Of Handguards and Rear Sights

[mr.tickle]

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I'm beating my brains against the wall on this problem I'm having...

I know different sized handguards were made for the different sights these rifles have.

I have an 1898 rifle made in 1902. When I got it, it had the 1896 sights/handguard on it. Well I wanted to put the 1902 sights on it, so I got an 1898 handguard under the impression that it would fit. (That is what I had gathered from reading around)

Well it doesnt line up! Does the 1898 handguard not fit the 1902 sights? Are the screw hole placements different? Or do I need the 1901 hanguard? Perhaps I have carbine 1902 sights?

Thank you all for your help!

[mr.tickle]

Here is the handguard I bought.

[psteinmayer]

Howdy. If you to the KCA home page and click on the photos page, you will find pictures of the rear sights and the associated hand guards. IIRC, the 1898 hand guard should work with the 1902 sight... but I could be mistaken. Now the 1896 and 1901 hand guards are similar in size to the 1898/1902, but the sight locations within the hand guards are different. Perhaps you have the 1901 by mistake.


Ahhh, the picture just popped up. That's a 1901 hand guard, and won't work with the 1902 sight.

[mr.tickle]

Dang it that's what I was afraid of. These guns can be expensive lol

Thanks.

[butlersrangers]

'psteinmayer' is correct. Your picture shows a model 1901 hand-guard. (Also, the model 1898 & 1902 hand-guards are identical and work with rifle and carbine versions of the 1898 and 1902 rear-sights).

Your easiest solution is to get a model 1901 rifle sight and screws. This would be perfectly correct on a 'late' model 1898 Krag rifle being used by the regular U.S. Army, especially after 1905-06.

If I understand correctly, the model 1902 sight was briefly the preferred sight. The ram-rod bayonet model 1903 Springfields were fitted with a rear-sight similar to the Krag's model 1902 sight.

However, the 1903 Springfield underwent major revisions in 1905-06, (.30-06 cartridge, knife bayonet, and model 1905 rear and front-sights). The Krag model 1901 rear-sight was similar to the new Springfield model 1905 sight. The Krag model 1901 rear-sight became the preferred sight for regular Army troops with Krags.

The 1902 and 1896 sights were likely relegated to National Guard rifles.

Some shooters prefer the model 1901 rear-sight.

(Picture of 1903 rod-bayonet Springfield courtesy of Fred).

[Jeremy T Garner]

I for one happen to be one of those shooters! :) I truly prefer the 1901 sight. The aperture is so close to that of the one on my 1903 and 1873 Springfield Trapdoor Cadet rifle that it just feels like "home".

[psteinmayer]

I use the 1902. I replaced the original on my 1898 with a spare one that I opened the Sgt. Peep up to 0.07 to make it a little easier on these ole eyes. According to CMP rules, I could go as large as 0.1, but that would have been big enough to damage the pop-up plate. I did it to a spare to preserve my original sight. Works pretty good for me anyway...

[Fred G.]

I've found that when up, the "Sgt. Peep" sight distorts the image a little for me because unless the sight leaf is just about all the way up, the pitch of the peep plate and sight is at a slant and creates an oval peep hole to the shooters eye. I guess one could become used to it. I prefer the 1901.

[psteinmayer]

That is true... but with the hole enlarged from 0.04 to 0.07, its not as noticeable, and also, as I enlarged the hole, I angled it to allow for the slant of the plate too, which ensures that I'm looking through a round hole with my elevation set to 200 yards.

[mr.tickle]

Well I have a 1901 sight on order, hopefully, I'll finally be able to have some decent sights on this rifle!

Still going to keep an eye out for an '02 handguard