Replacing front sight?

[JRL1164]

Long story short. My Traditions Pennsylvania Rife has given me some trouble at the range. Well anyways after some adjustments and getting groups roughly 3" at 50 yards I'm not yet content. Anyways I noticed my front sight was slightly bent. Thought that may be my error. I'm normally a good shot.

Anyways so I ordered traditions fiber optic sight for it (I know, I know). I thought it would solve my issue and give me a better sight picture. Well none the less it did not fit. Verified with Traditions but it didn't fit the rear was way too loose for my liking.

Well I boogered up the front sight too much taking it out. Ignorance on my part really. First time swapping out dovetail sights, thought the blade had to be removed to get the dovetail out. Well the original blade measures 5/16 in height. With that my rear sight was adjusted as tall as it would go for elevation correction. If I replace the front with a 3/16 tall blade will the correction be too much for the rear elevation to compensate for?

 

[Gene L]

Don't know. The lower front sight will raise the strike of the bullet by quite a bit, especially with such a dramatic change. My rifle, I had to stake the rear sight, which only takes a moment. And a good nail set. It was loose too.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Partner, I'd get a thin, silver, front sight post, from Track of the Wolf, as tall as they offer, install it, and then carefully using a file, lower it until your rifle is re-sighted in. The silver works well in low light, the thin blade will give you more precision than the "2x4" one normally finds on a factory rifle.

I did this with my Pedersoli Frontier, and it went from so-so accuracy, to a nail driver.

LD

 

[Grenadier1758]

I am assuming that originally the ball was impacting the target low and you raised the rear sight to raise the point of impact. Production guns are supplied with tall front sights and the gun out of the box shoots low.

You are planning to install a shorter front sight. Lowering the front sight will result in a higher impact. Replace the front sight with one of the original height or a bit taller. The reason for the taller front sight is to let you place the adjustable rear sight to the center of travel for a more solid sight. The sight at the top of its travel can be unsteady making for less than optimal accuracy.

Sight adjustment follows the rule of Front Opp osite - Rear Same. You lower the height of the front sight to raise the impact on target.

The procedure for adjusting elevation that I recommend when using an adjustable rear sight and a fixed front sight, is to adjust the rear sight to the center of the adjustment. The impact on target will be low. Elevation is adjusted by filing down (lowering) the front sight. If you raise the impact too much you can lower the rear sight or if you feel you have lowered the front sight too much, you raise the rear sight.

 

[Rifleman1776]

All good advice so far, with the exception of reccommending a silver front sight. I have a beautiful rifle with a silver front sight that I had to keep blackened with a felt tip marker in order to shoot. They simply reflect too much sunlight. A tall black iron sight would, IMHO, be what you need. Shoot, file some off, shoot again and again until you get on point. Good luck.

 

[JRL1164]

Thanks all, I wasn't wanting to file the front sight but after reading everybody's input I now understand why. Plus I was not taking into account that the rear sight being raised fully could also affect my sight picture. So I think I will just order the original replacement and take the time to file it down as needed and do it right. I understand filing and I'm not ignorant. I'm a mechanic by trade I just found it unnerving removing metal from a expensive to me rifle. But I know if I'm slow and methodical with it I'll be fine. Thanks again for the input guys.

 

[azmntman]

**Get the gun tuned in with the best load possible before ya file anything. Be a shame to site it in with say 55 grains and a .490 and later learn 80 grains and a .495 shrinks the grouping in half and raises POI 6 inches :td:

I suggest the "Dutch System" is ordered with the new site and READ it all before ya start filing. Somebody will (please) give a link to the system?

 

[JRL1164]

Thanks I would like to take a look into that.

 

[Pete44ru]

I suggest the "Dutch System" is ordered with the new site and READ it all before ya start filing.

Somebody will (please) give a link to the system ?

http://www.blackpowderrifleaccuracy.com/

Just to clarify:

When adjusting sights, aka: moving the POI (point of impact)...........

A FRONT sight should be moved in the OPPOSITE direction that the POI movement is desired.

A REAR sight should be moved in the SAME direction that the POI movement is desired.

 

[Pete G]

Sight adjustment can be confusing to a lot of folks. Just remember that the sight remains aligned with the target, and in reality you are moving the gun. That means that instead of moving the rear sight up, you are actually moving the rear of the gun down, thus shooting higher.

 

[Dr5x]

The last thing you should ever consider doing to achieve accuracy is to start filing away bits and pieces of your sights. It is extremely difficult to unfile anything.

I have been out of touch for about 3-4 weeks with computer p and health problems. Thought I was going have st Peter handing me my personal banjo but that didn't happen.

My web site is out of date as far as email address and phone number are concerned.

To get those corrected costs more than Social Security will allow me to have done.

New phone number is
314 759 9106

New email is
[email protected]

Glad to be back aboard

Dutch

 

[Billnpatti]

Okay, as a mechanic, you understand measuring a thing in terms of thousandths of an inch and you most likely have a micrometer capable of measuring thousandths of an inch. So, I am going to share a formula with you for figuring how much to file off your front sight (or how much to move your rear sight).

First you carefully measure from your front sight to your rear sight in inches. Be as exact as possible. Then calculate the distance from your muzzle to the target in inches. For 50 yards it will be 1,800 inches. Then measure in inches how much you want to raise your point of impact on your target. Divide the distance from your front to your rear sight in inches by the distance to your target in inches. Then multiply that number by the number of inches you want to raise your POI. The number that you get will be the amount in inches that you want to remove from your front sight (or that you want to raise your rear sight if it is adjustable. If you want to express it in thousandths of an inch, simply multiply your final answer by 1,000 to convert to thousandths of an inch. But, do not remove all of the calculated metal from your front sight in one sitting. File about half of it off and then see where your POI is. File little by little checking all the time to see where your POI is going. That way, you won't over do it. You can file off but you can't file on. :haha:

 

[JRL1164]

:haha: True statement. Well I got my sight back in and installed. I used a machinist ruler and its perfectly centered up front. So next weekend I plan a trip to the range and seeing how she's shooting. I know I'm starting from scratch sense my sights have completely changed. But I went with the original sights for ease and Traditions did have the best price out the door than Dixie and Track of the Wolf. I usually shoot 70 grains of Goex FFG and .015 patch and RB. May see how 80 grains do. Read somewhere maybe here on the flintlock side that the Penn. likes a lot of powder.

I dunno haven't experimented with a ton of loads. I started with 50 and worked up to 70 and had pretty good groups for a new to me gun. I was about 3" at 50 yards. But me being a perfectionist it wasn't good enough. Well anyways we'll see how next Saturday goes.

 

[Cowboy]

The last thing you should ever consider doing to achieve accuracy is to start filing away bits and pieces of your sights. It is extremely difficult to unfile anything.

I have been out of touch for about 3-4 weeks with computer p and health problems. Thought I was going have st Peter handing me my personal banjo but that didn't happen.



Glad to be back aboard

Dutch

Glad your back and feeling better Dutch!!!

Respectfully, Cowboy :thumbsup:

 

[Black Jack]

Welcome back Dutch....glad you are better!

 

[Dr5x]

Black Jack
Thank you for the kind thoughts.
I think I may have found someone who will correct my web site for less than an arm and a leg..

There have been no new subscribers for about a month.
Perhaps my work is done.

Dutch

 

[ohio ramrod]

I hope your work is not finished. There are still many people who can benefit from your knowledge and willingness to share it. :idunno: