Homemade front sight

[dennyntx]

Just made this sight for my 1853 Enfield would it be legal to use In reenactments it just slides on the barrel and has 2 set screws to hold it thanks

[MR. GADGET]

Got to ask why?

it is way too big, wide and tall.
What distance you plan to shoot?

[PoorJack]

You'reasking this question on a competition board. Better to ask on a reenactor board. I'll save
you some grief. Having been a reenactor for years, short answer is NO. No group I was ever associated
with would allow it.

You need to decide what your use is. From your other threads, your gunsmith is a hack
who charges for screwups. So are you wanting to reenact or shoot live?

[Maillemaker]

This won't fly for NSSA competition. For reenactments you don't really need a sight at all, though it ill make it hard to fix a bayonet without one...

Period Enfields had no provision for windage adjustment. Each man had to know the peculiarities of their particular arm and compensate for it. Of course a hit for them at 100 yards was a target 6 feet tall and 2 feet wide.

While it is possible to do some fidgeting with the rear sight to adjust for windage, what most N-SSA competitors do is have a dovetail front sight installed. This allows you to drift it left or right as needed until you get your gun to shoot straight. This is the sort of thing you want:

http://www.ssfirearms.com/proddetail.asp?prod=58S148A

Any gunsmith that is an actual gunsmith will have a milling machine and a dovetail cutter and will be able to install things like this as a matter of course. Be sure to ask them if they have ever installed a dovetail front sight before. If not, find another smith.

However, you can also do this work yourself. It's not terribly hard. I did an OK job on my revolver:

http://4thla.weebly.com/replace-the-front-sight-on-a-remington-new-army-revolver.html

The trick a lot of folks use is to drill a tiny pocket in the bottom of the sight and then melt some silver solder into it. After you have adjusted your sight to where you want it to be, gently heat the sight post with a torch until the solder flows and then immediately remove the torch. Your sight is now locked in place.

Of course, you should never fiddle with your sights at all until you have found your optimal load that produces the tightest group.

For my Euroarms Enfield with a Whitacre custom barrel, I found it shot competition-worthy groups using an RCBS-Hodgdon bullet with 46 grains of 3F Goex powder. But I now shoot the Moose Moulds 577-420 Wilkinson. This is the closest to a "Holy Grail" bullet that I have found in my 7 years of shooting N-SSA. It is a dream to cast, double-cavity so you can crank them out, and it is the most accurate bullet I have yet to find for my Enfield and Richmond Carbine. I use a 50/50 mix of Crisco and beeswax for lube.

Again I cannot stress the need to resist the urge to start filing on or otherwise fiddling with your sight until you have found a good grouping load. You're just wasting your time. What you should do is make up a series of loads, from low to high, and then shoot at targets with the exact same sight picture and point of aim on all of them. You do not care where the bullets hit - what you care about is the size of the group.

I did this just last weekend with my Sharps carbine - you can see the results here:

http://www.n-ssa.net/vbforum/showthread.php/15470-Alloy-sure-makes-a-difference-for-the-Sharps!

You will notice that not only did the group size change but the center of the group moved around, too! So don't do anything with your sights until you have arrived at your best load workup. And this can take some time to find, depending on how much free time you have to shoot. It's not uncommon for me to spend 6 months puttering about with trips to the range before I am satisfied with a gun.

Steve

[dennyntx]

Thanks eggman

[dennyntx]

Well I may be speaking for me but I LOVE the dang thing!!!!!!!
Thanks eggman I just hope it works so I can adjust my sights

[CAGerringer]

Thanks eggman I just hope it works so I can adjust my sights

You know...if you're looking for a way to hunt deer and keep your original sight...this thing might just work!
I like it.
Charlie Gerringer
Old Dominion Dragoons

[dennyntx]

You know...if you're looking for a way to hunt deer and keep your original sight...this thing might just work!
I like it.
Charlie Gerringer
Old Dominion Dragoonsthanks I just want to be able to go out and have fun at the range shooting it

[R. McAuley 3014V]

The trick to soldering on a new front sight (rear sight base or even a sword bar) is the type of solder used, and how it is applied. Certainly, there are some gunsmiths who use soft plumbing solder, and this may indeed work for a time. But if you want the front sight to be used in conjunction with a socket bayonet, it's recommended that you use a harder solder, like Brownells Hi-Temp 44 solder, which is available either in a wire or flat ribbon. The flat ribbon solder is best to mount a large sight base like a long range backsight, while the wire solder is better to use in mounting the front sight base or sword bar.

Most of the replica arms will have a pilot hole drilled into the barrel at the location of the front sight, the sword bar, or rear sight base. And generally speaking, the replica front sight base, sword bar, or rear sight base have a little teat or post that helps in aligning the part with the pilot hole. There are also jigs and sight holders that you can buy to hold the part in place once you have prepared the surfaces to join. Still other sights are installed in a dovetail slot that is cut into the barrel, either using a milling machine or Dixie Gun Works sells a dovetail jig that can be used with files to cut the proper angles and depth.

But to properly solder these parts into place, you need use either light sand paper or emery wheel to clean each mating surface down to bright metal. Then degrease the surface before applying flux if necessary to enable the solder to adhere evenly to each surface. Once the solder has been applied to both parts and allowed to cool, you can then align the part as carefully as you can with the barrel to keep the part in its correct place (or if you have a jig to secure the part), you need only apply enough heat to the part up with a torch flame until you see the part "settle" into the correct position, then immediately take away the hot flame and allow to cool. You can then clean up the excess with a triangle file or an Exacto knife being careful to avoid scratching the barrel.

[dennyntx]

The trick to soldering on a new front sight (rear sight base or even a sword bar) is the type of solder used, and how it is applied. Certainly, there are some gunsmiths who use soft plumbing solder, and this may indeed work for a time. But if you want the front sight to be used in conjunction with a socket bayonet, it's recommended that you use a harder solder, like Brownells Hi-Temp 44 solder, which is available either in a wire or flat ribbon. The flat ribbon solder is best to mount a large sight base like a long range backsight, while the wire solder is better to use in mounting the front sight base or sword bar.

Most of the replica arms will have a pilot hole drilled into the barrel at the location of the front sight, the sword bar, or rear sight base. And generally speaking, the replica front sight base, sword bar, or rear sight base have a little teat or post that helps in aligning the part with the pilot hole. There are also jigs and sight holders that you can buy to hold the part in place once you have prepared the surfaces to join. Still other sights are installed in a dovetail slot that is cut into the barrel, either using a milling machine or Dixie Gun Works sells a dovetail jig that can be used with files to cut the proper angles and depth.

But to properly solder these parts into place, you need use either light sand paper or emery wheel to clean each mating surface down to bright metal. Then degrease the surface before applying flux if necessary to enable the solder to adhere evenly to each surface. Once the solder has been applied to both parts and allowed to cool, you can then align the part as carefully as you can with the barrel to keep the part in its correct place (or if you have a jig to secure the part), you need only apply enough heat to the part up with a torch flame until you see the part "settle" into the correct position, then immediately take away the hot flame and allow to cool. You can then clean up the excess with a triangle file or an Exacto knife being careful to avoid scratching the barrel.
Thanks so much for the information I think I will get online and see if I can find one of the jigs again thank you

[R. McAuley 3014V]

Here's another video that shows how to level the sight base and secure the sight to the barrel to "set" the solder. Like he says, you can apply a little cold blue around the sight base so the solder won't stick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBHOay8TAiI

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/general-gunsmith-tools/welding/ramp-soldering-jig-prod838.aspx

[RaiderANV]

Spammers are active and well with user names months old and still able to use them. WHY......haven't their user name been removed?