My Memorial Day tradition

[Patrick L]

Heading to the range in an hour or so. My shooting is pretty eclectic. Rifle, pistol, clay sports, I do them all. 1911s, .22 pistols, my beloved S&Ws, scoped rifles, iron sighted rifles, sporters, etc You never know what I'll pack up for playtime.

But I have a tradition for Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Veteran's day. Without fail, an 03 Springfield, a Garand, and an M1 carbine are the three I'll shoot today. Can't wait!!

 

[Targets Guy]

That's a nice tradition.






Wish my Krag and Model 1917 could join them.

 

[Patrick L]

Well I had a great time!

The trifecta represented us well

I'm especially please my eyes cooperated today, those tiny sights on the 03 give me good days and bad days.

Here's the 03 target at 100 yds. 20 rds, 16 gr 2400 and a HM2 155 gr cast bullet. As usual, ignore the pasted holes, they were from a previous outing. I'm frugal.

Did as well with the carbine at 50 yds. Shot the Garand at 100, not my best day, but fun!

 

[Targets Guy]

I'm glad someone else has the sight issue with the 03. I bought a hood for mine and have had cataract surgery so I am anxious to see if I can sight it better.

 

[Patrick L]

03s are notorious for their tiny sight. In effect, target sights, perfect for a sharp eyed 18 year old boot on a sunny range. I think there was a saying that in WWI the Brits had the best combat rifle, the Germans the best hunting rifle, and we had the best target rifle. The WWII era 03A3 sights were much better combat sights.

Supposedly the USMC 03s had a larger aperture and a fatter front blade. I'm not 100%sure, but that's what I read. I did drill out my aperture on the slide, but the front blade is the original thin one.