rear sight placement

[erhunter]

I purchased a jim chambers' Early York kit with a 50 cal. 42 inch barrel from rice. The underlugs and front sight will be dovetailed at the shop on the barrel. I plan on doing the rear sight myself with a hacksaw and wonder how far front from the chamber do I put it? Any help will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I think it depends on your eyes. There is no real "set" place. The farther apart the pair of sights the longer the sight-plane... but if the rear is too close to your eye it might be badly out of focus and make sighting difficult. I think fellows like Simon Kenton were known to be excellent shots in the later years because they a) had good distance vision a b) I suspect they had rifles with the rear sight farther from the breech than they did as a young man.

If I can make a suggestion though..., if you plan on carrying the rifle in the woods, find the balance point where you can carry the rifle one handed..., and don't put the rear sight there as it will mess with your hand when you carry the rifle. :wink:

LD

 

[Vaino]

The rear sights somehow always end up over the entry pipe finial on my builds and have never rec'd a complaint as to this location. Of course the buyers are not young boys w/ their excellent eyesight.

w/ the hand at the balance point of the rifle, the rear sight is towards the muzzle side and w/ various swamped bbls, ends up over the finial of the entry pipe.....Fred

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

I scotch tape my rear sight on the barrel and dry fire until I like where the sight is located. Then I install. Remember this gun is for you, the sights need to work for you.
Flintlocklar :wink:

 

[Semisane]

Hot glue is my friend when finding rear sight placement. Easy on/easy off, and holds tight.

 

[erhunter]

thanks for your help!

 

[erhunter]

I'm a little cautious of sawing in my barrel though to far front on it. I am getting a swamped barrel and it tapers the further I go from breech to over half way. I watched the instructional videos by Jim Turpin and he says only go saw tooth depth.

 

[Coot]

If I can make a suggestion though..., if you plan on carrying the rifle in the woods, find the balance point where you can carry the rifle one handed..., and don't put the rear sight there as it will mess with your hand when you carry the rifle. :wink:

LD

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[smo]

I watched the instructional videos by Jim Turpin and he says only go saw tooth depth.

That sounds like a great plan!

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

Jim Turpin and he says only go saw tooth depth.

If you use that for a gauge I would make sure I knew "how many teeth to the inch" on the hack saw blade he is referring to. There are various teeth lengths out there. To me the bottom line is don't go any deeper than to make the sight fixed. Then before you proceed, make sure what metal will be left is adequate for a safe barrel. If the metal left is not sufficient then you need to solder.
Flintlocklar :wink:

 

[R.C.BINGAMAN]

My first custom built long rifle I questioned the builder on the rear sight placement as it seemed to be a bit forward on the barrel, As I was in my 20s,he assured me if my intentions were to keep the rifle it would be to my advantage in my later years he was right. The Issac Haines is still in use and I can shoot it rather comfortable with out the glasses that I use to read. That was close to 40 some years ago. Being a old target pistol shooter and experiencing the ability or lack of to focus on the sights during a match one can appreciate the wisdom of the builder. As mentioned in the other replies if able to affix the sight in a temporary manner and test fire with the sight in different positions I feel would be greatly beneficial before permanent attachment.AN APPLICHIAN HUNTER

 

[Rifleman1776]

it depends on your eyes.

That is the key. There a saying that you can tell the age of a rifles owner by the placement of the rear sight and how many dovetails have been cut into the barrel. A rear sight placed half way up the barrel is appropriate if it works for you.
Instead of the glue and tape thing, try a genuine person friend to help you. Have him move the sight while you are in a shooting position. When it gets to where it looks good for you, mark the spot and head for the hacksaw or solder.

 

[erhunter]

If I solder the sight will that screw up the temper of the rice barrel? If relocating the sight is down the road will it hurt to apply heat 2 more times to the barrel? Thanks for all of your help, everyone!

 

[Black Hand]

If I solder the sight will that screw up the temper of the rice barrel? If relocating the sight is down the road will it hurt to apply heat 2 more times to the barrel? Thanks for all of your help, everyone!

There really is no temper to screw up. Do NOT quick-cool by pouring water on the hot barrel and don't overheat, as you can create scale in the bore.

Why would you solder the sight......?
If a rifle barrel, both sights will be dovetailed. Figure out the proper position as described above and make a dovetail.

 

[Col. Batguano]

I put it right behind the 1-handed (loaded) balance point so that my hand doesn't contact it while carrying. That's about 10"-11" up the bore from the breech. I do NOT put it in until everything that's going on the gun is actually ON the gun, with the exception of the barrel finish. To duplicate a load, I'll tape 2 RB's in position.

 

[Pete G]

If you check pics of the original guns in the RCA books they mostly place the rear sight above the entry pipe, which is usually forward of the balance point on a swamped barrel. Young eyes can shoot with a forward placement but old eyes CANNOT shoot with a rear placement.

 

[MSW]

I agree with Loyalist Dave:

here's what works for me-

I use rubber bands to hold the sights in place, but you can use magnets or hot glue, too.

1) put the front sight about a palm width from the muzzle. I will concede that this shortens the sight radius, but you will find it a ton easier to load and handle the muzzle end without forever whacking your palm into the sight.

2) find the loaded balance point (you can duplicate the weight of a load by taping a pair of balls together and putting that right at the point of the face of the breech plug). put a bit of masking tape about a hand span in either direction of this point. this is a no- go area for your sight: it will jab into your hand as you go about with your rifle ”¦ sort of like poking yourself in the eye with a sharp stick.

3) sit down at the bench, or your dining room table, or whatever suits your fancy, and put the rear sight where you think it should go. pick a target at least 75 yards off; more is better. I prefer to have the rear sight behind, that is on the butt side, of the no- go area. You should be able to get a good sight picture. move the rear sight around until you do. if you have to go to the muzzle end of the no- go area, that's OK too. what's important is that you get a good sight picture: go with what works for you (that's one of the joys of building your own rifle: it fits you, not some generic "95% of the population" notional person).

good luck with your project!

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

but you will find it a ton easier to load and handle the muzzle end without forever whacking your palm into the sight.

My comment is not criticism..... I just plain fail to Understand your quote. How can a sight be in the way? It is on the opposite side of the one loading and the load is perpendicular to it. Who grabs a gun by the muzzle? Please help me out here?
Flintlocklar :grin:

 

[Col. Batguano]

I think everybody does as they are positioning a patch and ball for their short starter.

I'm right handed, and generally lean the gun to my left so the muzzle is at about chest level, which put the front sight to the right. My left fingers are curled around the starboard side of the gun and toward the top. It's not a hard grab, but one of positioning mostly. When using the RR (mostly a range one) I grab it similarly so as to keep the bore guide in the muzzle, and to help guide the rod.

 

[Col. Batguano]

I should clarify the previous statement;

When starting the loading process, I nestle the barrel in my right elbow crook as I'm accessing the components, and measuring the charge. The gun is returned to vertical when dispensing the charge. Then it's returned to the right for starting the components, but returned to vertical for smacking the starter. The butt is to the left and the muzzle to the right, so as to have better access to it with my right hand, which holds the patch, ball, and then short starter.

When I am using the ram rod, the gun is then tilted back to a more vertical position, so the ram rod doesn't scrape against the sides of the muzzle guide or want to flop over to the side as it's being rammed.

Hope that clarifies things. This procedure isn't as necessary with shorter barreled guns, like my 34" barreled Vincent, only on the longer guns, like my 44" and 48" barreled Lehighs etc.