First of all, I've collected, shot, studied rifles for over sixty years now.......but I can't seem to find the answer to a simple question.
We all know the 1903 Springfield is a Mauser influenced rifle. The U.S. government paid the Mauser brothers something like $200,000 back in 1901 in order to use many of the Mauser patented designs for a new rifle to replace the aging Krag. That's good........the '98 Mauser is a wonderfully strong, simple design......but why on earth did we adopt a two piece striker, connected by a link??
This, to me, is a major "oops" as it complicates and otherwise straightforward design. Was it to avoid paying more money? Someone's idea of an "improvement"?