Turkish mauser front site

[pd5190]

I picked up a 1944 Turkish Mauser loaded with cosmoline, while cleaning noticed the blade for the front sight was off center. My son has a similar era Turkish Mauser and when he bought his front sight blade was also off center. He tapped his over to a more normal alignment. Did the Turks store them this way? Or is there another explanation?

[McNally M.]

If this is how the rifle arrived from the importer (cosmoline still present is a good indicator of that) then it reasonable to assume that the way your front sight currently sits is how the arsenal back in Turkey purposely adjusted it. This was done so as to better line up the axis of the bore with the rear sight, to ensure proper accuracy.

Its not uncommon to find some milsurps with front sights that are drifted off to one side. Once again, this was done to compensate for the bore axis being slightly off center with the rear sight. I have a Yugoslavian Mauser with a front sight that is hanging nearly halfway off the sight base. Perfectly normal, and actually beneficial because it means you have a properly adjusted sight. Your son may find that tapping the sight on his rifle will affect accuracy. If so, just tap it back!