I just finished a rebuild on a 1903A3. Looks great, shoots great but there is one thing I would like to change. As it seems with most military combat sights the numbers on the rear sight seem to relate to nothing. At 200 yrds. and the sight set on 2 it shoots about 10 inches high. I need a talled front sight blade. anybody know of any company or person who has taller sight blades for this firearm?
1903a3
- Thread starter lencac
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Dionysusigma
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wayne in boca
Member
Hard to find these days.Sounds like you need an "A" blade.A lot of people are making their own out of thin steel (I seem to recall the thickness should be around .050").I remember someone saying that he made them from steel used for joist hangers available at Home Depot.Make one a little higher than you think you need,grind until it's perfect.
nbkky71
Member
lencac, check the front sight blade... it should have a letter stamped on the side of it. The front sight blades for the 03A3 were lettered from A-E with A being the tallest. Each front sight blade letters correspondeds to roughly 2 MOA of elevation.
As wayne in boca mentioned, a custom front sight blade can be fabricated and ground to the desired height. On one of my 03A3 rifles, I had to set the rear sight for 700 yards to get on paper at 200.
FYI: The E front sight blade is pretty hard to find. If you have one it's worth a few $$$
As wayne in boca mentioned, a custom front sight blade can be fabricated and ground to the desired height. On one of my 03A3 rifles, I had to set the rear sight for 700 yards to get on paper at 200.
FYI: The E front sight blade is pretty hard to find. If you have one it's worth a few $$$
glimmerman
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- Dec 28, 2006
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- 127
Try sarco, they have "A" blades
DMK
Member
It is so easy to make a taller '03 front sight blade
Look through your junk drawer, part box, tool box, whatever, for a piece of steel the same thickness as your front sight. I used a shelf bracket for mine. If you don't have anything at home, take the sight blade with you to the hardware store and match up the thickness with something cheap but fairly rigid.
Lay your front sight blade on it, then trace it out with a Sharpie marker. Now, redraw the blade at the top so the rear edge is higher. Adjust the contour at the front to match up smoothly. Cut it out with a Dremel using a cutoff wheel (A vice grips is helpful to hold it). Match up your original sight again so the bottom lines up, mark the hole, then drill it.
Install the new sight on your rifle. Bring it to the range with a file. Shoot some groups and file down the top of the blade until you are at the desired POI. Remove the sight, degrease and paint it flat black (to prevent glare).
Look through your junk drawer, part box, tool box, whatever, for a piece of steel the same thickness as your front sight. I used a shelf bracket for mine. If you don't have anything at home, take the sight blade with you to the hardware store and match up the thickness with something cheap but fairly rigid.
Lay your front sight blade on it, then trace it out with a Sharpie marker. Now, redraw the blade at the top so the rear edge is higher. Adjust the contour at the front to match up smoothly. Cut it out with a Dremel using a cutoff wheel (A vice grips is helpful to hold it). Match up your original sight again so the bottom lines up, mark the hole, then drill it.
Install the new sight on your rifle. Bring it to the range with a file. Shoot some groups and file down the top of the blade until you are at the desired POI. Remove the sight, degrease and paint it flat black (to prevent glare).
cracked butt
Member
Joist hangers from the local hardware store are exactly 0.050" wide- take a pair of calipers to the store.
The windage graduation marks are exactly 4minutes apart- measure the distance across 4 or 5 of them, divide that measurement by 1 less mark than you measured and you will have the amount of sighting change needed to move the bullet 4moa.
for instance: the rear windage marks look like this:
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You measure across 5 lines to give you the measurement for 4 x 4MOA.
lets hypothetically say the total measurement is 0.100"
0.100"/4= 0.025" per 4 moa.
If you are shooting 10" high, divide 4 into 10 and you get 2.5.
2.5x 0.025= 0.063" that you need to raise the front sight.
(note the above is hypothetical, from my foggy memory of making a sight in the past, I think the actual measurement came out to around 0.070" height adjustment to drop my poi down 10" or so, but like I said, my memory is foggy)
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A new front sight is very easy to fabricate with a hacksaw/dremmel tool/file. It only took me about 20 minutes to make mine- using the calculation example above, mine was dead on the nuts on at 100 yards. I've since switched back to the old front sight to give me more elevation adjustment as I only shoot cast lead through my 03A3 anymore.
The windage graduation marks are exactly 4minutes apart- measure the distance across 4 or 5 of them, divide that measurement by 1 less mark than you measured and you will have the amount of sighting change needed to move the bullet 4moa.
for instance: the rear windage marks look like this:
|||||
You measure across 5 lines to give you the measurement for 4 x 4MOA.
lets hypothetically say the total measurement is 0.100"
0.100"/4= 0.025" per 4 moa.
If you are shooting 10" high, divide 4 into 10 and you get 2.5.
2.5x 0.025= 0.063" that you need to raise the front sight.
(note the above is hypothetical, from my foggy memory of making a sight in the past, I think the actual measurement came out to around 0.070" height adjustment to drop my poi down 10" or so, but like I said, my memory is foggy)
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A new front sight is very easy to fabricate with a hacksaw/dremmel tool/file. It only took me about 20 minutes to make mine- using the calculation example above, mine was dead on the nuts on at 100 yards. I've since switched back to the old front sight to give me more elevation adjustment as I only shoot cast lead through my 03A3 anymore.
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