Terry Schultz, 10057
02-17-2023, 11:03 AM
New site for an old musket
First let me say that I know that this sight is not legal for N-SSA but it is only going to be used at my local black powder club and for hunting. I had posted in the WTB forum looking for a site for my musket and at the end of the thread I promised that when I finished my new site I would post here as to what the final product was.
I have an 1863 Springfield musket that I used for many years in N-SSA and I continued to use it at my local Black Powder club for at least the last 15+ years. About a month ago I was wandering down the firing line looking at the other muskets my friends and competitors were using and noticed that many of them had some fancy adjustable sights. The club does not allow anything like a red dot or scope but any type of steel sight is allowed. I was still using my old ?peep site? which was essentially a flat piece of steel with a hole in it that is the limit that is legal in N-SSA. My club shoots at 25, 50, 75 & 100 yards in a single match. My steel sight only has 50 & 100 yard sights. So when the 25 or 75 yard targets were shot I had to guess which sight to use and adjust how much front sight I see threw the hole in the rear sight. We usually have about 27 off hand shooters and I normally finish in the top 10 but I would like to win this once in a wile. So here is what I did.
I had an old Redfield sight that was not in the best shape but felt I could fix it up so I was determined to find a way to mount it on my old musket. First the knobs that adjust the windage and elevation worked but they did not click, they just spun. I found that under each knob was a tiny spring and ball bearing. When I took the spring out it was obvious that it had compressed and was not forcing the ball bearing up into the ratcheting on the knob. I used a razor blade knife to separate the spring coils and this got them working again but I don?t think it will last so I have ordered some replacements. (BTW these spring and ball baring are super tiny and are hard to work with and could be easily lost).
Next I figured out where I wanted to mount the site and determined how much of the wood of the stock I needed to remove to accommodate the mounting arm. I do not think that this stock is an original but is most likely a very old reproduction so I do not think I did a destructive conversion to an original besides which years ago I had already cut this stock down from a 3 band to a 2 band musket.
After removing the wood and profiling the mounting arm on the sight base I manufactured a plate that would attach to the site base and allow me to attach the plate to the stock with two bolts. I also added two small alan screws that would mate with holes on the plate to assure the plate always returned to the same place on the site base arm. Once I had the stock inlet cut and all the parts made to put the sight where I wanted it I took it apart and cleaned it up and reblued all the parts. I had an old bottle of Brownell?s bluing past that I have been using for years but was never really happy with how it worked. I found a package with a product call Blue Wonder, Gun Black I had won years ago in a gun raffle and tried it and it worked better then anything else I had ever used. BTW I ordered some more to keep on hand.
When I was ready to mount the site I noticed a small gap between the base arm and the barrel. I figured that this might allow the site base to wander when shot so I whipped up some JB Weld to fill in the gap. I put the JB on the site base where I wanted to fill in the gap, oiled the barrel and the stock area covered it with some plastic food wrap and remounted the site. Removed any JB that oozed out and let it harden. The next day I removed the site trimmed an excess JB, stained and put some polyurethane on the wood where I had trimmed it and when dry remounted the site. I have not had a chance to get to the range because the weather has just been wet and cold but the site appears to be ready to go. Wish me luck. If this works here are some pictures.
131491315013151
First let me say that I know that this sight is not legal for N-SSA but it is only going to be used at my local black powder club and for hunting. I had posted in the WTB forum looking for a site for my musket and at the end of the thread I promised that when I finished my new site I would post here as to what the final product was.
I have an 1863 Springfield musket that I used for many years in N-SSA and I continued to use it at my local Black Powder club for at least the last 15+ years. About a month ago I was wandering down the firing line looking at the other muskets my friends and competitors were using and noticed that many of them had some fancy adjustable sights. The club does not allow anything like a red dot or scope but any type of steel sight is allowed. I was still using my old ?peep site? which was essentially a flat piece of steel with a hole in it that is the limit that is legal in N-SSA. My club shoots at 25, 50, 75 & 100 yards in a single match. My steel sight only has 50 & 100 yard sights. So when the 25 or 75 yard targets were shot I had to guess which sight to use and adjust how much front sight I see threw the hole in the rear sight. We usually have about 27 off hand shooters and I normally finish in the top 10 but I would like to win this once in a wile. So here is what I did.
I had an old Redfield sight that was not in the best shape but felt I could fix it up so I was determined to find a way to mount it on my old musket. First the knobs that adjust the windage and elevation worked but they did not click, they just spun. I found that under each knob was a tiny spring and ball bearing. When I took the spring out it was obvious that it had compressed and was not forcing the ball bearing up into the ratcheting on the knob. I used a razor blade knife to separate the spring coils and this got them working again but I don?t think it will last so I have ordered some replacements. (BTW these spring and ball baring are super tiny and are hard to work with and could be easily lost).
Next I figured out where I wanted to mount the site and determined how much of the wood of the stock I needed to remove to accommodate the mounting arm. I do not think that this stock is an original but is most likely a very old reproduction so I do not think I did a destructive conversion to an original besides which years ago I had already cut this stock down from a 3 band to a 2 band musket.
After removing the wood and profiling the mounting arm on the sight base I manufactured a plate that would attach to the site base and allow me to attach the plate to the stock with two bolts. I also added two small alan screws that would mate with holes on the plate to assure the plate always returned to the same place on the site base arm. Once I had the stock inlet cut and all the parts made to put the sight where I wanted it I took it apart and cleaned it up and reblued all the parts. I had an old bottle of Brownell?s bluing past that I have been using for years but was never really happy with how it worked. I found a package with a product call Blue Wonder, Gun Black I had won years ago in a gun raffle and tried it and it worked better then anything else I had ever used. BTW I ordered some more to keep on hand.
When I was ready to mount the site I noticed a small gap between the base arm and the barrel. I figured that this might allow the site base to wander when shot so I whipped up some JB Weld to fill in the gap. I put the JB on the site base where I wanted to fill in the gap, oiled the barrel and the stock area covered it with some plastic food wrap and remounted the site. Removed any JB that oozed out and let it harden. The next day I removed the site trimmed an excess JB, stained and put some polyurethane on the wood where I had trimmed it and when dry remounted the site. I have not had a chance to get to the range because the weather has just been wet and cold but the site appears to be ready to go. Wish me luck. If this works here are some pictures.
131491315013151