Swamped barrel sight placement?

[craigl]

First post from 1st time builder. Am building a .50 cal Isaac Haines style, Dunlap full curl maple stock and basic parts kit, with a Rice 38 inch B weight swamped barrel,rifled for round ball. Got everything inlet (wow- what an incredibly fiddly process!) and will soon need to mount the sights, which appear to be a standard set -blade front and a rear that has a flat top with a small center notch. My understanding is that the front sight should straddle a line 1.5 inches back from the muzzle and the rear sight should straddle a line on the breech end where the barrel thickness (top flat to bottom flat) exactly matches the barrel thickness at the front sight line. Is this correct? A quick and dirty ruler measurement (I'll use calipers when doing it for real) places the rear sight about 8 inches forward of the breech. I ask because most pics I've seen appear to show it more forward than that. This will be primarily a target shooting range gun. Wisdom and guidance gratefully solicited...

 

[jdkerstetter]

Place the rear sight at a point that works for your eyes. 8" is probably too close to the breech.

With the barrel inlet and front sight installed, shoulder the gun and have a helper place the rear sight on the barrel and move it back and forth until it looks good to you with the front sight, target picture. For a "mature" male it will usually end up somewhere over the entry thimble...give or take.

No helper! You can use a piece of self-adhesive magnetic strip on the bottom of the sight.

Should work for you.....but opinions may vary.

Enjoy, J.D.

 

[Zonie]

In my opinion there is no need to be concerned with the barrel size at the front of the barrel when deciding where the rear sight should go.

The rear sight should be located in a place that is fairly easy to see without blocking off a lot of the downrange view.

It also should be in a place that is either forward or behind the point of balance for the gun as most will agree that having the sight located right where your hand will be when carrying the gun is an annoyance.

I think that "further" rather than "closer" to the shooters eye is also better because it puts it closer to the one thing that should be focused on when shooting. The front sight.

There are a number of original guns which have had their rear sights relocated forward of their original location(s) during the lifespan of the guns.
It is felt that this movement of the rear sight forward was due to the owners sight becoming worse as he aged.

I think the best idea for determining the rear and front sight location would be to find photos of the guns built by Isaac Haines and scale it to fit your gun.

 

[ohio ramrod]

If you are building it for your own use . The simplest way to locate the sight is to place the barrel in the stock shoulder the rifle set the sight on the on the barrel with a magnet and move it out until you get a clear focus. Then move it out two inches further to allow for future eye changes. As we get older the eyes get more farsighted. :idunno:

 

[Vaino]

I build spec LRs and place the rear sight just forward {towards the muzzle} of my hand at the LR's balance point. Have been complimented for doing this by a few customers. W/ swamped bbls, the rear sight ends up above the entry pipe......Fred

 

[Zonie]

One of the things to remember about sights is the rear sight should always be a little higher above the bore than the front sight is.

By placing the top of the rear sight higher, the muzzle of the bore will be tilted slightly upward which will launch the projectile on a path that will drop into the line of sight downrange.

This upward angle should not be too great but a little is good so the slightly larger breech on a swamped barrel ends up giving both sights a good starting position even though the rear sight will be above the front sight.

 

[craigl]

Thanks for all the great advice, guys! What I've distilled from your posts is:

1. Too close to breech = bad. Better to move it forward so your eyes can easily maintain a good sight picture;

2. Keep away from balance point so gun is easily carried;

3. Top of rear sight wants to be a bit higher than top of front sight so bore is angled a bit upwards to loft the round into downrange aim point.

Thanks again!

 

[Pigslayer]

Ditto on that!!
:bow:

 

[Longsmoke]

Just remember, don't make the front too short to start with. If it hits too high you have to file the rear or replace the front. If the rear gets too short it hide from line of sight on a swamped barrel.

 

[B.Habermehl]

Sights are among the last things I do when building a gun. All shapeing should be done as well as the patch box. Any thing that will affect the balance point of the gun. Now determine where "no sight land" is by gripping the rifle at the balance point. Mark this with a magic marker or similar. Use any of the methods previously described to hold the rear sight in place to suit your eyes. Usually it will focus best in front of the "no sight land. Now fit your dove tails. Keep your front sight as high as possible while you do your initial shapeing. Finish, shoot and file the front sight down as needed. BJH