PH Volunteer at 50 yards...

[nagantino]

My club only has a 50yard range. When shooting the PH Volunteer .451 I use the vernier sight at its lowest setting or the lowest of the 3 little 1,2,3 notch settings that came with the gun. Trouble is, to hit centre I have to aim well below the target. It works but is there any way to adjust the sight so I can aim at the centre of the target. The Volunteer is for longer range shooting, I get that.

 

[TFoley]

All you can do is to cut down the foresight. As you say, trying to shoot a rifle designed for target shooting at 1000 yards is going to be a PITA to shoot at a twentieth of that distance. As it is the Volunteer version you could buy a new foresight unit that adjusts vertically - not cheap, but then I don't know what YOU call cheap. A couple of hundred dollars from MVA if you want the very best there is. It would also enable you to use your vernier sight, rather than the issue backsight which is, in any case less than useless at fifty yards.

I'm amazed, TBH, that the bullet has even begun to stabilise at that range - I know that mine haven't.

 

[pchwcf50110]

I have PH and Euro Arms versions of the Whitworth and Volunteer. The rear sights just didn't work that great for me for either targets or hunting. I ended making a bracket that attached to the the lock screws on the left side and had a dovetail machined into it to accept a Williams elevator peep sight from an old 5D sight I had laying around. The long sight radius makes accurate shooting so much easier. Pedersoli makes a bracket for mounting a vernier sight on their version of the Volunteer.

 

[nagantino]

I’m thinking of making lower sight piece to fit into where the screw shown is. Small and fiddly but it might work.

 

[Kno-ie]

You have a couple of routes to take. 1, find a taller front sight. 2, build up the front site. or 3. file down the rear sight even more. If you take down the front sight any more you'll be launching your rounds into space. You may even try to lower your powder charge. The sight kit that comes with Pedersoli Volunteer that I tried on my rifle only allowed me to zero at 300 yds. nothing less. I knocked out the front sight on mine and replaced it with a taller globe and fabricated a new rear tang base. Now I'm good for 50 to 800 yds
Below is my 100 meter target as I tested the new setup
Kno-ie

 

[Kno-ie]

nagantino
One other site adjustment may be in your front site. On the factory as issue front site of the Pedersoli Volunteer which is a post in a ring base. That site can be removed and looking at the underside there is a small screw driver slot that can be used to raise or lower the post. I'm not sure how well Pedersoli followed the P-H construction but you may have the same style sight. In my case the slot in the screw is very tiny and difficult to find a screw driver to fit the slot.
Good luck, Kno-ie

 

[nagantino]

I have never heard of that, but it would be a solution for sure. It’s a great idea and logical ...has any one else looked at that?

 

[Kno-ie]

nagantino
Picture is worth a thousand words, see below.
Kno-ie

 

[nagantino]

Thanks for that Kno-ie. It’s left me wondering, does the PH have a similar screw?

 

[Kansas Jake]

Another simple solution would be to use the black stick on target patches or a magic marker to make an aim point below the target that brings the point of impact to the center of the target.

 

[Bad Karma]

I’m thinking of making lower sight piece to fit into where the screw shown is. Small and fiddly but it might work.

That’s what I would do... or just fit a taller front sight. If it’s a standard dovetail you could try the Lyman 17 atc which is .800” tall more or les.