M1903 with Warner & Swasey M1908 telescope - better than matching

Probably two years ago I was able to purchase a heavily used, but fully original M1903 rifle in the correct serial range for the Warner & Swasey Musket Sight Model of 1908 telescope, the first "sniper rifle" with telescope on the M1903 basis. It came with the wrong and later M1913 type telescope which was one of those which weren't serialized to a rifle (what basically means not actually issued as a sniper scope) - I didn't care that much about that since I was basically just happy to at least have one which would have originally carried a M1908 telescope, aswell as I had a M1908 at home which I planned to put on this rifle.

Probably one year after I finally had this rifle in my hand I wrote the tutorial (which is also made sticky on this page) on how to disassemble a Warner & Swasey Musket Sight I got contacted by a guy who had purchased a M1903 barreled action at the CMP auctions which would have originally carried a M1908 scope aswell. Christopher turned out to be a really nice gent and shared my passion for the M1903 rifle. He told me he also has a M1908 scope which he wanted to put on his rifle when he has finished his restoration process. Since I've started collecting the serials of all scopes and the rifles which they were serialized to, I also asked him to give me the data of his scope.

When I received both the scope serial and the serial of the rifle it was issued, my eyes nearly fell out. My rifle was serial 352.844, and his scope #218 was serialized to the rifle 352.843!

Since - as already mentioned - he turned out to be one of the especially honest and nice people he agreed with me on a deal - if I had another M1908 scope in exchange for his M1908 telescope (in as nice or better condition, serialized in the closeby range), he'd be willing to do a trade with me.

It took me another year to find one of those scopes which would fit his requirements, but I was finally successful on eBay to get such a scope. This was the point where another gent got into the trade: John Beard. He was as kind enough as to support as a "receiver" of the scope I purchased, since at the point where I purchased the M1908 scope I wasn't able to reach Christopher. He answered a bit late when the scope was already on the way to John, but he agreed to evaluate the scope I have purchased. So John forwarded it to Christopher who soon gave the approval that we can finish the agreed deal, and has posted the demanded scope #218 to it's final way to my home.

It arrived, as of today. And of course I inmediately had to put it on the rifle. I was astonished how tightly that scope fitted to the rail, as it had been there forever, withouth requiring a fixture screw as some rifles had being added during WWI.

Attached are a few pictures of the rifle since the weather was also very nice today. I hope that you'll like it as much as I do. And at this point, another big thanks to the two guys who made all this possible: Christopher and John! You're two guys who make colleting much more valueable since besides bringing many knowledge you're also the greatest guys to deal with!

ATB

Georg

PS: The scope case I've put aside it is for the M1908 telescope. It has a medallion on it of the 27th Cavalry. Though the following serial rifle (352.845) is according to the SRS list for the 14th Infantry, I believed it to at least make a good accompany for the rifle.

Amazing story - congratulations and thanks for sharing!

:thup: Ray

Thank you. A wonderful story with great pics. I am new to milsurps and just got a fine
A303. It is nice to see someone put together such a fine piece of history for all to appreciate.

These f*****g screws (pun intended) on the scope rail may be 8-32 UNC, like the period's bajonet (M.1905) handle screw. Being the USAmericans practical people, it make sense they did not use a proprietary threading like the British on their Enfields. Tread 8-40 is odd enoughr but too modern. Try to find some at a fastners shop and you will get surprised. Better if you did not skip lathe turning classes at high-school.
Regards

Great rifle and scope! Fantastic. Thanks for sharing! Please clean the nasty verdegrease off of your sling.

What a neat catch. Love to have that myself...

Fred, if you look close you'll notice that this sling is not the correct M1907 sling, but the three claw hook which was used on I believe a MG? However, I have now replaced it with an original (but unfortunately broken) M1907 leather sling. Anyone has an idea upon how to fix that? Can it be glued, should someone stich it?

waltherluger, I'm not sure if I understood you correctly. If you're looking for screws for the W&S scope rail then be informed that reproduction screws (accordingly "original threading") are available.

All the others, a big thanks for the compliments!

€dit: to Fred, thanks for your PM! I did read it, but didn't have time yet to respond! Sorry about that since you were that fast in answering my question! :)

So, what would be a reason to bring up such an old thread once more? Yes, of course if there is something new related to this rifle.

But this also brings up another question, what would be worth mentioning in this thread, to a rifle which is by only one digit not matching?

Most would probably say the matching scope - and if I didn't knew better, I'd also call this the most probable answer.

But to clearly say it - no, this is not the correct answer. In fact I have something better than a matching scope. And this fact is, that the original owner of this scope, my dear friend Christopher/M1903Guy just recently visited Vienna, on a week trip with his wife.

And of course I managed to "book" him for one day. I picked him up at the train station, from where we continued to visit a public museum, plus the private collection of a friend. Then we drove to my gun room, where he was finally able to not only see his scope once more, but also to hold it in hands - mounted on the rifle.

This once more showed what collecting is all about. Not that you find out on how these were used and produced, not only to restore things back how they would have been and be good at it, but in fact to make friends with guys living several thousand miles away from your home and make out a great day with them.

And yes, we made a picture of both of us holding the rifle. To have something to remember of this great day.

I'm sorry to post on a so old thread, but I wonder about the rail position.
Well, thank you so much to share the picts of your rifle and scope. Wonderful.
I wonder about the position of the rail. The photos that one can see on different 1903 books show the rail with the thin part at the front. On your '03, the thin part of the rail is at the rear. Well, OK, but in your case, the two notches should be on top.
I would be glad if you could explain me the reason. Frankly, I think the best position for the rail is the position of yours.