The supply of National Match 1903s (on which the M1941 was based) was now essentially non existent, and replacement parts becoming difficult if not impossible to find.

Army is pictured using one of these super accurate 1903s during the Korean War). The M1941 had done yeoman service in W.W.II, but was beginning to get a bit 'long of tooth' although still in use in Korea (even Capt. I've no idea what boxed Targetspots command now, but I assume (hope) rather more than £250.įrankly I'd never put a scope of this type on a modern sporting rimfire, especially one used in the field.The Marines, always interested in long range marksmanship, began to look for a replacement for the USMC Model of 1941 1903 Springfield. He'd been tryiong to sell (he said) it for £350 without success and I eventually got it for £250, a lot for me at the time and five times what the rifle cost. Ringing round the historic arms dealers I found mine complete with its original lovely wooden carrying / storage case with a dealer somewhere in the London area whose name I can't now remember, but he specialised in vintage rimfire military trainer, target etc rifles, and accessories.

The rifle was fitted with iron match sights but my eyes were starting to weaken, I wanted a scope and really fancied a period model of this type that suits this historic rifle model. I got my Targetspot when I bought the BSA 20 odd years ago. Lyman stopped production long before the Millennium, but such is the attraction of the 'Unertl' type scope in the USA, somebody makes copies of Targetspots and others every now and then presumably buying the manufacturing rights. They came in a range of fixed powers, mine being the 20X version. 22LR BSA Mk5 Martini International which were all delivered factory fitted with the two small dovetail mounting blocks on the barrel to take this Lyman and similar models. The Super Targetspot model was often fitted to match rifles. The most common here in the UK are Lyman target models There were several makers of this type of externally adjusted / body sliding under recoil scope until the 1970s or 80s. ie a modern copy of the much older Unertl marine sniper model which if genuine are worth thousands these days to collectors. Which were sold a few years ago by the Leatherwood company.

Unertl 8x