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Shooting the Zouave with the "Zouave " Sight

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I finally, tried the famous "Zouave" sight out on a Zouave Rifle

20230127_123449.jpg


The rear sight seems to be made for this sight, as the half-circle sight notch lets the front sight globe sight right into it for a clean sight picture

20230127_123452.jpg


60gr of 777 and .577 Minies do ok, it shoots well enough for target shooting fun

20230127_173835.jpg


I had a decent, high 5 shot group at the head area, then something happened and the remaining 15 moved into a cluster off to the right.....who knows.....maybe it was me, I moved my eye closer to the rear sight , my trigger pull got sloppy.

I'll have to try it again soon
 
View attachment 193672

I finally, tried the famous "Zouave" sight out on a Zouave Rifle

View attachment 193673

The rear sight seems to be made for this sight, as the half-circle sight notch lets the front sight globe sight right into it for a clean sight picture

View attachment 193674
60gr of 777 and .577 Minies do ok, it shoots well enough for target shooting fun

View attachment 193675

I had a decent, high 5 shot group at the head area, then something happened and the remaining 15 moved into a cluster off to the right.....who knows.....maybe it was me, I moved my eye closer to the rear sight , my trigger pull got sloppy.

I'll have to try it again soon

Are you sure your front sight didn’t loosen up a little and rotate a little to the left?
 
Are you sure your front sight didn’t loosen up a little and rotate a little to the left?
It actually did that in my earlier target, because I didn't "lock" the cutout on the ring of the sight into the front sight base, I was trying to get some windage adjustment because the rifle hits a little off to the right, with the factory front sight that is mounted off-center.

I hung my first target at 100 and fired 20 rounds, and noticed that the Zouave sight had moved over to the left. It actually didn't make a huge impact on POI, it just looked like the pattern just kinda wandered over. I loosened the screw and firmly put it into that cutout, where it felt "locked" and retightened it. For this target it didn't move again but that's a good assessment.

I'm probably going to put a thin strip of leather in the ring to tighten it up too, just to make sure.

The rifle may not shoot any better with this sight but the sight picture is nice, and it's fun for target shooting from the bench. I'm hoping to get everything ironed out and make this Zouave into a nice 100 yard target rifle.

The "group" that moved to the right looks tighter than the 5 shot group that hit dead on for windage. But I did change how I used the old, busted up bench rifle rest and that may have put pressure on the barrel, or relieved pressure that was there for the first 5 shots, or any of the other million factors that can change POI during shooting. Next time I'll bring my own sandbag out and stay consistent. This rifle has become one of my "projects" and I won't rest until I get this thing to shoot an actual group at 100. It will tease you with one, like my first target that had a 3-shot group the size of a golf ball at the 100 , then 2 fliers. Or the POI like this will shift.
 
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It actually did that in my earlier target, because I didn't "lock" the cutout on the ring of the sight into the front sight base, I was trying to get some windage adjustment because the rifle hits a little off to the right, with the factory front sight that is mounted off-center.

I hung my first target at 100 and fired 20 rounds, and noticed that the Zouave sight had moved over to the left. It actually didn't make a huge impact on POI, it just looked like the pattern just kinda wandered over. I loosened the screw and firmly put it into that cutout, where it felt "locked" and retightened it. For this target it didn't move again but that's a good assessment.

I'm probably going to put a thin strip of leather in the ring to tighten it up too, just to make sure.

The rifle may not shoot any better with this sight but the sight picture is nice, and it's fun for target shooting from the bench. I'm hoping to get everything ironed out and make this Zouave into a nice 100 yard target rifle.

The "group" that moved to the right looks tighter than the 5 shot group that hit dead on for windage. But I did change how I used the old, busted up bench rifle rest and that may have put pressure on the barrel, or relieved pressure that was there for the first 5 shots, or any of the other million factors that can change POI during shooting. Next time I'll bring my own sandbag out and stay consistent. This rifle has become one of my "projects" and I won't rest until I get this thing to shoot an actual group at 100. It will tease you with one, like my first target that had a 3-shot group the size of a golf ball at the 100 , then 2 fliers. Or the POI like this will shift.

I would try a piece of the thinnest rubber I could find ( .020” or .030” if possible because it would be more “ grippy “ than leather.
 
I would try a piece of the thinnest rubber I could find ( .020” or .030” if possible because it would be more “ grippy “ than leather.
That's a good idea, I may even use a torch and pop the sloppily mounted front sight off that Euroarms stuck on cockeyed , and replace the front sight with the Zouave "Sniper" sight
 
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