Springfield 1903 rear sights

I had the same problem many years ago (decades). I removed the sights and sandblasted them, then reblued. When I reinstalled them, I put a piece of #9 lead shot from a shotgun shell into the screw hole and installed the screw. It now stays in place but is still adjustable. If you do this, make sure that you blast not only the ladder, but the grooves inside the slider and dont forget the lead "ball".
 
Steve - Good thing you mentioned about the binding screw, because I was about to head off tomorrow to the range and shoot it without any real idea. I had another much closer look at the sight tonight and I have included a photo just taken to better show it.

springsights2.jpg


As it looks from the photo, the slide binding screw is hitting the slide group first rather than the leaf, and I can see under a bright light from above that only a fraction of the slide binding screw's tip is contacting the leaf. So, yes, it is possible the slide binding screw's has been worn out at one stage and no matter how tight I bear down on the screw by hand, I can still shift the slide group by my hands.

That said, it doesn't look healthy at all. Ah, well, learning something new every day.

sc928porsche - Thanks, mate. In that case and what I've seen from a closer inspection, I reckon I'll give your solution a go. I just have to learn how to pull it apart (the '03 techincal manuals will come in handy!!), now it's off the '03 at the moment. All this is being a very interesting exercise as I've been more used to fixing all the quirks of the SMLE .303s and the occasional P-14.

Scharfschuetzer - You're making me drool again by your latest pic of your M2 .22 training rifle! :) I have lusted after one ever since I saw one of them in a collector's guide to military rifles book, but that is an extremely rare bird as I have never seen one for real in the last 15 years of shooting. I see more of the single shot SMLE .22 trainers though at some competitions.

Regards to model '05 bayonets, well, I'll have to find a place where I can just try one on because there was a few for sale, yours truly at $500 AU! :eek:

Speaking of 'rare' birds, anyone even seen a Canadian Ross rifle in the .303? I saw a bloke shoot the MkIII version just the only one time in a competition many moons ago. It was very, very interesting to watch him shoot the Ross rifle as I've read much of the stories about it. Then again, he had feeding issues after every time he reloaded with a stripper clip.
 
Jim Watson

MR Watson
Thank you for the explanation for the punch marks on Bluey 303's Rifle.
With the Barrle Date and Reciever Date not matching.
I was curious about my own 1903A3 as mine has a 1942 reciever, and a 1943 Barrel.
I thought that the rifle might have been assembled out of parts that Remington had on hand, but now thanks to your good explanation I know that my Rifle has been re-barreled as well. My Rifle had the same punch marks as Bluey's.
My Rifle is in very good condition, and the barrel is like new.
This leads me to believe that my Rifle was used, I dont know if it has ever seen War, but It may have been fired quite a bit on the range.
Again thank you, I treat this Rifle with respect, and take good care of it, the respect is for the Men that may have carried it, while protecting our Country.
 
Hello, Bluey 303. Please don't drill, file notches..or otherwise BUBBA that 03' sight! madcratebuilder beat me to it..the end of locking screw could very well be worn to the point the "head" is bottoming out. Lead shot should do the trick & no harm to a fine rifle. One of the best tools to use on a fine rifle before touching it with anything is...your brain! best of luck!
 
Chris B,,, your 03 and mine look like siblings. Where did you get yours and any idea who put the rear peep sights on it.
One thing you might look in to is the front hooded sight for the 03. They are a very nice addition.

Scharfschuetzer please don’t post any more photos of the 22 M2,,, seeing one again, I just put a dent in my reloading bench, with my head, I passed up one several years ago and I still haven’t gotten over it.

Found mine on ebay, hooded front sight

http://www.ebay.com/sch/items/1903a...yword=1903a3+sight+hood&adgroup_id=2374572172
 
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Hi Ozzie. That 03A3 is my Dad's actually. He got it in the early '60s as a barreled action. He had a 'smith install the Lyman.

Coincidentally though, I just got a '43 Remington 03A3, but I don't want to hijack
 
Ideal Tool - Gotcha, mate, and I happen to agree with you on that, because I really, really hate to mess with a very nice version of the '03 rifle. I'm about to buy one of the nice techincal manuals for the '03 but that'll have to wait 'til my payday comes along next Tues and thanks, I'll need all the luck I can get in having a crack at it. :D
 
On the 1903 Springfield Rear Sight do you just loosen the set screw when you raise the rear sight and then tighten it back?
Or does it climb as you turn the head on the elevation knob ?
 
Tx Hunter - Oops, sorry, double-posted! My bad :o Regards to the '03 rear sight, well, let's say, I'm shooting at 200 metres, and the rear peep sight is zeroed for 100 metres, then I have to loosen the screw and shift the slide group up to where I want it for the 200 metres zero, then tighten the said screw. So, yeah, to the first part. The second part, well, no, it doesn't climb up when you tighten it up, I've checked.

