G'day again Uncle Jaque,

Not being too clear on American military rifles, I checked back on these - it strikes me that the British P13 (.276")/P14 (.303") looks very similar in spec. to the '03 Springfield (apart from the change to a peepsight, protected by those distinctive 'ears').

I wonder if its design started as an update of the Springfield (presumably to make it more suitable for mass production) so that the Americans ... when they joined in ... simply made it for their .30" '06 cartridge, on the same production lines that were already rolling it out in the thousands, for Britain.

BTW: I realised (as I sent it) that I had got my numbers back to front in the post above ... that was the Rifle #1 mk. III* to which I should have referred. We Australians had that model in both World Wars ... and they were still on issue to the Cadet Corps when I was at High School - '50s/'60s!

regards,

Bob Bolton