In the aftermath of the bloody Civil War the newly reunified United States found itself needing to adopt a modern breechloading cartridge arm, and began to explore a solution using the surplus of rifled muskets left over from the conflict.

Despite victory in the Spanish-American War of 1898, it was clear that the Krag rifles in American service were inferior to the Mausers used by their enemies. This prompt would lead to the development of a new universal short rifle that would serve in two world wars and beyond.

The iconic standard issue rifle of the United States during the Second World War, famously deemed by no less a figure than General George Patton as “The Greatest Implement of Battle Ever Devised”.