Rare Springfield Rod Bayonet model rifle among 100 M1903s up for auction (PHOTOS)

By Chris Eger

Rock Island Auctions has a bunch of 1903 rifles in its upcoming Regional Auction, including one that kinda hosed off President Theodore Roosevelt at the time.
Among the offerings is a U.S. Springfield Model 1903 rifle manufactured with the unique early (serial #507) “rod bayonet” adopted by the Army at the time. These are super rare because, while 74,000 were made in this variant between November 1903 and January 1905, they were soon retrofitted to carry a knife-style bayonet instead — leaving few surviving unmodded examples out there.
The bayonet is part of the rifle, attached sort of like a cleaning rod is in other designs. (Photos: RIA)

Why did the Army do such a quick about-face?
You see, Roosevelt, a conservationist and big game hunter who settled for being president after stints as New York City Police commissioner, assistant secretary of the Navy and an Army colonel in the Spanish-American War, knew a thing or three about firearms. So when he saw what the Army ordnance guys came up with for the original bayonet design of the M1903 rifle — a flimsy screwdriver-looking rod bayonet — he wasn’t impressed.
Troops with an early M1903 and the controversial rod bayonet
In a two-page letter to

Source: Guns.com