sights

[hortonstn]

what method do you guys use to make ft and rear sights?
thanks
paul

[Acer Saccharum]

Fronts: I file them out of solid, or steel base with silver or brass blade.

Rear: Mill out of bar stock. Lacking a mill, hacksaw and files.

a jig I made for holding a sight by its dovetail:

[rich pierce]

If you have a forge a rear sight can be roughly forged out of square stock pretty quickly.  It just saves metal not time as you still need to do the hacksaw and file work.

[bgf]

Look at the mild steel (c-)channel iron at Tractor Supply or Lowe's -- it makes a good rear sight blank if you split it lengthwise, and not as much filing and cutting as bar stock.  Probably other shapes of material that work also.  Front sight base can be made from folded sheet like an underlug, then solder blade of choice on to it -- plenty solid if kept low-profile.

[Jim Thomas]

Old railroad spikes are my favorite material.    Luckily alot of RR beds have been turned into hiking/bike paths in my area.    Alot of old iron left behind.   

[TMerkley]

For rear sights I use Angle Iron, and just cut down to fit the dove tail and cut the height accordingly. For the notch I use a triangular file.  Front sight, I cut a nickel in half,(shave the sides smooth) and then, cut it to leave two Posts about 1/8 inch apart and solder it to a copper base.  I usually use a soft solder and puddle it and then file and sand to fit.  Soft solder is strong enough, Just don't drop it real hard. (like my son did for me after sighting in for deer season)  I straightened front sight and resoldered.  works just fine.  Only took about an hour to fix sight. 

[James Wilson Everett]

Guys,

For the rear sight I use wrought iron - just like the originals.  I finish the sight only very roughly - except for the dovetail which is finished.  I then install the rough sight into the slot in the barrel.  The slot is cut square with hacksaw/files and the dovetail lifted with a cold chisel.  This gives the more typical and original raised bump on the barrel at either end of the dovetail slot.  After the rough sight is installed I finish the sight in place.  This way you do not have to be concerned if the punch used to drive the sight in place dings up the finished sight.  Most times I wait until the first trip to the shooting range to adjust the rear sight height and to cut the sight slot.

This method solves the problem of how to hold that little piece of iron in a vise without mashing something.

Jim

[Curtis]

Paul,

For the front site, got to this page and scroll down until you see "Making a Barley Corn Front Sight"
http://www.jsbrookslongrifles.com/theclassroom.htm

As for the rear site, several of the posts made already about making them froom steel or wrought iron are very similar to what I would do.  The dovetail portion doesn't need to be any taller than .010 or so, certainly less than a 1/16".

Curtis