Value of a Springfiled 1903 sniper scope?

luger01

A friend of mine recently came into posession of a Weaver 330 scope - M.8 in NRA fine condition. It has the tapered post recticle and the original leather lens caps, and a base (can't remember the name on the base). I believe this is for the Springfield 1903A4 rifle. I have seen no U.S. markings on the scope or base and the scope has some minor pitting on the tube, but has been cleaned and looks good. The scope has great optics and seems to work fine. This scope was on its way to the dump when it was saved.Any collectors have an idea as to the value???

v35

The Weaver 330's and some Lyman Alaskans carried only commercial markings. On the A-4the rings and mounts were Redfield Junior.Collectors today are paying big bucks for sniper scopes and A-4s.I Dont know the values but a couple of years ago I got $1000 for a USMC marked Kollmorgen that was too late for Korea and too early for Vietnam. Yours at least had wartime history in WW2 and Korea but it's a more common Army not USMC scope.

v35

P.S. Mounts and rings were unmarked and parkerized while the 330 was blue. As I recollect, the Weaver 330s I saw in Korea had crosshairs. M81s and M82s had tapered posts.

nmyers

The Weaver M8 scope was used on the M1903A4 rifle during WWII. It became obsolete at the end of the war, but some were kept in inventory for many years after that.The tapered post is the only reticle used in this scope. Some M8's had click-adjustable knobs, and some had screws.I would estimate that the scope would sell for $300-350, rings for $100-125, base for $100-125, and leather cover for $100-125.Neal

luger01

Thanks all and esp. to Neal for the help. Sorry I didn't respond sooned but for the past few nights the board seemed to have been down. Glad it's back up!

v35

The Army designated the Weaver 330 scope the M73B1 in 1943 according to General Hatcher. He also said it was slightly modified but didnt define the modification. Where did the M-8 designation come from? Is that the tapered post model? Weaver scopes with either crosshairs or tapered post were commercially available before WW2 so without military markings, I would be hard put to qualify that your scope was military without knowing what mods were made to the 330 for the Army. Being a cheap scope by todays' standards without weatherproofing, Im surprised that any survived WW2 combat. The Weaver 330s and Lyman Alaskans I had in Div. Ordnance in Korea for the A-4 were straight commercial models having crosshair reticles. The M81s and M82s were military scopes. If the rings, base and windage screws were parkerized and there are stake marks to the two countersunk holes in the mount, there is a good case for it having been military. I have never seen leather lens covers for an Army scope.

nmyers

v35, you should read the article in the January 2002 issue of the American Rifleman: "Making the Most of G.I. Marksmanship: The M1903A4", by Bruce Canfield. He describes the A4 scopes in detail.Leather lens covers were used on the 330 series of scopes, as well as the similar artillery spotter scopes, during WWII. After the war plastic lens covers were used.The Lyman Alaskan, and the M81 and M82 military versions, were adopted during WWII for use on the M1C and M1D rifle.Neal

v35

If some of your statements are quotes from Canfield, He's wrong. In a conflict, I'd go with Gen. Julian Hatcher, Past NRA Director who held technical jobs with the Army such as Chief of Ordnance between 1917 to 1945 and published Hatcher's Notebook in 1947, a very technical treatise on ordnance and ballistics.Hatcher stated the Lyman Alaskan was also issued with the A-4 in WW2. I'll take his word over Canfield on this. As to what we had in Korea, I'm not guessing, I was there running the 7th Division Small Arms Repair section and know what small arms were in use in the Division from .22 Remington 513s and shotguns to 105mm recoilless rifles & 4.2" mortars. The M-1D took only the M82 scope; the M-1C took the M81 in a Griffin & Howe mount and the Springfield A-4 took either Weaver 330, or the M-81 as we had the two different sizes of Redfield Junior rings for both scopes . Lyman Alaskans were rare and could be used on both Springfield and M-1C because they had the same ring size but the M81 was preferred because of the sunshade and the tapered post reticule. There may be differences on TO&E between the stateside and actual field conditions in wartime.