Adjusting Rossi 92 Front Sight

[Bzcraig]

Finally got out to shoot a recently acquired Rossi 92 44mag and found it's shooting about 4" left at 25 yards. What tool do I need to be able to adjust while at the range? The sight looks pretty well centered over the barrel and 4" @ 25 yards seems like a lot but then again I've never had to adjust the front sight on any gun yet.

Fast forward to post #20

[ReloaderFred]

Can't you drift the rear sight? That's how you normally adjust for windage.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[ReloaderFred]

Can't you drift the rear sight? That's how you normally adjust windage.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Bzcraig]

The standard rear sight is the buckhorn style but that was removed and a Stevesgunz bolt mounted peep sight was installed.

[pirkfan]

You drift the front sight in the opposite direction, i.e. if you want to move POI right, you drift (with a brass punch) the front sight left. If I'm doing sighting in, I take a punch, hammer and support blocks with me to the range. It shouldn't take much to move POI 4 inches at 25 yards. Having said that, have you tried different ammunition, to make sure the ammo isn't contributing to the problem.

[Bzcraig]

You drift the front sight in the opposite direction, i.e. if you want to move POI right, you drift (with a brass punch) the front sight left. If I'm doing sighting in, I take a punch, hammer and support blocks with me to the range. It shouldn't take much to move POI 4 inches at 25 yards. Having said that, have you tried different ammunition, to make sure the ammo isn't contributing to the problem.

Yes, tried 4 different loads. What do your support blocks look like?

[pirkfan]

Yes, tried 4 different loads. What do your support blocks look like?
I use Bench Dog Bench Cookies, which are nonslip woodworking supports, they're a lot cheaper than gunsmithing bench blocks, 4 of them for $10 on Amazon vs $15-$20 each for gunsmithing bench blocks

[rondog]

The standard rear sight is the buckhorn style and not drift adjustable but that was removed and a Stevesgunz bolt mounted peep sight was installed.

Why is the rear sight not drift adjustable? It's in a dovetail, right? Just tap it to the right a tad.

[pietro]

Why is the rear sight not drift adjustable? It's in a dovetail, right? Just tap it to the right a tad.


As Bzcraig posted, the rear barrel sight has been removed & a bolt peep sight mounted in place of the Rossi bolt-top lawyer safety.

When I replaced the bolt safety on my Rossi M-92 with a bolt peep sight, since the peep is mounted directly over the bore C/L, it took moving the front sight very slightly (less than 1/8") to zero the rifle. (YMMV)



If your Rossi is an early version, that has the front sight mounted on the forward barrel/magazine band, windage can often be adjusted enough to zero by loosening the sight mounting band & twisting it in the desired (opposite) direction, before re-tightening the band screw.




When a dovetail sight is drifted for a windage adjustment, best practice indicates that a strip of masking tape be applied across the barrel behind the sight blade, and marked with a pencil where a readily-identifiable portion of the sight blade (like the corner of the sight's male dovetail) rests, so that any sight movement (from the drifting) will be easily seen/measured.

Adjusting a front sight blade when the POI is to the right or left of the POA is done via moving the sight in the opposite direction that's desired.

IOW:

* With a POI too far to the left, move the front sight "left" to move the POI "right".

* With a POI too far to the right, move the front sight "right" to move the POI "left".



.

[Scharfschuetze]

If the sights look centered then there is probably a reason you are off 16 MOA (4" at 25 yards) in deflection. Take a look at the crown and see if it is even all around the bore. Also see if the bore is truly through the center of the barrel and not off center. I once saw a Rossi with a bent barrel (from the factory) that challenged even a good Lyman aperture site for a good zero.

[Bzcraig]

Thanks for the replies guys. After Scharfschuetze reply, which wasn't comforting lol, I went and closely looked for a bent barrel using a straight edge. All was good. I then looked carefully at the crown, that looked good too. I then looked carefully at the front sight again comparing it to the barrel centerline and it indeed appears to be a bit left of center so I'm praying it's just a bit of drifting. Thanks for the masking tape tip, I wouldn't have thought of that myself.

