M17 battle sight

[Paul B]

What is the M17 battle sight set for .

Information

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[jmoore]

M1917 battle sight is set for 360 yds., I THINK. Don't have refs. at hand to confirm!

Kick me in the teeth if I'm wrong, I don't mind.

[jmg257]

From FM23-6 M1917

"3. REAR SIGHT.-The rear sight of this rifle has no wind gage.
The leaf contains a peep sight which moves vertically on a
slide, and hence makes no correction for the drift of the
bullet. The battle sight is of the peep type and is attached
to the lower end of the leaf. It is raised to position for aiming
when the leaf is laid, and is adjusted for a range of 400 yards."

(I think) Ferris says it is actually 450yds though, and mentions the contradiction in his book.

[Paul B]

Thanks for that ,im just guessing but the battle sight would allow the soldier to hit the torso of someone out to 400 during a battle ,probably aim in the center of the mass,they are nice rifle and ive shot a few good scores with mine .
Cheers

[Pattern14]

From FM23-6 M1917

when the leaf is laid, and is adjusted for a range of 400 yards."

No wonder why I could never find the holes in the target using the battle sight!!!

[jmoore]

Odd, though. My "go to the range" M1917 shoots a bit low at 400 using the battle sight, but the adjustable leaf is spot on out to 600yds. So why does that crazy 360yd number keep coming to mind? M1 Garand? Dang. Getting old and stupid at the same time...

[jmg257]

Garands can be pre-set using the sight elevation cover - usually to '300yds minus 2 clicks' (10 or 12 clicks from bottomed out I think??).

That torso shot was indeed the theory behind the battle sight range! The '03 was like 546yds which means a hold under of...a lot!...for anything close!

edit:

From "Rifle Training for War" by Brookhart...

"The 1917 has a peep battle sight with an elevation of 400yds, whereas the 1903 has an open battle sight with an elevation of about 547yds. In other words, at 200yds the center of impact in the 1903 model is 26 inches above point of aim, at 300yds it is 28 inches, while the point of impact in the 1917 is only 14 inches at 200 yds and 10 inches at 300yds..."

[jmg257]

Hey on edit of the edit, you can download the above-mentioned book - for free!!

Internet Archive: Free Download: Rifle training for war

Pretty interesting as its from 1919 so deals with the 1917 and 1903, and was published by the NRA...