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Off Center rear sight on Pedersoli 1863

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I jinxed myself with all this talk about Springfield rear sights, I took the leaves out of the rear sight, of the used , older Pedersoli 1863 and I now know why the last owner made home brew, crude sight leaves with holes drilled way to the right.......the rear sight base is cocked way off to the left, it seems the Pedersoli worker had the barrel tilted when he drilled the screw hole and dovetail for the rear sight......

My ideas are.......to just take all of it off and just leave it as is, and maybe cold weld a different rear sight on in the right location, i.e. if I can pick up a cheap , early Trapdoor sight.

I picked this up for $500 so I'm not too worried about it, its gonna be my summertime "pistol pit" range shooter with the cheap Dixie minie balls that you have to size yourself. Also the .58 REAL bullets Enfield58 sent me.
 
My ideas are.......to just take all of it off and just leave it as is, and maybe cold weld a different rear sight on in the right location, i.e. if I can pick up a cheap , early Trapdoor sight.

It's a good idea. I'd make a go of it, that is if you can find a "cheap" trapdoor. What is your price range for one? I might have a recommendation, if it's in your price range. It depends what you mean by cheap.
 
Contact the below to see if he will help you, might be worth a try


Service points & Warranty service for Pedersoli.

LEE SHAVER GUNSMITH
404 East 17th St. - P.O. Box 570 - 64759 - LAMAR, MO.
 
Like 50 bucks-ish for the early type rear sight. A Buffington sight would be even better but they tend to go for over $100. I think either would look pretty good on the rifle and make it shoot able.

I'd JB Weld "Hi Heat" it to the barrel after I made sure it was in the right spot. In my opinion it's pretty much the same as "brazing" . I'm not paying someone to work on a $500 "range fun rifle" if I can make it look good myself.

Using the existing hole and dovetail is senseless because that new sight would then be cocked.
 
Maybe Lee Shaver has a rear sight for the Pedersoli Trapdoor.

I'm kinda set on the Trapdoor sight since it has windage adjustment and the barrel profile should be similar enough to allow the rounded section of the base to sit right on that 1863 barrel.

I used a 1873 Trapdoor front sight on a Euroarms 1841 rifle and it sat right on there with no need to open up the sight base.
 
Oh wow, some of those look ok. Thanks for the link.

A Buffington would be cool but it looks like it has a screw coming out of the bottom, where the earlier one doesn't.

I don't know if the screw on there is necessary or can be removed
 
Oh wow, some of those look ok. Thanks for the link.

A Buffington would be cool but it looks like it has a screw coming out of the bottom, where the earlier one doesn't.

I don't know if the screw on there is necessary or can be removed

Sorry.... I didnt see the screw. I don't see why the screw couldn't be removed though...... I might be wrong.

SD
 
If the screw isnt needed for windage adjustment and can be taken out , I may go with that because I love that sight. I had some 03 Springfield "unmentionables " with nearly the exact same sight and its great for target shooting.
 
Apparently that screw is required, it would be screwed into a tapped hole on the later Trapdoors and also serves to allow the sight to pivot on it for windage adjustment.

However it looks like the early "Buckhorn" 1873 Trapdoor will fit (with being JB Welded in place)

I dont think a Krag sight , although similar, will fit.

I feel any old, 1800s era military sight will look good on the rifle as long as it is close enough in height to the stock sight to actually work and the curvature of the base isnt that narrow.

I'm not looking to compete for gold medals with the rifle, just trying to get it to look good and hit where it points at 50-100 yards. I'm trying to avoid a "Jimwacked" look.
 
You could try Lodgewood Mfg. Ltd.

They’re out of Wisconsin. They specialize in about everything you could think of when it comes to civil war muskets. They work on original as well as reproductions.. Pedersoli, Euroarms, Armisport/Chipia. Excellent customer service with extremely reasonable prices. They also carry a very large inventory of parts for original and reproduction rifled muskets. They’re very knowledgeable and have been in the business for quite some time.

They’ll do about anything you’d like done. Again, very reasonable prices. Excellent workmanship.

Their website is: lodgewood.com

Sorry for not pasting it on here for you to click on. Using my smartphone and lack the knowledge to do so? If I was on my PC I could and would.

Anyway, check them out my friend. You might be pleasantly surprised!

Respectfully, Cowboy
 
Why not get a inexpensive dovetail sight large enough to fit the leaf base on it. Mill off the sight flat. Mill dovetail on original base at the angle necessary to make it fit flat level on center. Locate the original base on the new dovetail so the base is top center of barrel. Weld or braze base to new dovetail. If possible pick up screw hole off set. If not just make sure it's very tight in the dovetail. Trim for aesthetics.
 
That's an idea but seems labor intensive for a "range beater", also given that there seems to be all kinds of people outbidding me on fleabay Trapdoor sights I had thought about just removing the whole rear sight mess and aiming it like a smoothbore.
 
That's an idea but seems labor intensive for a "range beater", also given that there seems to be all kinds of people outbidding me on fleabay Trapdoor sights I had thought about just removing the whole rear sight mess and aiming it like a smoothbore.
Yes it is a bit involved but as long as you don't consider it to be an overnight project it could be done carefully and cost effective to give you proper sighting. In the meantime as you say, sight like a smoothbore.
FishDfly has good idea too.
 
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