Side-mount Scope on A3/A4?

[1750Shooter]

Was shooting my A4 replica at the range the other day & an older shooter mentioned he used one in Korea, but the scope was side-mounted so he could use stripper clips. I pressed him to make sure he wasn't referring to an M1, but he insisted it was a bolt gun. Has anyone seen or heard of anything like this?

[Emri]

No, but I have heard PLENTY of whoppers, sworn to as actual testimony. One gentleman brought me his Universal carbine with the sliding wire stock to repair. I told him we don't work on them because they have safety issues and were just plain junk. He SWORE his daddy used THAT carbine when he parachuted into Korea.

[chuckindenver]

ahhh,,,, nope

[jgaynor]

The rifle depicted in the attachment may be using a side mount its difficult to tell. For sure its not a Redfield JR and the rifle appears to be a M1903A1 ...prototype??

[Emri]

The rifle depicted in the attachment may be using a side mount its difficult to tell. For sure its not a Redfield JR and the rifle appears to be a M1903A1 ...prototype??

Rifle looks more like a mauser to me. Scope does look like an old Weaver, but don't know about the mounts. Doesn't look side mounted with the presence of separate front and rear rings.

FWIW,

Emri

[chuckindenver]

1903 for sure.. iv seen this pic before..Grossmans book has some info i think

[jgaynor]

These three additional files were lurking on my hard drive. The cropped version I posted the other day was already in the forums picture file. From the setup it appears that senior US personnel were doing a show-and-tell of American equipment with Sir Winston.

The scope is a Weaver 330 and the mount is most probably a stamped side mount like the Weaver "B" model. The "B" mount positions the scope much further forward than does the Redfield Jr. The line of the scope my still be over the bore even though the base is attached to the side rail. Kind of hard to make out the detail in those photos.

The rifle may well be a prototype or even a quick put together for the sake of the demo. Ultimately Ordnance selected the Redfield Jr. mount even though it did not provide the best eye relief with the 330C/M73B1 because in the back of their minds the scope that really wanted on the A4 was the Lyman Alaskan. All that would be necessary to make the conversion would be a relatively simple ring swap.

[CPC]

Cool pics. Thanks for posting. My old man was there that day. He was one of MG Brooks' drivers.

[jgaynor]

Cool pics. Thanks for posting. My old man was there that day. He was one of MG Brooks' drivers.

wow! thank you. Do you have any idea of the approximate date when the pictures were taken?

Regards,

Jim

[CPC]

I'm currently traveling and will not be able to check my notes but I believe the photos are from March 1944 (23-24?). There is a whole series of photos at Tidworth showing the above looking at grenades, weapons, etc and inspecting troops. Not exact but I hope this helps a little.
Regards,
CC

[jgaynor]

Thanks again. If March 44 a "real" A4 should have been available. If March 43 however the first A4's would just barely mad it off the assembly line.

[Jim in Salt Lake]

There wasn't a lot of hearing protection used in those days. If any got used, the common methods were a couple of pieces of .45 brass or toilet paper. Growing up, my Dad never used anything and I used to just stick my fingers in my ears before I started shooting. I remember in the early 60's, the American Rifleman came out with an article talking about hearing loss from gunshot noise. Dad went right out and bought muffs for us all to use. I can remember getting asked at the range what the muffs were for.