2-Band Rear Sight Windage Adjustment

[Rokon]

That was an excellent post on installing a higher front sight on the Enfield musket.

Any ideas for adding windage adjustment to the rear military Enfield musket sight?

 

[Artificer]

As you know, the Rear Sight has a "slide" to adjust elevation for longer range, but no windage adjustment.

To adjust for windage, you have to pick which part of the rear sight you will use to aim. It can be the sight notch that is up when the ladder and slide are folded down or the slide itself. Come to think of it you can do the following to both aiming notches, if you wish.

First we have to fully understand something about how we adjust the point of impact by adjusting the Rear Sight. On a Rear Sight, you move the aiming area or notch TOWARDS the direction you want the group to change closer to the center of the Bullseye. IOW, if your bullet impact groups are to the RIGHT of the center of the Bullseye, you have to move the Aiming Notch to the LEFT. That means you ONLY file the left side of the notch. If the impact groups are to the LEFT of the center of the Bullseye, then you have to move/file only the RIGHT side of the notch. SPECIAL NOTE: If you are unfamiliar with this, I strongly suggest you print this out and take it to the range when you adjust the rear sight notch or notches.

OK, so what happens when the rifle is far off left or right that opening the notch enough would make the opened notch TOO wide? In that case you almost have to measure where the NEW notch should be from one side of the sight and then fill the old notch with weld and cut a correctly positioned notch with a "Three Square" or Triangle Shaped Jewelers File.

IF you want to do that on the notch on the slide, then you HAVE to take the slide off the ladder to weld up the current notch so as to cut a new notch. FAIR WARNING: The slide is held in position by a somewhat fragile spring and TINY little screw. You must get a jeweler's screwdriver that fits the tiny screw slot, or you will bugger it up so bad when you take it off, it may not be able to be tightened down again. ALSO, both the spring and spring screw are so small it is quite easy to LOSE them should you drop one or both on the floor.

The second diagram in this link shows you the rear sight parts and the explanations for each number are above that diagram. http://www.blockaderunner.com/Catalog/parts.html

Gus

 

[Artificer]

Sorry, I later realized that I had not mentioned you also should disassemble the rear sight ladder from the Rear Sight Assembly if you need to weld up the notch that shows when the ladder and slide are folded down.

Gus

 

[Rokon]

Thank you, Gus. That's a very helpful remedy, especially your recommendation on welding up the existing notch.

Years ago Lyman offered a bendable, metal bracket that could be secured to the rear tang screw and then came up along the breech of the musket. There it was tapped for their Model 57 rear receiver sight.
It was a nifty setup and didn't affect the original musket.

Anyone seen a similar set-up?