The Springfield is a 5-round, bolt-action service rifle, used officially from 1905–1937, although it saw service throughout and beyond World War II. It is reloaded via inserting bullets by one each into the magazine in most of the games due to the position of the scope, alternately is loaded with a 5-round stripper clip. Firing a powerful .30-06 round, it can deliver devastating and accurate fire even over range, though it has a very low rate of fire and magazine capacity due to its nature as a bolt-action rifle. In every Medal of Honor game the Springfield is seen in, it always has a scope attached with the exception of Pacific Assault, where an unscoped version is seen and available for use.
Medal of Honor[]
The Springfield 1903 is the only sniper rifle in the first game. It is highly powerful like the M1 Garand because they share the same cartridge (.30-06), which was used as a primary rifle cartridge by the United States Military from 1906 through the Korean War, and remained in service until the early 1980s. The 1903 is found in two levels, Find the Gift Package and The Rooftops of Dachsmag as supply dropped behind enemy lines, and is usable to the end of mission Destroy the Mighty Railgun Greta and Scuttle Das Boot U-4901, respectively. Due to the poor graphics by today's standards, using the scope at long range can be difficult, restricting usage to medium range combat only. As usual in video games, sniper rifles are not good for close quarters unless shooting point-blank range and the player is only facing 1 enemy. When the whole ammo is empty, it can be used as a melee weapon.
It's picture is found in Underground's multiplayer weapon selecting screen, but it's replaced by the Gewehr 43.
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault[]
The Springfield in Allied Assault is different than the one in Medal of Honor. Visually is similar from the first game but is more detailed and has a different visual skin. The Springfield can be used throughout the campaign of Allied Assault. It is the sniper rifle for the US Soldiers in multiplayer. The Springfield has high damage but slow rate of fire and reload speed. The sound of this weapon is somewhat more quiter than the one from the first game. Also the Springfield is outclassed by the L42A1 from the expansion pack with it's 10 round magazine. The Springfield is one of the three bolt action sniper rifles available in Allied Assault and it's expansion packs. The Springfield appears in both expansions as well but only in the multiplayer as the default sniper rifles for the US Forces, although it can be used in singleplayer by console commands
Medal of Honor: Frontline[]
The Springfield is updated and considerable margin from Allied Assault, though is still highly powerful, and it uses the same firing sound. It is one of two sniper rifles in the game, the other being the scoped Gewehr 43. Compared to the Gewehr 43, it has a more user-friendly scope, but has a considerable slower rate of fire, as it is a bolt-action small arm.
Although Springfield has better sniping capabilities, Gewehr is still better because of its semi-auto fire and 10-round magazine.
Medal of Honor: Infiltrator[]
In the video of the early version of the game, in the menu of available weapons there is an icon of a sniper rifle (most likely M1903/A5 Springfield, as all the weapons in the game are American). However, it cannot be used in a final release as it was cut from the game.
Medal of Honor: Rising Sun[]
The M1903/A5 Springfield is seen rarely in Rising Sun, but is one of the player's starting weapons in Midnight Raid On Guadalcanal, In Search Of Yamashita's Gold, and A Bridge on the River Kwai. The Springfield has a low rate of fire, but has good accuracy as a balance. In single-player, unless aiming for the head, it's underpowered, taking three hits to shoulders or chest to kill. In Midnight Raid On Guadalcanal Adams and Davis have an unscoped variant of the Springfield, but is not usable in game.
In multiplayer, the Springfield can be selected as one of the four weapons used for any split-screen game. It is capable of one-shot kills, but many players prefer to use the M1 Garand due to its similar damage and higher rate of fire.
In the early screenshots of the game the Springfield re-uses the model from Frontline, however it was changed in the final game.
Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault[]
The Springfield appears as both an unscoped and scoped rifle in this game. The Springfield holds less power in PA than all the other version's Springfields, as is no longer capable of achieving 1-hit kills below the neck, though it will be a 1-hit kill should the player make a headshot. This time, the scoped version is rare to find (available only in training camp and Tarawa), while the unscoped Springfield is more common. This is the main weapon of William Gaines.
Medal of Honor: Airborne[]
The Springfield is an American bolt-action rifle and is a choice for the player's loadout in the game. It is extremely similar to the K98k in terms of power and upgrades, having a slight increase in damage, but has much better accuracy and range due to its sniper scope.
- Polished bolt: Faster bolt cycling.
- Stripper clip: Decreased reload time.
- Rifled grenade launcher: Allows for rifled grenades.
Medal of Honor: Heroes 2[]
The Springfield makes a return in Medal of Honor: Heroes 2. It is only available in the Village level. It has high damage but slow rate of fire and only has 5 rounds which makes the Gewehr 43 a better choice for a sniper rifle. The Springfield is also available in the multiplayer as a starting weapon.
Trivia[]
- In the original Medal of Honor and Medal of Honor: Rising Sun, the gun is reloaded with stripper clips. In other games, the gun is reloaded one bullet at a time. However, in Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, this only applies to the scoped variant, while in Medal of Honor: Airborne, if the player has acquired the second upgrade, it will from then on be reloaded with stripper clips.
- In Rising Sun, the bullet casing erroneously comes out of the mid-section of the rifle instead of the magazine chamber when the bolt is cycled.
- In Rising Sun, during the mission In Search of Yamashita's Gold one of the Japanese soldiers is armed with a scoped Springfield.
- When zooming in with the rifle grenades attached in Airborne, the game will treat it the same way as if the scope had been out.
- Medal of Honor: European Assault, Medal of Honor: Vanguard, and Medal of Honor: Infiltrator are the only WW2 Medal of Honor games that don't have the M1903 Springfield rifle.
- The 'A5' designation refers to the Winchester A5 telescopic rifle sight, commonly fitted onto Springfield sniper rifles.
- Most games with a sniper variant of the Springfield available for use has the M1903A4 as the model. It is an M1903A3 Springfield with the iron sights removed and a telescopic sight put on. The more commonly seen scopes include the Unertl 8X, Winchester A5 and Weaver 330C or an 'Alaskan' scope.
- The Rifle used in Airborne is actually an M1903A1 fitted with an M73 scope, as it still has its iron sights. The Rifle in Pacific Assault is an M1903A1 Springfield with the Unertl 8x scope.
- In Airborne the stripper clip upgrade is used incorrectly since the player cannot reload the Springfield with a stripper clip in real life due to the scope blocking the way for it.
- In Heroes 2 multiplayer the Springfield re-uses the Enfield's icon from Heroes.
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