Enfield rear sights

[phillicr]

Can anyone tell me whether the leaf for an Enfield P1853 rear sight is removable from the base? Can the hinge pin be tapped out to replace the leaf without removing the entire sight? If so, how does the leaf spring attach?

Chris Phillips

[John Holland]

You are correct, just drift the pin out and the ladder is free. The spring is retained by the forward screw. The sight bases on the repro's are hard soldered (or brazed?) to the barrel. The originals were silver soldered.

JDH

[satwel]

I just removed the sight ladder from my P1858 Enfield last week. Just tap on one end of the hinge pin and it will slide out. To make it easier, press down on the spring to releave the tension on the hinge. When re-assembling the sight, do the same thing otherwise it's tough to get the pin aligned with the hole in the sight ladder.

[phillicr]

Thanks to both of you. If I wanted to replace a repro sight base soldered on an original barrel with an original sight and base (and I'm not sure I do, hence my query), is this something that most gunsmiths could manage? Is there a downside to swapping out the entire sight?