Sight-in before finishing?

[sespe]

I want my front sight to look like the one on the right, not have big airplane wings sticking out.  Do I need to sight it in while in the white?  Or can I center it and do all windage adjustments from the rear sight?

[David Rase]

I usually "sight in" and test fire all my rifles "in the white" prior to finishing.  It is much easier to make any needed tweaks to the unfinished rifle than a finished gun.  In fact, this past Wednesday I went to the range and test fired my latest project, an 1803 Harpers Ferry.  Sights were pretty much dead on but the patch and ball loaded hard but once past the crown it went down the barrel smoothly.  A closer look at the crown found some sharp burred areas so I re faced the breech and rercowned the barrel. Much easier with a white barrel vs. a browned barrel.  The only downfall is the time needed for cleaning up the unfinished wood after shooting.
David   

[stubshaft]

I sight in after finishing the rifle.  My sights are not sitting as flush as the one in the picture but I can get them pretty darn close to it.

[smart dog]

Hi,
You can do it a number of ways.  Finish the stock but leave the barrel white and shoot it. Leave the whole thing white and shoot it.  Finish it all and then shoot. In that case just put tape on the barrel below the sight while you file off the excess. Leave just a tape's width of extra on the sides when done.

dave 

[flehto]

Although I usually have my front sight as is the one on the left only not so long, having the base flush w/ the bbl can also be done. I depth mike the front sight blade so it's centered w/ the bbl and have never had to move it when sighting in. This is done w/ Rice bbls.

Filing the base flush w/ the bbl is done before browning or other finishing and is then removed and reinserted after the bbl is finished....you should be able to push it in so the base is as before finishing.

A few shots should be taken to adjust for windage and then the base is filed flush.....Fred

[galudwig]

I got to see the York County Longrifle display at Hellam Preserve in PA last weekend.  Many of the longrifles on display had front sights whose "wings" were finished close to the barrel, but still proud of it with "square" edges instead of the edges conforming to the the oblique flats.  Many also had little decorative cuts in the bases as well.  This one was one of the nicer ones:



To me, this is a visually more pleasing treatment. I think it would also allow some leeway to drift the front sight a bit (if needed) without leaving any ugly gaps. The little edge cuts would help "hide" the sight being off center.

[David R. Pennington]

I know a buider who always test fires unfinished rifles. I have seen him use plastic wrap on the butt stock to keep oils from his face off the bare wood.

[David Price]

I always finish everything except the browning of the barrel before sighting in.  I can't think of any advantage to doing it before browning the barrel.  Why would you want to put up with the aggravation of cleaning the wood, or protecting the finished browning.  Building a complete rifle takes quite a bit of time without spending extra time where it is not necessary.

I know it can be done and I have done it on rifles where people wanted to change the sights on there finished rifle but you have no choice in that situation.

David Price

[Mike Brooks]

I never sight them in, can't see the sights anyway.

[PPatch]

I do the sighting in after the gun is finished, but I don't believe it matters when you do it.

dave

[sespe]

I got to see the York County Longrifle display at Hellam Preserve in PA last weekend.  Many of the longrifles on display had front sights whose "wings" were finished close to the barrel, but still proud of it with "square" edges instead of the edges conforming to the the oblique flats.  Many also had little decorative cuts in the bases as well.  This one was one of the nicer ones:



To me, this is a visually more pleasing treatment. I think it would also allow some leeway to drift the front sight a bit (if needed) without leaving any ugly gaps. The little edge cuts would help "hide" the sight being off center.

What a great detail, thanks!

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I completely finish the rifle prior to the trip to the range.  I consider the testing to be the icing on the build cake.  If I need to file the front sight down, I use a piece of plastic from the lid of a coffee can with a rectangular cut out in it to slip over the blade of the sight, eliminating the danger of hitting the barrel with the file.  I also like to do this job with my brother...he has two functions - one, he is the vise that holds the rifle while I file, and two, he is a much better bench shooter than I and rings the best out of a rifle's accuracy.
I cut the 'wings' off so that they just protrude a little past the diagonal flat.  I never file them flush with the diagonal flat - that looks silly to my eye.
I prefer to drift the rear sight to make up for windage issues...it's easier to disguise than the front sight.  I finish once sighted in with a witness mark on both the front and rear.  I use a little cold chisel with a cutting edge a little less than 1/8", so there's about 1/16" line on both the sight and the barrel.  Almost all of the rifles in Wolfe's Jaeger book have witness marks...makes perfect sense to me.

[Joe S.]

Three jobs,clean this rifle bro.......might as well utilize the help while it's there.Its good to be the older brother

[Daryl]

 

[Jim Kibler]

Hey, I recognize the muzzle end of the rifle your working on   Hopefully your project is going well.

I like to set the front sight in place, trim the base just a little proud of the barrel and primarily adjust with the rear sight.  Once in a while you need to adjust the front sight too.  In these cases, you can just tap the front sight out and trim one of the sides to permit adjustment while the base still is centered over the barrel.

For me it's always been easier to just finish the gun completely and then sight in.

Good luck!
Jim

[t.caster]

I like to finish rifle completely before shooting it.
Put a couple layers of masking tape fore and aft of the front sight, so you don't scratch the barrel while filing front sight down.

[stubshaft]

I like to finish rifle completely before shooting it.
Put a couple layers of masking tape fore and aft of the front sight, so you don't scratch the barrel while filing front sight down.

I found out the hard way that some form of protection is needed near the sight...