The 03A3 was used by troops in all theaters... for the Marines however, the M1903 was much more common, especially in the beginning of the war. The Marines on Guadalcanal relied on the M1903 as their main battle rifle, but after "acquiring" some of the army's M1Garands, the Marines found themselves wanting to trade their tried 'n true M1903s for the semi-auto Garand which gave them fire superiority in the often close range combat scenarios of the jungle.
The 03A3 was sent mostly to the army- and it saw mixed service since many front line guys had the Garand. However, it did serve its time on the line to some extent as well as often in the rear int he hands of support troops.
The front sights you are referring to were used by the Marines (called the #10 sights- as they were a tenth of an inch thick, and had a rear slide with single, larger peep to match) in the interwar years, with the Marines reverting to standard front sight blade thickness by the time WW2 started. Many #10s were still on Marine rifles in WW2 combat however, as were many of the larger front sight covers.Information
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