WWl Sniper with 1903 and ID of sniper.

[A. F Medic]

Information

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[BruceV]

The suit is a great idea. But given the equipment available to snipers in the German army and to a lesser degree the British army, the practical effectiveness of that iron sighted 03 is at best limited. One has to wonder just what was the U.S. Army thinking to give men what amounted to no more than an infantry rifle and expect that they were going to be effective snipers. Maybe it was just a case of the Army catching up with on the ground reality. JMHO. Sincerely. BruceV.

[Jim Tarleton]

Two more 42nd Division snipers without scopes. I have seen this picture identified, and have it cataloged from another source, as two 167th Regiment snipers.

It was not uncommon to see nothing but open sights on sniper rifles in WWI.

The Badonviller area was a defensive sector for the 42nd Division.

Jim

[John Beard]

I note with interest that the sniper appears to be wearing a doughboy helmet with chin strap underneath all that netting.

J.B.

[Alfred]

Various types of iron sights were used in the sniping role well into WW1, in WW2 they'd have been considered "Sharpshooters" rather than Snipers.

The US had telescope sighted rifles available, including periscope sighted rifles with an unfolding pantograph stock that allowed the sniper to take dead aim while his head was below the level of the trench ramparts.

I've read that the vast majority of Japanese "sniper fire" in the Pacific theatre was actually from designated marksmen, chosen more for expendability than talent.
Any wound from by rifle fire from 200 yards away or more was automatically put down to snipers.
Not that the Japanese didn't also have many well equiped and well trained snipers, they certainly did.


PS
Most sniper training was with the standard iron sighted infantry rifle. According to Hesketh-Pritchard in "Sniping in France" the telescoped rifles had an accuracy life of as little as 500 rounds with most losing their edge for long range work after 600 to 1000 rounds due to erosion from the rather primitive propellants and Cupro-Nickel jacketed bullets in use then. Telescoped rifles were to be fired only the few shots necessary to sight them in before going into combat, with no shots wasted for other training purposes.

[jmoore]

Could be a rifle set up for the Warner-Swayze(spelling?) scope, but w/ the scope removed. From the side the attaching rail won't show. Removal of the scope did often present return to zero problems!

[RCS]

WW1 - Billy Sing (Australia) used an iron sighted Lee Enfield on Gallipoli for a total of over 100 "kills".

WW2 - Simo Hayha (Finland) used an iron sighted Finnish M27 for a total of over 500 "kills".

[togor]

I've read that the vast majority of Japanese "sniper fire" in the Pacific theatre was actually from designated marksmen, chosen more for expendability than talent.
Any wound from by rifle fire from 200 yards away or more was automatically put down to snipers.
Not that the Japanese didn't also have many well equiped and well trained snipers, they certainly did.

In his Pacific War memoir, "Goodbye, Darkness", noted author and former Marine William Manchester describes a duel he had with a Japanese marksman on Okinawa. Both men had iron-sighted rifles, Manchester's being a borrowed M-1. It's a short but highly recommended read, penned in the late 1970's I believe.

[Jim Tarleton]

I note with interest that the sniper appears to be wearing a doughboy helmet with chin strap underneath all that netting.

J.B.

The artillery round favored by the Boche contained iron balls about half the size of a golf ball. Those hard helmets would turn one of these balls unless it was a near hit or a direct perpendicular hit. I have an old Brodie that I shot at an angle with an 03 twice, and both rounds were deflected.

Those guys must have posed that picture, as normally one would have a telescope (not binoculars) and be observing for the shooter.

If the Marines are any indicator, there were one heck of a lot of snipers in the AEF. Most of the time, the snipers were either a Corporal or a Sergeant according to AEF specifications. At least one of the snipers was always a Sergeant.

Jim

[BruceV]

I knew the early smokeless propellants were highly erosive to the throat of rifle barrels. But 600 or even 1,000 rounds is not a lot of shooting. And snipers are not known to do a lot of rapid fire. So if firing was limited to only necessary targeting and then actual combat, one has to wonder just how hot the breech and throat of a sniper rifle would have gotten in actual use. One has to wonder if the cause was erosion of the throat or simply the build up of cupro-nickle fouling, which I also understand was known to severely degrade accuracy. Sincerely. BruceV.