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Thanks Steve - I have noticed you have been providing a lot of original research. Very helpful to all of us :) Regards, Jim

I cut that picture out of Life magazine ...well 50 years ago. Still have it in the archive. Regards, Jim

Only a relatively small portion of rebuilt M1903A4's had the receiver nomenclature overstruck. It seems to have been a practice at some depots for a limited period of time. Probably someone finally realized it was a lot more trouble than it was worth. Another important observation about...

In the movie "Saving Private Ryan" the prop folks humped up an M1903A4 sniper with a Unertl (or possibly a Lyman) target scope. In closeups from the film you can see the scope is installed in ¾" Redfield rings but the external style Unertl mounts are retained (mounted backwards!) as dummies...

About 1950 the USMC rewrote their specifications for a sniper's rifle. At that time they proposed two main objectives shift the basic type of rifle to the M1 a nd 2. drop the target scope which had been problematic in combat. Ultimately they came up with the MC 1952. Which was basically the...

Thanks for posting the many excellent pictures of this little known scope. The first published meant of it as far as I know was in the 1947 edition of Phil Sharpe's "The Rifle In America". One of the interesting aspects is that the serial numbers seemed to pick up right where the M73B1...

I believe the Model 70s used as sniper rifles were basically target rifles with heavy barrels and heavy straight stocks.

Frank, i went with my Uncle to the old NRA museum in Washington DC when he donated the "Heinemann (?)" to their collection along with a few other choice pieces. This would have occurred 30-40 years ago. i hope they still have the piece in their collection. Regards, Jim

There is a picture of the Heinemann rifle in Hatcher's notebook. My Uncle was intelligence officer and acquired what appeared to me to be a carbine version of the same rifle from a german munitions plant during the occupation. Toggle action on the right side of the receiver and fed from a...

The Swedish M1896's are some of the best. Many of the "between the wars" rifles with foreign crests were made in Germany and are of extremely high quality. Aslo many of those were sold surplus without ever being used when countries began rearming to various assault rifles.

One of the most interesting side stories regarding the pedersen device came from former ordnance officer and gun writer Phil Sharpe. When Sharpe was inspecting a captured German ordnaNce plant in 1945 (DWM?) hanging on the wall of their reference collection was a US M1903 MK1 complete with the...

The included link will take you to an illustration of the standard US Army Sniper scopes. The pages are from TM9-2200 April 1949. On the following page which i have not scanned is a paragraph on the M84 (no picture). While the M84 was technically adopted in 1945 I don't believe many were...

Some of the later, original USMC GI mounts were designed to provide 1/2" clicks with the 7.2" spacing.

+1 on Burnouts post above (may 6):D Mechanical locks can and do fail. Although it's usually due to: -Wear over a long period of time (used safe purchasers beware) -Misapplication of lubricants inside the lock case -Screwing up a combination change and then LOCKING THE DOOR! (no cure for...

Someone may be able to provide an exact number of the Unertl 10X scopes purchased. Historically USMC requirements seem to have been based on the number of snipers (people) in the table of organization plus a percentage for spares. At some point in time US Optics got a contract to refurbish...

The Weaver K series scopes were not introduced until 1947. Some commercial versions of the Weaver 330 which were functionallu equivalent to the M73B1 (i.e "330 Scope - M.8") were used on very early M1903A4's. The scope ordnance really wanted but couldn't get was the Lyman Alaskan (M73) A few...

If you are really interested in this subject pick up a copy of Nick Stroebels "Old Rifle Scopes". Prior to WW2 the US optical industry was pretty primitive. Most of the manufacturers were small businesses. So ,for instance, a teller in the local bank would fit his deer rifle with a Weaver 330...

Examine the papers. Do the papers list a scope? What type of scope is mounted on the rifle? Is it a military model (M73, M81, M82 or M84) and does it have military markings(stock no. or FSN) and serial number? The scope mount or bracket has two parts. One part is screwed to the receiver and the...

The early Gibbs "m1903A4's" had a scope marked: M73G1 Manufactured by FM Optics. Anyone thinking of buying a used one should probably discount the rifle by the value of a replacement HiLux Malcolm M73G2 or G4 replica.

Around 1966 there were a couple of articles about the USMC sniper program published in general interest gun magazines. The rifles depicted included M1D's, a hodgepodge of Winchester model 70 Target rifles mounting Unertl 8X target scopes or a Japanese manufactured "Marine Scope". The "Marine...