Warner Swasey mounting rail question

[mike radford]

I wish! The scope and mount are original. But not to that rifle. It's too old. And the stock is a little too new for the rifle. (Two reinforcement cross screws.) It shoots well, though, with ammo it likes. Horribly with ammo it doesn't!

Do you shoot it with the scope in place? I am afraid to shoot mine, fearing the scope may self distruct. I would love to give it a try but would hate a messed up scope.

I am sure mine is a put together, and paid accordingly. Anyone heard of one of these built on a RIA rifle?

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[jmoore]

Do you shoot it with the scope in place? I am afraid to shoot mine, fearing the scope may self distruct. I would love to give it a try but would hate a messed up scope.

I am sure mine is a put together, and paid accordingly. Anyone heard of one of these built on a RIA rifle?

What usually happens is the coating inside the scope body flakes off and sticks to the graticule plate. So you end up having specks or chunks in the field of view. Seems perpetual. Take the cover off, clean it, shoot it, and there's specks again. Or ignore the specks and continue using it. Seems to be about the same. Otherwise the optics don't seem to give much trouble if the glue is good. And the interior is dry. Nitrogen or only opening the works on cold clear days seems to be the answer there.

Externally, the screws and elevation plate may want to seize if the scope isn't exercised regularly. Generally nothing that can't be sorted with patience and penetrating oil.

I only have the one (a 1908 model wouldn't be out of the question), but my optics friend has dealt with quite a few. Even made a tiny acme screw for the windage adjuster. Really all the scope is one half of a set of binoculars with some external gadgetry. Have seen them filthy internally, fogged up, seized, beat with an "ugly stick", and generally forlorn, but the lenses themselves seem to hold up OK.

ETA: I would also guess that 99.5% of the W-S rifles out there now did NOT have scopes in WWI.

[Promo]

jmoore, shouldn't the rail be mounted much closer to the barrel?

[jmoore]

Nope. The location is correct. There are two locking notches in the mount, which I presume are for the user's benefit. Just don't choose the wrong one, as the zero will change some.

[Promo]

OK, it looked somewhat wrong in the picture of you

[jmoore]

It was carefully measured and compared to multiple photos of original rifles to generate the mount placement. Also, the stock cuts are fairly specific if done correctly.

[Promo]

There is one pictured in C.S. Ferris book on the RIA M1903, however he describes that is the only legit one known.

[mike radford]

Thanks jmoore. I shot some of my Japanese snipers and the flakes are a problem with them too. The purist think I am nuts but it is hard to enjoy them if you worry about a few flakes. I am getting used to taking WW2 era scopes apart more and more. So far, they are not as complex and spooky as they appear on the outside. They also appear to be more tough than many believe.

[jmoore]

I shot some of my Japanese snipers and the flakes are a problem with them too.

The main problem I have with the Japanese scopes is zeroing! Huge bother. Even with a custom offset clamp-on optical "boresighter". Flakes? Not so much, if any.