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Hi Bullets.

A carbine marked 1899 started out as a true carbine, so I'm perplexed as to why the 1903 banded front sight.  Did it have a rifle barrel installed and then cut down?  What is the length of the barrel as measured from the muzzle to the closed bolt face?  A carbine barrel should be exactly 22 inches.  Also, that banded front sight is installed backwards - the ramp should taper towards the muzzle with the sharp edge towards the receiver. 

I'm curious about the rear sight too.  It's a 1902 model.  Based on the height of the ramp, I would guess it's a rifle sight.  Is there a C stamped on the side of the ramp?

It could be restored to a full military carbine if you were interested in a replacement handguard, and a replacement carbine barrel.

psteinmayer wrote on Mar 16^th, 2015 at 10:06pm:


Thanks! 

The sight puzzled me as well.  The barrel does indeed measure 22" from closed bolt.  Perhaps there was sight damage, or maybe someone just wanted a fresh barrel, or a smith somewhere was just doing batch work, and made all of his guns the same, or maybe it was a sight height issue with the modified rear sight? 

The barrel does have a relatively shiny, bright bore for a 120 year old rifle. It's in need of a good cleaning, and it's looking like after being cleaned the bore is going to really pop.  Im thinking the whole rifle could use a good cleaning, so I will probably wait until I give it to him and pull the action out of the stock and give it a thorough once over.

As far as the rear sight, there are no stamps on the side.  The only marking is a small "Z" on the rear of the sight base, visible when the ladder is flipped up.

Butler - Thank you as well.  I noticed the "thinned" that you mentioned.  Not sure how visible it is in the pictures, but there's still remnants of the finger grooves on the forearm. 

The front sight, how would I remove and reinstall?  Is it just press-fit?

character limit, continued....

The 1903 banded sight base is held in place by the cross-pin.  If you remove the pin, the base can be driven forward off the barrel.  There may be a loose spline that holds the base from turning and locks it in place.  The spline is held in place by the cross pin.

I would suggest you remove the rear sling-swivel from the stock and plug the screw holes.  If you remove the front swivel from the Rifle barrel-band, the band can be more tightly clamped in its proper place on the stock.  (Another option is to build up the stock, where the band seats, with glass-bedding).  The hand-guard plays no role in tensioning the barrel band.

(photo shows forearm 'shoulder' that keeps barrel-band in position against band-spring).