Should I assume this front sight on Jungle Carbine is not original

[Peter Laidler]

Horses mouth here. The foresight blade is definately wrong. It should be a split block foresight blade in a solid block housing and vice verca.

REALLY, you should have what we call a Mk3 foresight blade with both the foresight blade part and the blade block part having undercut rear surfaces. This small point is important on a No5 rifle because if you didn't have the undercut blade/block, the older non undercut types would reflect a line of 'shine' back into your eyes.

To be honest, the position of the foresight blade could be - and usually was - anywhere on a No5. Accuracy not being their most famous attribute!
However, our criteria on the No4 and 5 was that the edge of the foresight base must overhang or be level with the ledge of the flash eliminator (as yours does correctly) in the zeroed position. If the edge of the foresight base was inboard of the block, then it indicated that something more serious was amiss with the barrel, body or bolt.

SAVAGE, re your comments. I didn't think that Savage produced the undercut Mk 2 and 3 blades as these were a just post-war innovation to break up reflection from the rear of the foresight blades.

I hope that this long winded answer answers some of the queries.