96 mauser rear sight

[22to45]

I have a 96 mauser barrel with a rear sight that has an insert and a dial to elevate it. I have not seen these before. Perhaps one of you could tell me the story of these.
Thanks

[Patrick Chadwick]

The sight you have is fitted with what appears to be (difficult to read on the photo) an original "Västeras" micrometer rear sight insert. See Dana Jones "The Crown Jewels" P210 ff.

As the sight leaf is not altered, this is considered (at least in Germany) to be an original military option, and rifles with these sight inserts are eligible for service rifle competitions.

Sights that involve changing the sight leaf (such as the Tunheden) may, however, be banned from service competitions, depending on the detailed rules of the shooting body.

Over here, such an original sight insert is worth 50-100 euros, so don't give it away! It is more difficult to find such a sight than a rifle, and replicas have been made. Yours certainly looks original.

A valuable feature - good shooting!

Patrick

[22to45]

Thank you Patrick, I was told by another shooting nut that they were worth about that, but it is nice to have the confirmation.

I bought the two barrels a few years ago, thinking that I might find a rifle that needed a barrel, however I have not found a 96 mauser with a bad barrel..

Allen

[Badger]

Here's a pic from one I have in my collection, taken with brighter lighting to compare with ....

"Västerås Metallverken" Type II rear sight for m/96 rifle ONLY.

(Click PIC to Enlarge)

I stand to be corrected, but I believe there were different versions of these, some more valuable than others.

Perhaps Patrick can comment on that also ...

Regards,
Badger

[Patrick Chadwick]

Well Badger, my first comment is: how did you get the little o on top of the a in Västeras?

Yes, there were definitely 2 versions of the Västerås (haha! I cut and pasted the a(o) from your posting)

1. graduated from 300-600 meters in 50 meter increments, for the 156 gn bullet.
2. graduated from 250-600 meters in 50 meter increments, for the newer 139 gn "spitzer" bullet.

Whichever one you have, a higher front blade is always required to get on target at 100 meters/yards, so both can be used for target shooting. And both were intended for the M96-38 version of the rifles, which is why they are accepted for service rifle competitions.

There were several other improved backsight systems, but as they all involved replacing the issue backsight leaf, they are usually ineligible for competition (ask your shooting federation for a ruling before spending a lot of money on, for instance, a Tunheden backsight).

I am not aware of other manufacturers of the Västeras backsight, and the replicas I have seen were crude by comparison with the original. As to price, they are typically bought by shooters like myself, who are desperate to become competitive vs. Enfields and Springfields with screw-adjustable backsights, regardless of any hypothetical "collector" value.

As a result, I cannot discern any market trend, other than that it is probably easier to buy a rifle with such a sight already fitted than to get a rifle and then start looking for the backsight (it took me 2 years to find one I could afford).

Patrick

[gunner]

Patrick,

dont know wich type of MS-Words you use in my Office 2007 is it under the menue "Einfügen" on the outer right side under the sign "Symbole" and there under "Weitere Symbole". Write it under words and copy it in the New Post.

Regards

Gunner

[Badger]

Well Badger, my first comment is: how did you get the little o on top of the a in Västeras?

Thanks for the feedback Patrick ...

I learned something new today ...

I think I cut-n-pasted that from a site someplace long ago when I first took pics of the sight. As a result, it's just in my photo album that way now, so it simply follows me around now when I do more cut-n-pastes.

I think you can find fonts on the Internet where you can cut the characters and add them to your computer, at least I can with my Apple MacBook Pro machine.

Regards,
Badger

[Harlan]

Thanks for the feedback Patrick ...

I learned something new today ...

I think I cut-n-pasted that from a site someplace long ago when I first took pics of the sight. As a result, it's just in my photo album that way now, so it simply follows me around now when I do more cut-n-pastes.

I think you can find fonts on the Internet where you can cut the characters and add them to your computer, at least I can with my Apple MacBook Pro machine.

Regards,
Badger

Hi Doug,

Yes, it works for WINDOWS in much the same way. There are numerous fonts available for PC's on the internet.

Once you find a font for WINDOWS you like, just download it, copy the small file and go to:

Computer / OS [C:] / WINDOWS / and 'Paste' the file in the Fonts folder.

(Don't mess with anything else while in the WINDOWS folder)

Some sites can put put fonts in your font folder automatically.

Then when you are in MS WORD again, the new font will be in the font options drop down.