in response to an appeal from them for the return of World War I surplus '03 Springfields. Our good friends the British, it seems, were in a spot of trouble after Dunkirk and desperately needed small arms like Dad's. Although we're more German than English, he reluctantly sent it back with the understanding that it would be returned "after the war."

Of course he never got it back which triggered mumbled complaints about "Perfidious Albion", but I found pictures of the same type of rifle and its complete history in this excellent reference book by Colonel Brophy. I also found everything I needed to know about the M 1903/A3 which still enjoys a place of honor here and still goes out with me from time to time.

Brophy's book is the starting point for the study of the Springfield '03 rifle. You simply cannot find a better, more accurate, more comprehensive book about '03 Springfields. If you have such a rifle, or are interested in them, you will need this book.

I gave it five stars because it is well illustrated, exhaustively researched and the best single book on the '03 Springfield you will ever see. This is also the kind of book that tends to cost an arm and a leg once supplies of it have dried up. Collectors like me pass them down to their sons along witht the rifles they describe so well.

This book has some details that are not found in other books on the subject. I like the style and content of the Canfield M1903 book better, but this earlier Brophy book on the subject is still very relevant and complimentary to the newer work. Brophy did excellent research on the firearm books he wrote.

The author put in years worth of research effort; the result is a veritable one-volume encyclopedia on the 1903 Springfield rifle. A hefty, hard-bound 616 page volume, the book is divided into five sections covering the development of the rifle, the surprising number of varients (with a separate section on caliber .22 models), plus individual articles on just about every piece of hardware imaginable associated with the rifle. This book can answer many questions for the advanced Springfield collector or military technology researcher, but could be a real frustration for the general reader, who would be well advised to digest one of the more popular reader type books on the 1903 Springfield now on the market before tackling this volume. The book is almost entirely descriptive, and the author frequently resorts to verbatim "cut and paste" from original sources, making even straight reference type reading a heavy go sometimes. The photos are all too oftern muddy, and frequently lack the attention arrow that the caption says should be there. Statistical information (mostly presented raw) is presented, but in several tables is marred by obvious typographical errors (numbers transposed, column totals that differ from the total in the text, etc.). These flaws notwithstanding, the book is a valuable reference, with an occasional gem (such as an excellent brief narrative history of pre-WW II service rifle match competition) just waiting for the diligent reader.

This book was recommended to me as one of the best reference materials on the Springfield 1903 family of rifles. It does not disappoint. Unlike a lot of the books I own, I find that I refer to this one constantly. It covers the 1903 and variants from inception through WW2.