I was looking at an earlier thread concerning factory installed Lyman 48 sights on 1903/1903A1 NM rifles. I have actively collected 1903s for at least 30 years and have been associated with Rock Island Auction Company (RIAC) for the last 20 years. I have seen a lot of M1903 rifles. During that time I have only seen two or three M1903 NM rifles that appeared to be factory drilled and tapped for a Lyman 48 but did not have the stock inletted for a sight. I have seen numerous rifles fitted with Lyman 48 sights. However, the only rifles in which the the sight installation and stock inletting appeared to match the work done on M1922, M1icon and M2 .22 rifles were a few very early production (1921/22) NM rifles and two papered B stock NM rifles. Every one of the 1921/22 NM rifles was fitted with a Lyman 48 Long Slide sight. These sights are appropriate for 1922/1922 production rifles since the short slide Lyman 48B was not introduced until sometime in 1921 and may not have been available. I wonder if the Lyman 48 Long Slide sights were installed by SA armorers at Camp Perry during the National Matches on new rifles purchased at the matches. It seems significant that properly installed Lyman 48 sights do not seem to show up on later production NM rifles. I am familiar with the DCM/SA sales information but I have never seen a M1903/M1903A1 NM rifle with documented drilled and tapped receiver or Armory installed Lyman 48 sight. The only rifles that appeared to have SA quality installations were the two B stock NMs and the five or six 1921/22 production NM rifles with long slide 48s. Does anyone else have any different observations?
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