The specially tuned National Match variants were truly works of art, and the craftsmanship seemed to get better with each passing year. The military teams were well versed in their main tool for the job, as the M1903 Springfield had already proven to be an excellent rifle for match purposes. Public interest in competitive shooting was rising to new heights, and the performance and new availability of the standard issue rifle to civilians encouraged many throughout the nation to participate in matches run by the National Rifle Association or Department of Civilian Marksmanship (now the Civilian Marksmanship Program), the two sanctioning bodies for American high power competition. Seeking to capitalize on this newfound respect for the American rifleman, the competition between the army and Marine teams would reach a fever pitch as to who could claim to have the country’s most elite marksmen. The American Expeditionary Force had performed well during WWI, particularly when it came to devastatingly accurate fire. With bright, unfinished bolts that were serialized to the rifle, National Match variants of the M1903 stood out from regular service rifle models. The biggest change to the National Match M1903 came in 1929, with the advent of the pistol-gripped “C” stock. Marine team shooters on the range practicing the 200 yard rapid fire portion of the National Trophy course of fire, which is executed from the sitting position (photo: NARA).

To this day the very the best military and civilian shooters in the nation (and world for that matter) gather for several weeks in the summer heat to compete in the most prestigious events the nation has to offer, and it was from an intense desire to take home Camp Perry’s National Match trophies where this story begins. Camp Perry in Port Clinton, Ohio is the mecca of American high power rifle competition, and has been host to the vast majority of the National Matches since their inception in 1907. To properly tell the Unertl sniper rifle’s story, one must go back to the golden era of military team shooting: the years in between the world wars.

The Unertl sniper rifle was to be a tenuous program, but one which nonetheless produced the most capable and deadly sniper rifle of WWII. The most iconic sniper rifle of the Second World War, the USMC M1903A1 8x Unertl equipped sniper rifle was the backbone of Marine snipers in WWII and Korea.īorn of the Marine Corps’ elite National Match rifle teams, the story of the National Match M1903 and M1903A1 Unertl sniper rifle are one and the same as it was from the former that the latter were selected.

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