1903 sa question

[joem]

I just picked up a 1903 sa. To my surprise in the stock it has the bottle with a cleaning brush and the brass tool for a pull through, No cord on it. The bottle has either oil or GI bore cleaner. I may open it later to see if it's oil or cleaner. My question is "were there any cleaning rods issued or just patches and the pull through. By the way the rifle has a really good bore and looks excellent.

[Fred]

Yep, there were several models of Cleaning Rod issued and used. Some were the M1916, both solid and sectioned rods with aluminum handles. The cleaning pull through and oil was meant to be used if there were no cleaning rod available. The solid rods were meant for barracks cleaning and so there was also a sectioned rod that came out. It was meant to be carried in a soldiers gear where it could be screwed together and used in the field. Both are made of Brass. Other rods have T handles and another has a weird type of handle that looks identical to most modern rod handles today. All of the 1903 Springfield cleaning rods had aluminum handles to my knowledge, but I couldn't fill a tea cup with what I know!