4,87x,xxx SC rifle question

[John Beard]

After some digging around, I found the information in a table in the back of Clark Campbell's book "The '03 Springfield Rifles' Era". The table is based on "a declassified Industrial Division Small Arms Branch tabulation of monthly Remington and Smith & Corona WWII rifle deliveries (now in the National Archives)". It appears that the highest 03A3 serial numbers used by SC under their assigned first (3,711,999) and second (4,845,831) blocks of numbers are known, as is the total number of rifles delivered by SC through February 1944 (234,580). It is, therefore, possible to calculate an average "scrap rate" for receivers (disregarding the 4000-5000 improperly numbered receivers), and back-calculate the approximate serial number range used each month based on the number of rifles delivered to the government during a that month. From his footnote, it appears that this is more or less what Campbell did to create his serial number chart.

What I find fascinating about this is that (1) if there is strong evidence that a transposition of digits in upwards of 5000 serial numbers did in fact occur, and (2) if any SC rifle between 4,780,189 and 4,784,296 has been found, thereby demonstrating that the company resumed numbering at the point at which the error began, then the scrap rate for receivers jumps by around 2%. This would mean that the serial number/production date estimates for mid-production rifles could be off by several thousand numbers, indicating that the rifles were assembled somewhat earlier than is currently thought.

I realize these are only approximations, but it's interesting nonetheless.

The two hypothetical "If's" in your statements are not "If's" at all, but established fact.

Widely-published WWII serial number tables are little more than unverified speculation.

J.B.

[IditarodJoe]

I absolutely take your word for it, John. Just for kicks, I'm inclined to make up my own SC "serial number/production month" table including what little information I have about the range of transposed number receivers (4870189-4874296 based on ViShooters table) and the highest known overrun serial number (3713068 based on the photo posted by m1903rifle on this forum). And before you take me to task, John (he said with a grin!), I'm aware of the speculative nature and inherent inaccuracies of such an exercise. I'm also aware that those with expertise in this area have knowledge of a lot of factors that a novice like myself does not. I'm just curious to see how the results would compare with some of the existing tables.

If I do this, I'll post the results here. Regards, IJ

[John Beard]

As Inspector Harry Callahan once said, "Go ahead..., Make my Day!"

J.B.

p.s.,

I was a Scoutmaster for 13 years. I like your signature about campfires.