M1917/Enfield Front Sight Comparison

If you saw my earlier thread, I picked up an M1917 and it shot low ... really low! So I asked about front sights. Outpost75 provided some great information and he sent me a couple Enfield front sights to see if they would fit. In the meantime, I was able to pick up a couple M1917 front sights and here is the comparison.

First, M1917 and the Enfield Front sights are interchangeable, I can install either in my front sight base. But that just says the dovetails are close enough to the same size it doesn't matter. The real issue is the height of the front blades and there are two measurements that decide that. One is the blade height above the base and two is the thickness of the base itself. In fact, the height of the blades are pretty close for each make and its the thickness of the base that decides the overall height. Here are the measurements I got. Understand that a couple of these appear to be brand new and the others have been installed. Add to that the manufacturing standards of the day and there are variances.

M1917 Front Sights:

Marked Blade Height Base Thickness
.045 .146 .066
.045 .142 .069
.060 .142 .083
.075 .147 .101

Enfield Front Sight

Marked Blade Height Base Thickness
0 .137 .089
.015 .136 .061
.030 .141 .095

You can draw your own conclusions from these measurements but I think its pretty clear you can't just cross an Enfield and M1917 front sight with the same size marking and expect the same results. Home the information provided helps someone out!

As promised, I will be putting two of these in the PIF.

I like that front sight! So much so I was going to turn one into a Garand front sight! But now my right eye has got bad enough that I can't see a front sight! Scope time!

Adjustments for Lee Enfield (SMLE Only) sights being fitted to Pattern 14 and M1917.
Also fits the Pattern 14 and Model 1917 Rifles but the datum is 0.060" higher so a 0.045" becomes a 0.105" on these rifles.
Front
All Lee Enfield's utilized a dovetailed, blade type, front sight. (Note: SMLE and No4 front sights will not interchange because of different dovetail dimensions) There were nine different front sights available and were marked on top of their base with their sizes. They were: .090, .075, .060, .045, .030, .015, .0, -.015 and -.030.

If used the following heights are achieved.

-.030 = .030
-.015 = .045
.0 = .060
.015 = .075
.030 = .090
.045 = .105
.060 = .120
.075 = .135
.090 = .150

Pattern 1914 and M1917 front blades are the same heights only the rear sight is different. If that does not work for you do what the Danes did to their m1917 and use a small roll pin filed down to the proper height.