1903A3 Shooting High

[Randy A]

Well... I can understand why Detroit asked that. For us to help with the question we will need to know what the actual POI (point of impact) is from the POA (point of aim). Having the tip of the f/s at the bottom of the rear app does not give us anything to work with. If you can give us the measurement with a normal sight picture (may need an extra large sheet of paper) and I would recommend placing it at 200 yds if your sight is on "2" and we can get accurate and applicable data.
Then apply this information, I consolidated this from bits and pieces I've ran across over the years. Might be a good sticky..

Data for sight blades 1903A3

The following data is from Ordnance Supply Catalog “ORD 9 SNL B-3” dated 20 May 1944. The drawing number would indicate that the “A” sight blade is the maximum height for the Model M1903A3 USGI sight.
A153078E - Sight, front (height 0.477) (M1903A3)
A153078D - Sight, front (height 0.492) (M1903A3)
A153078C - Sight, front (height 0.507) (M1903A3)
A153078B - Sight, front (height 0.522) (M1903A3)
A153078A - Sight, front (height 0.537) (M1903A3)

Note that the difference in height between each successive height is .015" This is equivalent to about 2" change in elevation at 100 yards.

Formula:
Measure sight radius, (27.75 03A3) divide sight radius by distance to target in inches (100 yds x 36 = 3600)
27.75/3600= .0077, so to lower a POI one (1) inch, you need to raise your front blade .0077
The above information corresponds with the 2 inch POI difference between the sight blades available.

---------- Post added at 12:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:05 PM ----------

Also keep in mind, at that range the Army used a 10 inch black center and taught soldiers to use a 6 o' clock hold meaning the sights were calibrated to have an impact 5 inches high to hit center. So hitting 5 inches high at 1 or 200 yards is how they were intended.