Enfield rear sight question

[Scott Lynch 1460V]

What is th best way to make the rear sight on my two band Parker Hale a peep sight. Solder on a piece of brass and drill? Does anyone produce "sight blanks" for enfield? Kind of like the blank leaves for sprinfields? Any advice would be appreciated. Can't see the rear sight anymore!!!! Scott

[Joe Burchette, 2440V]

don't know of any replacement sight. the way I've done it is to file off of the rear of sight enough to equal the thickness of a thin piece of brass or steel and solder it to the original sight. If I remember, finished sight cannot be any thicker than it was originally. You also are restricted to the hight of finished sight. This is in the rules and I think on the web page. You can also adjust windage by moving the piece you solder on if you start off with it wider then file it to fit.

[Steve Sharpe 0236]

Not sure why you would want a peep sight on an Enfield but the easiest way is to stand the ladder bar UP (90` from the barrel ) and drill the hole in the bottom base square of the ladder bar. The ladder on a 3 band and 2 band Enfield should give you enough room to drill 1 or maybe 2 holes (very small ones). One of the guys on our team uses his 2 band like this.

[R. McAuley 3014V]

CENSORED

[R. McAuley 3014V]

CENSORED

[kb466]

I have been thinking of replacing the rear sight on my British-made Parker-Hale P53 Enfield and was thinking of buying one of the Rich Cross sights from Lodgewood. I was not aware that Rich Cross was also making replacement ladders for the P-H Enfields. I looked on the Lodgewood website but could not find the replacement ladder listed. Does anyone know of a source for these ladders and how much do they cost? If I have to go direct to Rich Cross, does anyone have any contact information for him? Thanks.

One other question-- are these rear sights really silver soldered or are they fastened on with lower temperature soft solder? This may make a difference as to whether I will do it myself as I am hesitant to apply the high temperature to the barrel that is necessary to remove and replace a silver soldered sight.

[Joseph Plakis Jr, 00302V]

You can get solder with 2% silver in it at most plumbing supplies. The melting temperature is a lot less than regular siver solder. It is also a lot stronger than regular solder because of the silver content. I have used it to put on front sights and never had a problem with warping the barrel. You also can use regular solder flux, you just have to wash it off after it cools.

Joe Plakis Jr
Hampton Legion 0302

[kb466]

I went ahead and ordered one of the Rich Cross sights from Lodgewood today. I plan to solder it onto my Parker-Hale P53. I figure it should be a big improvement over the current sight which is always loose and not authentic either.

[R. McAuley 3014V]

CENSORED

[kb466]

Richard,
Thanks for all the good information on soldering. I actually have quite a bit of experience in doing solder work but this information will be very helpful. So now I have a couple of other questions-- do you have any idea what kind of solder was used by Parker-Hale to mount the rear sight on my first generation British-made rifle? The reason I am asking is tht I obviously have to heat up the existing sight to remove it before I can install the Rich Cross sight. I am wondering what level of heat it will need. And this brings me to my second question-- Do you know of any ill effects of heating the barrel to 1100 plus degrees? Are things I should do to minimize any ill effects? Otherwise, I was thinking of using something like StaBrite low temperature silver solder. But if I have to heat it up to a high temperature to remove the existing sight, I guess I might as well use high temperature silver solder to mount the new sight.