The 1903 Springfield Rifle

Great history of a great weapon.
"Over the next few years, numerous alterations were made to the basic rifle, but they were essentially refinements to the weapon’s already solid design. One of the more significant changes involved its bayonet. The first models had what was called a rod bayonet, a thin pointed rod with no blade that fit into a slot under the barrel. It gained an enemy in President Theodore Roosevelt, an enthusiastic firearms hobbyist. One day, while meeting with a British general named Frazier in the White House, the subject of the new rifle and its bayonet came up. Roosevelt sent for the U.S. Army’s chief of ordnance, General William Crozier, instructing him to bring both a 1903 Springfield with a rod bayonet and a Krag with its more conventional blade bayonet.

Once in the Oval Office, Roosevelt asked Crozier if the rod bayonet was as strong as the blade type. When Crozier replied that it was, he was told to take the Springfield while the president picked up the Krag. With bayonets attached, Crozier took up a guard position while Roosevelt practiced a few moves with his Krag. Suddenly he spun and with a single blow broke the Springfield’s rod bayonet in two. General Frazier was impressed. Roosevelt wrote a letter expressing his disapproval of the bayonet, which resulted in the stoppage of production while the Springfield was modified to accept a blade bayonet. Most of the weapons equipped with rod bayonets were also converted, making unaltered Springfields a highly prized collector’s item today."