Just for info, here is an excerpt from something I prepared on the Mauser rifle patents; not relevant to the bullet issue, but maybe of interest. It is sure to bother those folks who believe that the M1903 is a copy of the Mauser 1898.
"In any discussion of the Model 1903's origins, it is almost certain to be stated that it was copied from the Model 1898 Mauser. This is supposedly proven by the fact that the U.S. paid Mauser royalties on six patents which allegedly covered the Model 1898 Mauser. That is not true. The Model 1903 did copy some features of the Mauser, but it was the Model 1893, and all but one patent covered features that were used in that or earlier Mauser rifles. (Large quantities of Model 1893 Mausers had been captured from the Spanish and had naturally been examined at Springfield.) The one remaining patent covered a variation of the bolt sleeve lock, which was later used in the Model 1898 Mauser, but which Springfield did not use in the same way.
The patents, dates, and area of coverage are as follows:
No. 467,180 01/19/1892 Extractor
No. 477,671 06/28/1892 Extractor collar
No. 482,376 09/13/1892 Ammunition clip
No. 527,869 10/23/1894 Internal box magazine
No. 547,933 11/15/1895 Safety catch
No. 590,271 11/21/1897 Bolt sleeve lock
With the possible exception of the last, NONE of those patents covered features of the Model 1898 Mauser and there is no evidence in any of the archival records I have seen that the Springfield designers ever saw a Model 1898 Mauser or the 1896-97 U.S. patents covering its features. (References to the "Model 1898" in the ordnance records of the time invariably refer to the U.S. service rifle, the Model 1898 Krag, not to the Mauser.)"
That last point was added because of the claim by one writer that he has seen records proving that not only did the U.S. copy the 1898 Mauser, Springfield actually made many thousands of them!
Jim