[Scharfschuetze]

I then looked carefully at the crown, that looked good too. I then looked carefully at the front sight again comparing it to the barrel centerline and it indeed appears to be a bit left of center so I'm praying it's just a bit of drifting.

Looks like you've solved the problem. Let us know Bzcraig.

[earlmck]

Ooops -- if the sight is already a bit left of center it is going to be even farther left by the time you drift it over to correct for shots that are going to the left. But most sights aren't so tight in the dovetail that you need too much. I can usually drift a sight with the rifle held in my little gun-cleaning clamp thingy. I just traded out a front sight on a 98 year-old rifle and it just took a few sharp "pops" to get it moving and then it came right out, all held in the plastic gun-cleaning clamp.

[Scharfschuetze]

Ooops -- if the sight is already a bit left of center it is going to be even farther left by the time you drift it over to correct for shots that are going to the left.

Ha, ha. I was going to mention that, but I didn't know if it was seen from the muzzle or the breach. If you are right though, that could certainly exasperate the frustration factor.

Hopefully it's off to the right (from the breach end) and can be brought into compliance.

[John Boy]

Stevesgunz bolt mounted peep sight was installed.

Elevation adjustable blued steel bolt mounted peep sight. This sight replaces the ugly safety. It is elevation adjusted by turning it in or out and uses a knurled finger nut to lock it in place. Windage is adjusted by moving the front sight left or right in its dovetail.

[Bzcraig]

Ha, ha. I was going to mention that, but I didn't know if it was seen from the muzzle or the breach. If you are right though, that could certainly exasperate the frustration factor.

Hopefully it's off to the right (from the breach end) and can be brought into compliance.

No, it's true..... it's got to go a bit further left!

[Bzcraig]

Elevation adjustable blued steel bolt mounted peep sight. This sight replaces the ugly safety. It is elevation adjusted by turning it in or out and uses a knurled finger nut to lock it in place. Windage is adjusted by moving the front sight left or right in its dovetail.

??????

[mac1911]

Also to get a idea of how much you need to move the sight.
Correction needed (4" for you) / distance to target in inches x sight radius.
Then you can mark your tape and tap it close.

Although looking at that rear sight design your using I would be tempted to just tweak that a bit first. Seems easy to be off line a little ?

[Bzcraig]

Also to get a idea of how much you need to move the sight.
Correction needed (4" for you) / distance to target in inches x sight radius.
Then you can mark your tape and tap it close.

Although looking at that rear sight design your using I would be tempted to just tweak that a bit first. Seems easy to be off line a little ?

Thank you for the formula.

The bolt mounted peep sits inside a threaded cup that drops down into the hole where the safety was removed and is pinned in place. How would one tweak that for windage?

I'm also considering buying a Skinner for it which is drift adjustable but not sure how it would work with old eyes being that far forward?

[Bzcraig]

I think I may have figured this out. I was going through some load notes this afternoon and came across a 200gr load fired from this rifle that showed 4" group at 50yds. This puzzled me, as I thought my first range trip was my experience in post #1. So after frying a few of my remaining brain cells, I finally remembered the first range trip with this rifle. I had loaded the rounds up just to check function before making any changes to the rifle, knowing I would be putting the Stevesgunz peep sight on it. So, though a 4" group isn't anything to write home about, that was with the factory buckhorn sight that I can't shoot worth stink anymore. So, I know the gun itself is fine, I know it wasn't the load, I know the front sight was fine with the buckhorn sight. My conclusion at this point is the hole in the bolt for the bolt mounted peep sight is not in line with the centerline of the bore. In my mind at least, this would best explain my issue. Now the only way to validate this is to mount a scope (I don't have a base) or buy the Skinner sight......dang! Leaning toward the Skinner.