sometimes you miss the simple cure...

[Chuckindenver]

long story short.
working on a nice 03, customer had me install a new sight base,
so i did it like it should be done, witness mark lines up with the bottom of the ridge line, set it up gave a quick eyeball, finished it up.
he emails me, says its off center a bit..ok, sends it back...sure enough, with a ladder up, stands out like a sore thumb.
so.
i set the level with the machine flats of the reciever, level the flat on the sight base, she looks good,
till i set a sight ladder up with a front sight, WOW, way off, so an hour of checking and rechecking, scratch my head.
i go to lunch, do some other things, and come back to it.
darnit the barrel is over index sure as toast, i set the level on the front sight, matched the rear base, then check the reciever, its off, not much, but enough to make the sight picture goofy.
in hindsight, i should have checked the witness marks first thing, but i havnt seen many original barreled 03,s with and over index issue,
a few A3,s but not very many 03,s...
sometimes, you have to check the easy stuff first...keep it simple and the world is a better place....
makes you wonder, how many Privates failed marksmanship with old rifles sight picture, and how many pushups were done...
Sarge? my sights are off....you know what the responce was from that...

Information

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[Dollar Bill]

Sarge? my sights are off....you know what the responce was from that...

I have to laugh at the part! Our senior drill, for a month, was a female E7. There I was, on the hold line waiting for my turn on the qualification line. It a hundred degrees at Ft. Dix, in the sun. After 1/2 hour waiting, I can feel my brain sizzling. So I pop off my kevlar real quick and dump half my canteen on my head. Pop my kevlar back on and I'm OK, untill........the senior drill comes up behind me and starts wacking me on the head with her batton. Made me feel like I was back in Catholic school with the Sister smacking me upside the head!

[Jim K]

Hi, Chuck,

If I understand correctly, the "witness mark" on the receiver was mis-located. That is odd, but not impossible. How did the barrel witness mark line up with the receiver mark before you installed the new sight base?

Since the barrel mark was used as a reference point in milling the front sight spline and installing the (original) rear sight fixed base, the barrel mark should be lined up OK. And since the original installation aligned the fixed base line with the receiver mark (the fixed base covered the original barrel mark), the original barrel and front sight should have been out of line if the receiver mark was wrong.

I wonder if the new sight base could have been wrong; some of those sold are repros made by people who don't understand the role of that line, so they get it wrong.

Jim

[Chuckindenver]

no the barrel was over turned, passed the the point of index.
when i lined up the sight bases so they were square, with each other, the receiver wasnt square with the sights,
pics below are before and after.

[Calif-Steve]

I was at Ft. Benning, Ga 1969, in Officer Basic Course. Late night in Recon Week, tired and not happy. At 0200 the platoon messes up an ambush. The NCO Evaluator starts popping 2Lt's on the helmet with his swagger stick. Chewing out everyone. One on the guys hops up and grabs the stick out of his hand and tells the NCO to sit down and shut up! The NCO is stunned, we tell him to radio for relief as he is gone. He is advised he will be written up for assualt on an officer. In 15 minutes he is gone and he was, indeed, written up for assault. I NEVERED allowed any NCO to carry a swagger stick and never allowed any NCO to lay his/her hands on any soldier. So much for my story.

[Griff Murphey]

Fort Sill 1970, Army ROTC Summer Camp at Camp Eagle; M-60 MG range, the rangemasters walked up and down the line hitting us on the helmet with cleaning rods. Maybe made sweeter by the knowledge we'd be 2Lts in about 11 months.