Austin & Halleck Mt. replacement sights

[HOOT]

My aging eyesight and the original sights,(full buckhorn rear and silver blade front,) on my 50 cal. A&H Mountain Rifle just don't cut it! Unfortunately, I must replace these sights or retire the rifle. I'm guessing that some brand of fiber optic or perhaps an adjustable rear and bead front might help. I'm having trouble finding stock sights that have the .350" dovetail. I'd rather not file the barrel as a future owner might prefer the original sights. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mazo kid]

Rather than filing the dovetail for the sight I would file the sight base itself. I would recommend a smaller tang sight, but then I am more of a traditionalist.

 

[paulvallandigham]

First: This is not a custom gun by some famous builder, like our Mike Brooks, or Roy Stroh. Its not going to hold any real value by the time you sell it. If you wait for the inflation to increase some more, you may up receiving more "cash " than you paid for the gun, but that cash will buy less then, too. So, don't be so darn worried about any changes you make to the gun. The people in the market for any used gun are interested in a gun that works, costs them less than a new one, and has had the bugs worked out of it. If you change that front sight to make it easier for you to see, than the factory one, the buyer is likely to consider that an asset- not a loss for choosing to buy your gun vs. an "original".

Now, having said that, call any supplier, and they can fix you up with a new front sight with the correct sized dovetail. Only the folks at Dixie Gun Works, in the distant past, have shown an indifference to customer service, in my personal experience- so Often I stopped buying from them.

I suspect that is why we have so many Other suppliers these days. And, I hope Dixie has changed how it deals with customers over the phone. They almost had to change, or they wouldn't be in business any longer. The number of complaining customers were legions! NO company can stay in business very long with so many unhappy customers telling all their friends to find another supplier.

 

[sundog]

I have had more than my share of vision troubles. One of the guys at the gun club suggested painting the front sight- WOW
I used white nail polish as a base and then when the white was dry painted the white nail polish over with DayGlo orange nail polish, finally I coverd the dayglo orange with 2 coats of clear nail polish. Man I can see that front sight now !
For me this was a cheap easy solution. With the 2 over coats of clear the paint job is rugged and resists chipping and getting messed up.
Worked for me.

 

[Many Klatch]

My aging eyes required mounting the rear sight way up the barrel. The notch in the rear sight has been enlarged and I have a big square front sight. The rear sight shows daylight around the front sight now. I also went with progressive lenses in my glasses (no line bifocals). Somewhere in those glasses there will be a place where I can see well enough to shoot.

Try some of those changes. There have been a number of original guns found with several dovetails in the barrel, where the owner had to keep moving the rear sights out as his vision got worse.

Barring all that welcome to the smoothbore shooters club. We don't need no stinking rear sights (can't see them anyway).

Many Klatch

 

[Leatherbark]

This was discussed recently on another forum. Seems a large "V" rear sight and a large front "Bead" was the best for old eyes. Now when your eyes get old and the sights get fuzzy you need more "Daylight" around the rear notch. Actually for me I like a square black post on the front and a rear square notch with lots of "daylight" on each side of the post when sighting. My P.O.A is the top of the sight.

I may try that large "V" and large "Bead" that those fellows were discussing though........

If you decide to fit a sight to your small dovetails, just file the bottom of the sight until it fits the dovetail on your rifle. Although the angle of the dovetails between the metric and English may be slightly different....................Bob

 

[playfarmers]

Before they went out of business, I had them send a fiber optic front sight for my Mountain rifle. I no longer have the rifle, but the front sight was great.

 

[maypo59]

I may try that large "V" and large "Bead" that those fellows were discussing though........

My first kit was a traditions "st louis hawken" ok gun, lot of work to get right, and it turned out fine. Shoots great, but had crappy, and I do mean crappy, plastic "hunting" sights on it. I over tightend the rear one in the elevation plane and cracked it, so I sat down with the TOW book of dreams and research, and found a set with the V notch and white bead front, I think they were from a TC, and ordered and mounted them. What a difference! The best part is in low light in the deer woods I can now pick them up way better.
way better.

 

[paulvallandigham]

IMHO, if your eyes are too old to see a rear sight with a round or square notch, changing to a rear sight that has a " V " notch will be a disaster.

Better to widen the square notch, and use a straight post, or one of those plastic sights, where you can see daylight on both sides of the front sight in your rear sight. Just as when using a peep sight, the brain will center that front sight in the rear sight notch when you LOOK THROUGH, not at, the rear sight and focus on the front one.

 

[Tom Compton]

1. file the sight not the barrel

2. take a look at the rear sight in this link or search TOW for RS-CA-PEEP-16.
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(l...=14&subId=167&styleId=768&partNum=RS-CA-PEEP.

3. look at using a Merit or similar disc or make a pin hole to fit the shooting glasses (EVERYone should wear some kind of glasses shooting a ML - flint or per-suction). I made some from a drink can and a spring loaded ladies hair clip thingy. 'bout the size of the last bone of yore little finger, drilled different size holes to see what worked epoxy to the clip and paint it flat black. Use the largest hole that clears up the rear sight.

4. if those don't appeal to ya, rig a peep on the tang of the rifle. a friend soldered a piece of copper tube to a base and put a plug in with the size hole he needed. Solid not adjustable. File/drift the front sight (see the consistancy here?)

5. or just buy a rear peep.

TC

 

[Rifleball36]

I too have a hard time seeing the sights. the rear sight is fuzzy so I moved the rear sight back toward the breach. This made a big differance.

 

[HOOT]

Many thanks to all for the info!