Remember that the Springfield was a direct copy of the Mauser 98, so much so that we licensed a bunch of Mauser’s patents. The rifle was the easy part. We also licensed the spitzer bullet design, so I wonder if the paperwork for that added a couple of years to the process, if they started after the rest was licensed.
Yeah, I actually have a real life example of this.
I once purchased four Taurus PT-22 (.22 cal) semi-auto pistols from a distributor. They accidentally sent three PT-22s and one PT-25 (.25 cal). The two models are virtually identical except for the cartridge they use. (I’m too lazy to provide a link to more technical info, but you can find pictures and specs easily enough.) I was going to keep two PT-22s and sell the other two, but I decided it was simpler and easier to keep one PT-22 and the odd PT-25 instead.
While the PT-25 (.25 cal) definitely didn’t have the velocity or power of the PT-22 (.22 cal), it definitely fed and extracted more reliably. I also experienced absolutely no misfires with the PT-25, probably due to the centerfire nature of the cartridges. I did experience misfeeds, failures to extract, and misfires with the PT-22. Again, these pistols were virtually identical in construction and operation.
Just my two cents. I’d prefer the reliability of the PT-25 over the power of the PT-22 any day.