Hi guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I'm Ian McCollum, and today we have a very cool,
pre-World War Two National Match style
competition rifle. This is a 1903 Springfield.
This particular one is actually set up with
mounts for a 10x power Unertl scope.
However, in official practical competition this would have been used with iron sights.
And if you're going to be competitively shooting with iron sights,
of course you need certain gear - like sight covers.
And that's what I really want to show you today are the
P.J. O'Hare sight covers on this particular rifle.
Let me show you up close.
Alright, we'll start with the rear sight here, which is actually labelled.
These were sold by the P.J. O'Hare company.
They were made in England at first, and then production moved to the US.
And this is one of the US manufactured ones.
The design was actually patented or designed by a Major Hessian, about whom I know nothing else.
Now one thing I find interesting about these is that their purpose is not
just to protect the sights from getting damaged.
So the way this works is you can lift that up,
and then you have to actually raise the entire rear sight.
And then you can slide the cover off the sight tower, the sight leaf.
And then you're ready to shoot.
Now, it's interesting, like I said, ... this isn't a sight cover for combat use.
This is for match shooting, and, well, you don't necessarily
need this just to protect the sight from damage,
because you're going to put your rifle in a case, it's going to be protected.
However, what you would typically do is use something like a carbide lamp
to blacken the sights front and rear so that you had really good contrast,
and could get a particularly good sight picture.
And these sight covers were as much to protect the blackening so that it didn't get wiped off or smudged,
as they were to physically protect the sights from damage.
There is also a protector for the front sight which pivots and then slides off the sight.
So you can see how this is two parts, inside and out.
And when you rotate it into place, this locks over the front sight and prevents it from falling off.
And this was also made by the same company, P.J. O'Hare.
This was the most common, or the most popular, brand and style of sight protector
for the period. And this would be 1920s and 1930s.
There were other styles, and one of the features that you could get
on some of the other ones that this does not include,
is a way to basically leave the sight protector in place, but open up the muzzle
and use this as a cleaning rod guide to prevent damaging the crown of the rifle while cleaning.
But presumably a lot of shooters were just cleaning from the rear end of the barrel,
didn't need that, and so the most common sight protector didn't need to have that feature.
So when you're done shooting, lift up the rear sight
(although frankly you'd have been shooting with it elevated anyway most of the time),
this slides onto the rear sight tower there.
Then we can fold it down,
and snap that down around your elevation control.
Alright, while we're looking at this, let me show you one other cool piece
of National Match paraphernalia from the '20s or '30s.
This is also P.J. O'Hare, see that on there.
This is your rear sight adjustment tool, because
on the 1903 Springfield your elevation adjustment here
doesn't have any notches or clicks. It's just free sliding on the rear sight leaf.
So you can set it to approximately the proper range,
and then you just have to tighten it in place with this screw.
Well, if you're in a serious shooting match, that's not going to be nearly precise enough.
Let's say you're 3 inches under the target at 600 yards.
How do you make that adjustment with a free sliding thing like this?
Well, the answer is you buy P.J. O'Hare's sight [adjuster tool].
So the way this would work is you would lift up your rear sight leaf
(which of course you'd be shooting with this up anyway),
and you're going to be shooting with the aperture sight there.
So you can then take this adjustment tool and it sits right under your rear sight leaf,
(make sure that's loose) and then turning this adjusts
(doing this one-handed on camera is tricky...)
... turning this adjusts in half minute increments.
There's a finely threaded screw in the main body, and you've got your adjustment clicks right there.
So that is how you would get very fine-tuned changes to your rear sight.
Something more than what the sight itself was really capable of.
I really enjoy looking at some of the accessories from previous eras.
For some of this stuff just the idea of what was necessary,
and the fabrication that went into making these sight covers I think is pretty cool.
I think that's as interesting as elements of the gun itself.
So my main reference for this, by the way, if you're looking for more information on this sort of thing,
... "The Springfield 1903 Rifles" by Colonel Brophy. He also did a very good book on the Krag–Jørgensen.
Both volumes are highly recommended if you can find them,
but they're both out of print today, unfortunately.
At any rate, hopefully you guys enjoyed the video.
Thanks for watching.
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