M1903 with Warner & Swasey M1908 telescope - better than matching

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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.

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