P-H Whitworth Rear Sight

[Tom-in-Pittsburgh]

Years ago I had a Parker-Hale Whitworth rifle. It had what looked like a "standard" Enfield rear sight, but it came with a couple of different rear sight inserts that you could put on depending on the range you were shooting at. These were held on by a small screw and were also windage adjustable.

Does anyone know if these sights are available anywhere?

TIA

[R. McAuley 3014V]

You might check with Rich Cross. He makes replacement ladders graduated in either 900 or 1100 that will fit Parker-Hale's rear sight base for folks who want to correct their P-H rifles and muskets. However, if you intend to shoot the 52-bore rifle at any range greater than 200 yards, it may be best to fit the rifle with a globe front sight and tang rear sight, and simply dispense with the standard ladder rear sight altogether. The ladder rear sight on original Whitworth rifles were graduated for both the hex bullet on one side, and the conical bullet on the other. But to use the ladder sight takes a great deal of effort just to hold without movement, whereas the tang sight is much more forgiving at ranges of 300, 600, and 1,000. Once you have witnessed someone shooting an original Whitworth or Rigby rifle at 1,000 yards, and they consistently hit the bull's-eye (or stay in the 10-ring) for 10 shots, a globe front sight and tang rear sight makes a lot more sense than an open ladder sight!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83gGIotGXN8