I think someone has been messing with this rifle and there is no telling what has been done to it. Get a gun smith to take a look at it before you screw it up anymore! It could be an easy fix?
That rear sight is standing about 1-1/4" above center bore, and the rear sight is only about 1/3" above the center bore... do you not realize how extreme of an angle that creates with the bore (provided the bore is remotely centered, which it clearly isn't)? Going to a lower rear sight and no front sight (the way he's headed if he files it anymore) isn't going to solve that. OP also stated that the rifle is shooting great with the load he's using, so stabilization isn't an issue. There is something mechanically wrong with the barrel itself.First I’d take that rear sight and put it somewhere you’d never find it again. Put the original sight back on and work on filing the front sight you have or buy one. We can’t help much without seeing the front sight. Start your powder load at the caliber 45 grains and work up. If you have a slow twist barrel you need more powder. 25 just isn’t enough for a 45.
Sometimes, if you really want to help someone, you can't put full faith in his description of the problematic situation. It could be misperceived or misdescribed or misunderstood.
Might be he’s doing all these sight adding and adjusting and shooting offhand instead from bench and bags. Who knows. I’ve never ran across something that had a bent barrel or needed that type of rear sight height and I have a military rifle collection spanning 250 years. Not enough info. Could be he’s a terrible shooter. With a flintlock I’m impressive from a bench. Offhanded I suck.
he also said he's shooting rested from a bench.... if he's a terrible shooter, why is he getting good groups? Did you even read the thread? "I had a normal / traditional sight on it to start with and it shot low. I had to put this ugly, tall sight on it to bring it up that 1.5'. I'm shooting on a solid rest from a bench. It's very accurate, putting the last three shots in the same jagged hole." (post #7)
Okay, and then if he's misperceived something and has faithfully reported to you his misperception, then you can only propose a solution to a situation that has been misdescribed to you, though not intentionally. I'm a little more cautious, particularly since I've made mistakes in characterizing or describing problems myself.
But it's been fun.If the sights are in the middle of the barrel and it shoots as you indicated the bore may not be concentrically bored? I wouldn't even consider bending the barrel. If you can't solve your problem get rid of the rifle. You are already chasing your tail and it may get worse if you continue on the path you choose?
Ah, so what I missed here is that this is the same rifle mentioned in woodsnwater's other thread What do I have here? That thread sure made the gun look like it had been rode hard and put up wet. And there's no telling what's wrong with it. I should have been paying more attention. I'm beginning to sense something like a case of Münchausen by proxy.
This is perhaps a matter of interpretation, but in the five pages of comments in that thread, and the number of comments concerning alterations that had apparently been made to it in various ways, things that just don't look quite right with it, suggestions of things requiring repair before firing it (possibly requiring a milling machine), suggestions to take to a gunsmith, and your own report about first shooting it ... that goes in the direction of "rode hard and put up wet" for me. But opinions may vary on this, I suppose. I do wish you luck with it, but it does look like a real "project" involving some mystery.
