Problem With a Lyman Receiver Sight

[Alan in Vermont]

I have a problem with a Lyman 66A(?) Receiver Sight mounted on an early '80s 94 Winchester. Nicely made sight, preferable to a Williams Foolproof, IMO. Or it would be except that it has a problem with the fit of the aperture holder to the windage slide.

The holder is so loose, in the bridge(part that goes over the receiver) that it can rotate upwards at the rear. Enough so that the view through the aperture becomes blurry & distorted because you are actually seeing the front end of the aperture tube.

In this pic the aperture is down and parallel to the bridge.




This one shows how far the aperture can rotate upward.



The holder is a loose fit in the cutout it slides in. On a Williams sight the holder is as long, front to rear, as the bridge is wide, it does not do anything weird. I have a Redfield here that has the holder as part of a sideways "H" with the legs of the H going on both top & bottom of the bridge, no movement on that one either.

I don't see how the bridge could have been abused enough to spread out the slot for the holder, nor can I find any evidence that the sight has been Bubba'd.

How does one get the holder & windage screw out of the bridge? I can put a machinists' rule/straightedge on the front(eye side) of the bridge and there is no gap wide enough to show light through. There is just a hint of light showing at the ends of the bridge when I do the same on the other side (where the little graduated scale is attached. If I can get the holder & windage screw out of there I'm going to try tapping it a little tighter in the middle then fit it to the holder.

[john.k]

What you are sayin is they aint worth the money,and you are right.Ive also seen loose threads holding the insert in.If you dont need to adjust the windage,the simplest way to fix the wobbles is a spot of something in the clearance,locking it up.A hard wax is temp,as is shellac,up to superglue,which can also be dissolved out if necessary.....I might add that my 66A wont stay put on the reciever ,no matter how tight the screws,it rotates with recoil.........Would I pay $100+ for one?.......You be the judge.

[country gent]

I have used epoxy to fit them tighter to the rails. I used Bisonite? steel bed epoxy. coat rails with 3-4 coats of wax and clean appetures slide areas . fill with epoxy ad assemble remove excess while still wet. remove all you can while wet it is way easier than after its cured. J-B weld will work also. When this is done you end up with a very snug fit and a little lapping with tooth paste or flitz may be required. I have used this procedure to tighten loose redfield, lymann and military sights over the years. More so than the "slop" you show is the PLay in the threads making changes uncertain or not repeatable. This is much harder to deal with.

[country gent]

Also clamp the appeture down so all the fill is on the bottom and backs of the slide areas. I usually used padded vise grips for this

[Alan in Vermont]

I tinkered with it last night and cured what was ailing it!! This was after trying to fit a beer can shim in the gap,, not enough gap for that.

You remove the windage screw by first turning the windage screw almost all the way to the left. Then pry the two "ears" that are visible in the pics, immediately behind the windage screw away from the bridge. Not very much, all you have to do is get them moved away from the bridge far enough that the ears move enough to sit on top of the pins that hold that little plate in place. FWIW that plate is a spring washer and is what provides the "clicks" for adjustment. Once you get the plate loose you can tilt the windage screw up and out of the hole that anchors the inner end of the screw.

With the carrier and screw out of the way I able to peen the edges of the slot and file the displaced metal until the carrier was a snug fit for a distance of about 3/8" about in the center of the bridge.

Reassembly was pretty straightforward, screwed the carrier back on the windage screw, put the tip of it in the hole then snapped the knob down into position and eased the spring washer back over the locating pins. Probably took an hour in all.