03 sight hood question

[cwartyman]

Would the 03 have been shot with the sight hood on or was it removed before firing the weapon?
Mack

[Rick the Librarian]

Removed before firing, except the USMC one.

[cwartyman]

Thank you rick

[joem]

I remove the sight hood on mine before shooting. It makes the target easier to see.

[Rock]

One wonders why they didn't make all sight hoods as large or larger than the Marine sight hood so it wouldn't need to be removed. The thin 03 front sight blades must have been damaged frequently when the 03 was in service.

[Johnny P]

It is hard to manufacture a snap on sight protector that will fit on and maintain the front sight in the exact center. This isn't a problem when using the open rear sight, but with the sight ladder up and using the aperture sight it becomes a problem. The human eye has the ability to unconsciously seek out the exact center of a circle, so while using the aperture rear sight the eye tries to also center the front aperture formed by the sight protector in the center of the rear aperture . If the sight blade is not in the center of the circle you have to try to consciously disregard the front aperture and concentrate on the sight blade. This is especially bad on the 03-A3 that has a taller front sight, and typically the top of the sight blade is near the top of the sight protector. Your eye does not want to concentrate on the top of the sight blade.

[joem]

My K98 has a sight hood and It can be shoot with it on.

[Art]

While they were meant to be removed I've found it quite easy to shoot an '03 with the sight hood in place, in fact I shoot my '03s regularly with the hood in place. An '03A3 is a different story.

Of course quite a few military rifles were made with sight hoods that were not meant to be replaced, mostly Mausers like joem's K98 or the USMC modified M1903s.

[Johnny P]

When the military changed the rear sight to an aperture sight they put ears on the front sight blade for protection.

[jonnyo55]

I've found that with an '03, the sight picture presented with the hood on is correct; i.e. the front sight blade sits right under a (properly) centered bull using the ladder peep. As mentioned, '03A3s are a different story. The front sight blade had to be made higher in order to compensate for the higher rear peep sight. There's often very little clearance between the top of an 'A3's sight blade and the inner surface of the hood, and the bull will always sit above center. That's why none of my 'A3's wear hoods...

I question the statement that the hoods were meant to be removed before firing. It's not a difficult job, but it's not easy, either...especially removal. Comments?