'03-A4 safety clearance

[daveboy]

By the way, I was already admiring your rifle...beauty!

Thanks Dawelda. I must admit I am pretty proud of the way she turned out. Good luck with yours and don't forget to share pics. This forum is a gold mine for information.

daveboy

[jgaynor]

In reference to the W&E turrets on the Alaskan, I mounted my scope with the turrets to the rear of the front ring thinking that during recoil the scope would not move forward. Did the manual specify where to place the scope in the rings?? TIA George in NH

The attached picture is from the October 43 edition of TM 9-2200 which was a sort of catalog of small arms and accessories from .22 to 20MM. As far as i have been able to determine it is the only official picture showing an Alaskan (M73) on an M1903A4. Right about the time that manual was published the word came down that the long awaited Alaskans were not going to happen at least in time for the A4.

A couple of points:

The Redfield base used on the A4 has a bevel at the rear. The purpose of the bevel is IMO to provide clearance for the Alaskan eyepiece. The bevel serves no purpose with the Weaver 330C (M73B1) as the scope cannot be mounted far enough forward for clearance to be an issue.

Eye relief is optimized with the scope mounted in the forward position.

GI manuals are generally pretty good but not perfect, Note in the attached picture there is a mix up in the captions.

Regards,
Jim