Winchester flip sight real or repro?

Hello,
I have a Winchester M1 carbine I am trying to bring into WWII configuration. I recently bought a Winchester flip sight from a private party on an online auction. After having been burned with some other recent Winchester carbine parts purchases which turned out to be fakes, I would really like to get comfortable with the authenticity of my newly purchased flip sight while I may still have an opportunity to return it. Can you please offer me your opinions? If you are not willing to post details here due to it giving counterfeiters guidance on how to improve their wares, I'd certainly appreciate offline communication, too.

Anyhow, I've put extensive close-up photos here:

http://207.98.189.235/flip_sight/

I can take more if need be.

Thanks in advance,
Josh

It's a reproduction.
Unless you paid for a repro.....Return it.

Charlie-painter777

Josh, It's a very bad fake. No USGI rear sight was made like that. The base should have told you it was a fake to start with. Return it to who ever sold it to you.

Thanks, guys. It will be going back. It is really very frustrating, though, trying to find a legit flip sight at ANY price. I appreciate that, yes, "the base should have told me it was a fake to start with". However, for justifiable reasons, no experts out there with real sights want to provide photos to a newbie collector like me so I can LEARN to tell the difference. What a world we live in where the deadbeats ruin it for the rest of us. I guess I'll just keep wasting precious time and money buying one repro after another until the experts tell me it is legit. I will not post photos to an active auction (if I find one), as experience has shown me that, if it is a real collectible, that will alert everyone else to it being available and I will quickly drive up the price to my own detriment.

Thanks,
Josh

Josh
Stay away from Riverbank or Modesto, CA sellers. He has a handfull of user names on Ebay and Gunbroker and maybe other sites and forums.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=142293323
Fake.

These days, an original Winchester flipper will cost you at least $150, IF you can find one, and they ARE hard to find. There are a lot of repros out there that are very good. Good luck in your quest.

The folks on the left coast and in MN. would have you believe their recently fabricated, unlimited supply of fake flip sights are the real deal. I can just about guarantee you that all who have posted here, including myself, have been burned at one time or another and remember what it's like to be a newbee. No doubt, it's worse nowdays. PM me with your email address and I will send some photos of a real Winchester flip sight.

dbarn,

I thought about contacting him off-line to help at first but a little 'bell' kind of went off -

He only wanted details of how to tell how to spot a fake sight, and then showed many detailed photos of one of the worst fake Type I sights I've ever seen.
(He's already received some answers of what is wrong with the sight he showed, and then acted like he already knew what people told him using the knowledge given to him here and on other web sites!)

He didn't say where he bought it from which seemed unusual if he already knew he had been taken, and then acted like he was throwing a pity party when nobody would offer details of what to look for to establish signs of fake type I sights.

Something about this post felt very contrived to me -

Also, he had never posted here before at all with this user name or talked about the "Winchester he's restoring", but had many questions that seemed like he knew (or didn't know) about details of flip sights.

I looked around and found two other carbine related sites he posted the same exact post and it seems he's trying to harvest details of what is wrong with the poor flip sight reproduction he has all the detailed photos of. (He's probably hit more sites)

http://207.98.189.235/flip_sight/big...-10_211919.JPG

Winchester flip sight real or repro? - Culvers Shooting Page Forums

CMP Discussion Forum - Winchester M1 carbine flip sight real or repro?

I don't have an account with the CMP forum, but someone who does should question this post there before someone gives him details of how to determine problems with the poor Type I sight he has all the detailed photos he posts.


'Josh', if you are innocent I apologize, but this looks a little wrong.

Thanks for the heads up Harlan. Sometimes I may be too eager to help someone out, but am remembering what it's like to be burned. Josh will need to furnish more info, from whom he is buying the flip sights and perhaps a picture of the carbine he is restoring. I do not believe that's too much to ask if he honestly needs help.

Don't feel bad at all for trying to help a 'self described' carbine 'newbie' dbarn.
(That's what we are here for!)

I appreciate your dedication for trying to help a new enthusiast to our expensive hobby. I almost blindly jumped in to help him off-line too after his post, but his post seemed strange after thinking about it and I checked around on other sites when I saw he'd never been here before. :eek:

I could be completely wrong, but this doesn't seem right.

~ Harlan