I’m a bit of a sucker for orphaned rifles, and recently found myself in a small carbine frenzy (three in two weeks). One of them was this 1899 wearing a very modified 03 Springfield stock (somebody did a lot of work to get it to fit):
http://www.gunauction.com/buy/121708...al-bolt-action
It has what appears to be an 1898 carbine rear sight:
More:
http://imageshack.us/a/img835/5743/ryio.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img526/5109/bj3y.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img703/7928/ny6b.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img706/3161/tpl5.jpg
Has anyone seen any reproduction (fake) 1898 carbine sights? I did a quick check online, but only saw references to the faked 1896 sights. I’m wondering about the rear sight’s validity due to the grinding marks on the leaf, as well as the fact that not many were made. The base profile looks okay, and the numbers look to be the right font (to my layman’s eye), but I’m still a bit suspicious.
Even if the sight is fake, I still have a decent 1899 barreled action project with a surprisingly good bore. The rust isn’t actually that deep, and there doesn’t appear to be any pitting under the surface rust. From what I’ve read online, it looks like this one (228967) was born in Oct. 1899. It joins my other 1899 (227030) which is pretty close to the other, time-wise. Incidentally, they both have turned-down muzzles (and correct 22†barrels, from what I understand).