Howdy,
We had a 1903 on the line in Boulder City this last weekend and he was shooting 10" high without any more adjustment in the rear sight.
Is it possible to move the front sight higher on these rifles?
Thanks,
AZG
I think the only option is to use a taller front sight. Not sure where to get them.
http://www.surplusrifle.com/1903/operations.asp
First thing I'd check is to remove the handguard and see if the barrel is touching the wood in the stock channel (do this by sliding a piece of paper from the front of the stock to the receiver and see if it gets pinched or tight anywhere). I've seen some rifles with significant upward pressure on the barrel from contact in the barrel channel. Also, are the metal bushings still present in the holes in the bottom of the stock where the front and rear floorplate to receiver screws are located?
Barrels touching the stock wood in the channel can show up too once the barrel starts to get warm and the groups deteriorate.
When I put my US Enfield together I took a lot of extra time with the sand paper to make sure the barrel did not touch the stock or the handguards. All that sanding is inside the channel and the inside of the handguards so it isn't visible on the outside and a few coats of tung oil seals the wood up fine.
New front sights available at SARCO for a couple of bucks each. Order several and tell'em what the problem is. Get a new pin in case you can't use or lose the old one. I think there was a difference between the height of the 03 sight and the 03A3 sight. If my memory is correct the 03 is the taller. There are five different front sights for the 03A3.
If I'm remembering my Book of the Springfield correctly, there were three front blades made, which were labeld A, B, & C, with the C being the factory issue (again, IIRC). The A was shorter, and the B taller.
I want to remember there being some differences in hold, 12 o'clock versus 6, between the Services, toom which is why the differing blades were made.
BotS goes into some detail on how competition shooters of old always needed all of the blades to make a more-perfect fit of rifle to shooter.
OK, how was the rear sight used?
Should be up, using the slider, and looking through the aperture. Adjust for 200 yards, should be zeroed at 25 meters.
If you leave it down, you should be zeroed for 400+ yards.
Go check it out at Surplus Rifle, you'll see it clearly. Pictures, too.
I had the same problem and looked in to two options. First was the option captmac suggested. But I was still to high. So option two was make my own really tall front sight and take it to the range to file down the front sight until it is zeroed perfectly for 200 yds. That did the trick
Quote from: Old Dog on January 19, 2009, 04:27:41 PM
First thing I'd check is to remove the handguard and see if the barrel is touching the wood in the stock channel (do this by sliding a piece of paper from the front of the stock to the receiver and see if it gets pinched or tight anywhere). I've seen some rifles with significant upward pressure on the barrel from contact in the barrel channel. Also, are the metal bushings still present in the holes in the bottom of the stock where the front and rear floorplate to receiver screws are located?
Barrels touching the stock wood in the channel can show up too once the barrel starts to get warm and the groups deteriorate.
When I put my US Enfield together I took a lot of extra time with the sand paper to make sure the barrel did not touch the stock or the handguards. All that sanding is inside the channel and the inside of the handguards so it isn't visible on the outside and a few coats of tung oil seals the wood up fine.
I'd like to do this with mine, but I don't understand how you run a piece of paper from the stock to the receiver with the metal bands in place. I've heard of doing this with lamp black. Coat the barrel (top or bottom, depending..bottom you have to take the barrel off) with lampblack, put the wood back on and clamped down tight. Then see where on the wood the lampblack has shown up. Then, sand or scrape the wood down in that area.
Be very careful doing this, the M1903 and M1903A3 WERE NOT set up to be freefloat rifles!
They were set up to have barrel contact and pressure from the stock.
Many of them DO NOT shoot well when free floated!
Making this modification will also destroy collector value on the rifle, and a SERIOUS collector WILL check it.
Buckshot
Quote from: Buckshot on July 30, 2009, 03:36:49 AM
Be very careful doing this, the M1903 and M1903A3 WERE NOT set up to be freefloat rifles!
They were set up to have barrel contact and pressure from the stock.
Many of them DO NOT shoot well when free floated!
Making this modification will also destroy collector value on the rifle, and a SERIOUS collector WILL check it.
Buckshot
Buckshot, do you have a reference for the need for barrel contact and stock pressure? I ask as this flies in the face of conventional wisdom and what is done to every modern rifle today to make it shoot well. How much pressure is needed and how much contact is needed? And why? I've had a WW2 vet tell me they did this shaving and tweaking to get their Springfield to shoot well, so I'm really curious now as to what you know.