We're trying to determine what was REALLY Used - regardless of what was "official" in publications written far from the battle front - in both place and time. Being dogmatic and expecting everything to exactly comply with documents during shooting wars shows a lack of understanding of military affairs and history.
There is at least a reasonable question, as M1903A4s found in Marine inventory (and thus possible USMC issue) - and also in FBI inventory (who got them from the military, directly) have the same Weaver scopes. Calling them "fantasy rifles" is a bit uncharitable, and may prove to be a premature falsehood, when documentation surfaces, as it has on a Great Many military articles - totally changing what we thought we "KNEW" "For Certain". Wars are fluid things - and a place where expediency can change things - and not be recorded.... Then we must rely on the people who were there, and hunt down the fragmentary evidence - things are not always as they seem. CC
Colt, Glock and Remington factory trained LE Armorer
LE Trained Firearms Instructor