Still, it doesn't matter what I do though, you still can push it upwards (or downwards) with your thumbs. At this stage, I'm off to buy the techincal manual and settle down to pull the rear sight all apart, so I can do the process sc928porsche described. Should be fun! :D
 
BLUEY 303

It just sounds like the point on the set screw is worn down to the point where it wont hold. If it were mine i would seek a correct replacement for that part.
 
Finally, just have returned from the rifle range this morning after putting a fair amount of .30-06 rounds through the old girl and success!! :D

Sorry to keep you blokes all in the suspense, but work had often got in the way of things, along with range availability dependent on the weather (I kid you not). I followed sc928porsche's suggested solution, pulled the rear sight all apart according to the techincal manual (Oh, where did that small pin go? :eek: Very fiddly and easy to lose the small bits!), sand-blasted the parts, re-blued them before putting them back together.

Believe it or not, I had a lot of trouble trying to find #9 shot around here (I mean a LOT), so I ended up buying a box of Winchester .410 shotgun shells and just pulled the one shell apart and gave the rest to a mate, who's a firearms instructor.

Dropped down the #9 shot into the binding screw hole and put back the binding screw in its place, then that did the trick, so I'm one happy chappy again after test-firing the '03 and happy to report that the slide group isn't moving one bit at all under recoil. :)

So, many thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread their ideas, advice and helpful information along the way, I've really appreciated it. If you blokes ever come down this way to Australia one day, I'll be more than happy to buy you lot a beer. Or two for that matter :D

And, oh, thanks to Tx Hunter's suggestion, I've already plonked down a fair bit for some more '03 spare parts from Numrich. You never know when Murphy's Law strikes next!! :D
 
Great news Bluey! Success is a sweet desert.

I went hunting Downunder on R&R from VN years ago. Had a great time and I've always sworn that I'd get back down there for a vacation some day. The closest I've come is transiting through Sydney several times for assignments in the South Pacific Islands.

I was invited to shoot in the Australian Army rifle matches in Townsend in the mid 90s, but other operational issues got in the way. Damn shame that, but if I make it down anytime soon, I'll give you a shout.
 
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Scharfschuetzer - Thanks, mate, really appreciate the kind input. I had my doubts at first but it all went away when I checked the rear sight slide group for any movement after shooting off several rounds, and there was none, so with that, can't wait to take it to the competitions again and have a red hot crack at it! :)

Great to hear you had a good time then at the land down under, hunting safaris are starting to take off around here and becoming more popular as time goes on. Well, I don't know much about the Australian Army rifle matches, but I do know they had their own rifle club or association and they used to come out and compete in civilian competitions with us, using their gear, especially the 5.56mm Austeyrs.

Sadly, I don't see much of them around nowhere near as much as I did over ten years ago, which is a pity. I heard that their club or association fell apart due to budget cuts from the government of the time and something had to go. I do know of a good mate I shoot with though, he's with the marksmanship unit in the Australian Army as I speak, he refers to those days as very dark days and he had to fight very hard to keep the marksmanship unit as it is within the Australian Army today, turns out his hard work is now paying off though.

And, of course, mate, you're always welcome back down here anytime. :)
 
BLUEY 303

Im glad you got your Rifle Site working. I hope you good luck with it. If i ever get to go to Australia I would be glad to have a beer with you. Good luck with your rifle its a nice one.
 
Please help me restore my fathers springfield 03'

i am not sure if its a sniper rifle or not i have found numerous parts but am not sure of what to order.. my uncle changed the struck because it was damaged so now since there are so many reproductions out there i would love to go back to the old style stock...thanks for any help in bringing this springfield back to life..

http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r578/Brianjames220/photo-5.jpg
http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r578/Brianjames220/photo-4.jpg http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r578/Brianjames220/photo-3.jpg
http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r578/Brianjames220/photo-2.jpg
http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r578/Brianjames220/photo-1.jpg
http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r578/Brianjames220/photo.jpg
 
Springfield Fun,

Its a nice 1903 Springfield, Its not a Sniper, but is a nice Rifle.
Its not a low serial number so should be safe to shoot, if headspace is acceptable. The Rear of the reciever has been tapped for an Appeture sight. So going back to original you would either have tapped holes back there or you would have to fill them in. I would start by taking the Rifle apart and giving it a good scrubbing with a nylon cleaning brush and some solvent.
Lots of rust. If your plan is to restore it to original you will need a new Stock and Handguard with the hardware, and front sight and rear sight sleve.
Its do able. But what you have looks like a nice early sporter, that just needs a good cleaning, and bedding due to the stock cracking behind the action. Good luck.
 
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