Traditional Muzzleloading Association
Shooting Traditional Firearms and Weapons => General Interest => Topic started by: No Powder on February 01, 2023, 04:26:58 PM
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I'm certainly not a gun builder. But I know there is a rule of thumb regarding the height of sights. I believe the front sight should be about 1/16" higher than the rear sight. Something like that. Is there a rule of thumb for the approximate width of a front blade sight based on the width of the notch in the rear sight? I have filed a front sight to make it more narrow using trial and error. I have been having a little trouble with the daylight on either side of front sight, and I would rather not change sights.
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I'm certainly not a gun builder. But I know there is a rule of thumb regarding the height of sights. I believe the front sight should be about 1/16" higher than the rear sight. Something like that. Is there a rule of thumb for the approximate width of a front blade sight based on the width of the notch in the rear sight? I have filed a front sight to make it more narrow using trial and error. I have been having a little trouble with the daylight on either side of front sight, and I would rather not change sights.
I don't believe there's any rule of thumb other than one files their sights to the height(s) they need to be when zeroing in (your choice of distance)... All of my "Rifle's" top front blade sight's are just about 1/16th inch lower than the top of my Rear Sight's "V" notch / measured from off the top barrel flat...
However, I shoot barrel lengths from 28" through 42" and I doubt you'll find any two rifle's (sight heights) are the same - most likely because of barrel length and the Rifle's comb drop which in my case(s) are anywhere from 2-1/2" through 3-1/4" ... One needs to take into consideration as well, the Powder Charge they zeroed with and the ball weight they are using (example; .440 vs .445). All these factors come into play - as does shooting your zeroing in... If zeroing in - in a "humid" climate,,, your ball will shoot high in a dry climate" - also the "sea level" at where you shoot will come into play... There's a whole lot of factors that come into play.
Of course there's also "dead center & 6 o'clock hold" that can play into the factors of your preferred aiming stance / as well as the elevation you're shoot from... I'm a fixed sight's shooter, so I have to rely on my best judgement of my hold - dependent on the distance of the shot after reading my shooting condition... I can't explain it very well, but I can do it from 40+ years of experience... :shake
Jim Beckworth's Hawken Rifle... Notice how low his Front Sight is as compared to the height of his Rear Sight.
(https://i.imgur.com/4ujcKRH.jpg)
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WOW...hey Joe this weekend is to be very cold. But if you're not doing anything next weekend, come over to PA and we'll take one or so of my flintlocks to the range and we'll have at it. Of course I'll supply the powder, balls, patches and the file. That's the least I could do...WOW!!!
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That sounds like a heck of a good deal, Tom!!! :toast
There are quite a few original muzzle loading rifles over in the Museum of the Fur Trade [Chadron, Nebraska] that are from the Fur Trade Era, and the one thing they all have in common - is the taller Rear Sight - with a very low front blade sight... (I'm sure Rollingb has noticed that very thing as well).
Of course, if you know where your rifle is marking at particular ranges - that's all that matters, and my guess is - those folks knew their rifle very well. :bl th up
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When I build a rifle for myself, I fit the front sight first. I'll usually use a magnet to hold a mockup sight in place, and play with various blade widths to make sure I can see the darn things. I'll leave the front sight W-A-Y too high, and file it down after I get the rear sight fitted and am sighting in the rifle. The notch in the rear sight is cut to give me a clear line of daylight on either side of the front blade.
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On my 45 cal TC Hawken I filed too much off of my front sight. When I checked it to see if I had it narrow enough, I had
already taken too much off. Now I have an enormous amount of daylight on each side. That's as bad as having not enough daylight on each side. So some way, I'll learn how to use it. Stay tuned to the postal shoots to see how it works.
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Hey No Po, you might try either filling in the big notch with JB Weld, or soldering in a thin piece of mild metal, and then cutting a narrower notch. Might work.
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I always install a tall front sight, shoot, then measure how much higher/lower the POI is than the POA.
Once I have that deviation in mind, I use a sight height calculator to determine the front sight height needed to achieve zero.
https://www.brownells.com/guntech/sight_height_calculator/detail.htm?lid=13186
I'm a fan of "set & forget" sights, so when I need to shoot at distances further than my zero, I adjust my sight picture (below)
(https://i.postimg.cc/DynCcbd1/Using-the-Peephorn.jpg)
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The 45 TC in question has a primitive sight on that I got from The Gun Works. I believe it is made of some sort of pot metal or white metal. Will J B Weld stick to about anything, and would the recoil cause it to come loose.
I plan to practice with the sights as they are for for a while. But if practice doesn't make perfect, (which it won't) I'll have no choice but to try one of your suggestions.
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JB Weld will do fine, just make sure the surfaces you are sticking to a re squeeky clean. Alcohol followed by acetone is my usual operation. The front sight ramp on my unmentionable is attached with JB weld and it has a lot more recoil than any ML I've used.
~Kees~
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I've found that as the years go by I find myself widening the rear sight notch to get enough daylight just to aim by. The buckhorn rear sights posted by PetahW are excellent for a rifle that will be used frequently at different distances. Some don't recommend them but they do what they were designed to do.