World War II – October 2019

8 WORLD WAR II

Editor’s note: we asked Doug Wicklund, senior

curator of the NRA’s National Firearms

Museum, to examine the photo and weigh in.

His observations:

Ye s , t h e r e is an M1903 rif le (1) at the left

and two M1 carbines (2, 3). The bolt-action

M1903s were issued in that time frame, as

were the semiautomatic M1 Garand rif le and

M1 carbines. In fact, the bolt-action M1903A

Springfield was the standard U.S. Army and

Marine Corps sniper rif le of the war. M1s were

supplied in greater numbers, so they appear

more frequently in wartime photography.

The black stock on the M1 carbine leaning GA

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AG

ES

PERIOD

PIECES?

ON PAGE 33 OF THE JUNE 2019 ISSUE is a photo of three soldiers

before D-Day [above]. I don’t recognize the rif les. One in the fore-

ground seems to be a bolt action—an ‘03 in 1944? The other one has

a black stock; what is it?

Bud Brakmann

Orlando, Fla.

Regarding the photo in “These Final Days”—Peter Caddick-Adams’s

feature in the June 2019 issue—captioned “American GIs play a

game of darts near their port of embarkation in the south of

England”: an M1 carbine with a black nylon composite synthetic

stock in 1944? Really?

George A. Mitchell

Blairsville, Ga.

MAIL

A photo of GIs

playing darts

raised some reader

questions about

the pictured guns.

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1

2