I have never been all that giggly about Springfield, they went on a junket looking for a rifle design and passed on all the good designs then brought back the Krag. They could not figure a way to build it with two locking lugs so they built it with one then decided it only needed one. Then they built the 03, with no one at the controls. There are members of forums that claim they had the opportunity to return suspect receivers for 'safer' receivers. One claim was made by Jim Keenan, he decided he would hit the receiver with a hammer, in his claim the receiver shattered.
Back to 'no one in control', hitting receivers with a hammer, the thought of testing the receivers with a hammer would have never occurred to Springfield.
Then there was the short buggy ride from Springfield to New Haven. John Browning used nickel on some parts of the Model 94 to improve handling of smokeless powder. Springfield did not add nickel to the Springfield for another 25+ years. I have M1917s that are stamped NS, that is 22 years after Winchester/Browning and the Model 94.
Most disappointing, I have the perception there were no windows in the building at Springfield in Springfield. If you insist they did not have spies checking on gun development of other manufacturers and designers? Well no, a blind hog does not find a third lug safety devise that was absent on everything they built before the 03, the difference was the location. The Mauser was designed by a genius, John Browning worked for Winchester and in my opinion there were no genius working at Springfield. My opinion, they could move the third safety lug from the bottom to the right side, for me that was brilliant. The third lug exposed ahead of the rear receiver ring allows me to check the length of the chamber from the shoulder to the bolt face.
F. Guffey