Third Party Press

Sight hoods, repros and original

Hambone

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Staff member
Thought it may be good to start a library of repro and original sight hoods. Guys, please add to the pics with known originals and known repros. I'll start with REPRODUCTIONS:
 

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Hood finds

Here are my most recent finds. All appear original and were purchased quite cheaply. Different variations can be seen. The top 1 has has straight side and sharp edges. The next 1 has more rounded edges. The 3rd has the bottom corners turning more inside. The 4th hood on the extreme right is nearly the same as the second but is slighly more narrow inside. The bottom left 2 hoods are identical and very strong. The bottom right hood is more rounded and the bottom edges droop down more then the others.
 

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I had an Ebay bought sight hood, advertised as "Original German" that was anything but. Although well made and looked identical to an original, the finish was too new and most telling the fit was a bit loose in the groove, allowing the sight to be rocked a little. Apparently some repos are of thinner metal than original.

I finally found an original that fits very tight in the grooves and fortunately the bluing is worn to the the same degree as the finish on my rifle so it looks like it has always been there. Holding it next to the repro you could see how the repro was of slightly thinner material.
 
Hey ham,
I am trying to get a group buy of cleaning rods and sight hoods from Mario. Have you seen any of his? He seems like a stand up guy and with all the stocks I would think his stuff to be legit.

He is a stand up guy. From what I have seen there are some sight hoods in the Norwegian stocks that don't appear to be WW2 German. However, Mario knows the difference so you should be good.
 
Although I haven't looked at the pile of originals lots of guys on this forum have, I'm very familiar with metal work. Even within millions of parts made, there are variants. Metal finish, exact thickness of material, hardness of material, etc. Then dealing with WW2, you have to consider there would be several (at least) manufacturers of product. So say 10 iron plants made from scratch sight hoods from 1940 to 1945. You're talking serious variations, especially when they're making hundreds of thousands of the product. Just a thought.
 
so far this is clear as mud? I have no idea what I am looking at? whats the difference, is something missing?

I agree, which is why I posted those repros. I think we've reached a point where these bent pieces of spring steel bringing $20 or more ea. make excellent fakery quite profitable once you're tooled up. The ones in my post are advertised as reproduction. That's why a picture database on known repros would be helpful.
 
Heres 3 I currently have in my stash. I believe the one on the far left is post war/repo. I believe the two right ones are wartime. I suspect the hood in the middle is a G/K43 hood as its taller than most K98 hoods ive seen.
 

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Here is one I really lucked into this past weekend at a small show...for $15...the guy had two, but only wanted to sell one, I went back and tried for the second one...no dice, maybe next show. It is definitely real, if I ever have to put it on, I'll need to get a jaws of life to open it up...this sucker is not springy! See how quickly someone guesses what its for...

I pictured it next to a 98k hood...
 

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Here is one I really lucked into this past weekend at a small show...for $15...the guy had two, but only wanted to sell one, I went back and tried for the second one...no dice, maybe next show. It is definitely real, if I ever have to put it on, I'll need to get a jaws of life to open it up...this sucker is not springy! See how quickly someone guesses what its for...

I pictured it next to a 98k hood...

G33/40.

Nice score :thumbsup:
 
Compare to Yugo hoods, from an original manual:
 

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Although I haven't looked at the pile of originals lots of guys on this forum have, I'm very familiar with metal work. Even within millions of parts made, there are variants. Metal finish, exact thickness of material, hardness of material, etc. Then dealing with WW2, you have to consider there would be several (at least) manufacturers of product. So say 10 iron plants made from scratch sight hoods from 1940 to 1945. You're talking serious variations, especially when they're making hundreds of thousands of the product. Just a thought.

Exactly! Plus, the hoods were not maker marked. Indentification can be almost impossible for most of us unless the hood in question has holes (Israeli) or a modified mounting system (Yugoslavian).

I've started paying attention to the sight hood mounting slots in the front sight base as most people do not have the proper tool for hood removal and installation. Often, there's minor damage to the slots, which can be pretty easy to spot. This won't tell me much about the originality of the hood, but at least I know that the hood has been removed and replaced at some point, and it's possible that the original factory targeting has been disturbed, too.

Awhile back, an eBay seller had hoods and capture screws that he said had been taken off of captured rifles by the Russians. This seemed to fit, as RC 98Ks are almost always missing these items. These were cheap at the time, so I kinda stocked up on both. The seller was even willing to hand pick the capture screws that I wanted, so I bought several sets, ranging from screws that are early and beautifully finished, to later, cruder pieces. Don't know whether the seller's still around, or not.
 
Yugo hood for reference:
 

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Here`s three front site hoods that I have.The first one was in an auction, listing it as an original. It doesn`t look anything like the pics of the original site hood that were posted with the auction. In the pics with the two hoods, the one on the right is a Yugo and the one on the left was sold as an original, it`s not.
I have close up pics of the Yugo site hood posted by itself in a thread from about two years ago(3-5-2011) page 77 or 78.
 

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k98 sight hood fake?

I just bought this off a Gunboards member, just verifying with you gents, Charlie

The one I suspect is fake is not attached to the K98.
 

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The one on the right looks repro or Yugo, definitely not, IMHO, German WW2 original.
 
FWIW, just a thought on an earlier post. I know little about sight hoods, but in general, the more of an item like that is made, the less likely there are to be variations within one factory's production. Depending on how detailed the specifications are and how closely they are adhered to, variations among producers may be almost undetectable, or may be obvious. Still, if anyone cares to do so, a microscopic examination of tool marks could detect "families" or even the products of an individual tool setup. Not a job I would care to undertake, though.

Jim
 
One More Front Site Hood

Here`s my newest acquisition, got it from a fellow member of this forum. This one appears to be the real deal. It is the right shape and passes the squeeze test. Sorry about the pics. I couldn`t get my lighting or focus right. Gave up after four times and decided to post what I had.
grimlin13
 

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