What can you tell me about my sights?

[Captain*Kirk]

This is the Soule-type vernier peep my Sharps came with. What can you guys tell me about this as far as useful distance, etc?
The globe front has replaceable inserts and a bubble level




The rear peep is marked as shown. Elevation is controlled by turning the thumbscrew clockwise, windage by loosening the cup and applying pressure in the direction you want it to move.





Also, the rear barrel sight has been blanked off. Would there be any advantage to putting what belonged there for short distance shooting, say, up to 100 yards?



They are not much compared to a set of Lee Shaver premium sights, but I guess they should do the trick for now.

Thanks in advance!

[country gent]

I would estimate they will get you to around 800 yds comfortably, depending on load and caliber. The elevation should be okay, fine adjustments will be tricky with out the Vernier on the side of the slide. The big concern will be windage a lot of these sight require the eye piece to be loosened for elevation adjustments to be made and you change windage every time. The front Should be fine.

Im not sure but think the little lock wheel should be like it is but on top of the stud to lock the thread (jam) at the stud itself rather than on the small area of the wheel.

You can always use the depth rod on a set of calipers to make adjustments measuring down from the top bar.

[John Boy]

Let's start with How to read a Vernier Sight http://tmtpages.com/vernier.htm
Foresight - is a globed with inserts and bubble level that is used to level the barrel for accuracy at long range
Vernier - is a 3" staff (Long Range) with wind-age adjustment by loosening the ocular disk and sliding the left or right to adjust the point of impact to the bullseye. Your vernier is not a Soule type sight which this is

The combination front and rear is an acceptable combination shooting any distance after you learn the MOA adjustments for the distances For 100 yds, start out with 5 MOA to get on paper, 15 - 20 MOA for 200yds , etc all theway to a 1000yds
Learn how to read a vernier ... Will Be Your Friend
Then the loaded ammunition velocity with a trajectory table ... http://www.shooterscalculator.com/ba...tory-chart.php ... you can dial in the vernier for any distance

[boommer]

they will work fine for now, until you get better bearing on you want to do . I see from other posts your just getting into this but' the real thing you should do is come up to lodi Wis in may for the shoot and see what we are doing with are rifles and why we are more than happy to give you the help you need. Great group of guys. it's 2 hrs from you come up SEE all diff set ups and talk about bullets,. loading and gear. then you will grasp it much better.

[indian joe]

Let's start with How to read a Vernier Sight http://tmtpages.com/vernier.htm
Foresight - is a globed with inserts and bubble level that is used to level the barrel for accuracy at long range
Vernier - is a 3" staff (Long Range) with wind-age adjustment by loosening the ocular disk and sliding the left or right to adjust the point of impact to the bullseye. Your vernier is not a Soule type sight which this is

The combination front and rear is an acceptable combination shooting any distance after you learn the MOA adjustments for the distances For 100 yds, start out with 5 MOA to get on paper, 15 - 20 MOA for 200yds , etc all theway to a 1000yds
Learn how to read a vernier ... Will Be Your Friend
Then the loaded ammunition velocity with a trajectory table ... http://www.shooterscalculator.com/ba...tory-chart.php ... you can dial in the vernier for any distance

Another simpler way for elevation is do the math to get MOA per turn of the lead screw - then cut a notch in one side of the head of it and count from a datum point - some of us cant see the markings on a staff good enough to trust it but can count the turns easy.
I made a couple of soule sytyle backsights from scratch and have converted two cheap Pedersoli ons using the original staff and made a new crosslide base - The Pedersoli staff is 44TPI and on my rifle does 2.3 MOA per turn - the one I made is 40TPI and it does 2.5 MOA per turn
The math for figuring this is around the internet someplace (Pedersoli website maybe?) and I use the Hornady ballistic calculator to figure trajectory.
I have found the indexed lead screw much easier than trying to squint the vernier marks on the side of the staff - all you need is TPI of the lead screw and distance between the sights.

[Bent Ramrod]

Your front sight is the “traditional” type with the little spring on top to hold the inserts in. More modern versions have a threaded tube that holds the insert in. Hopefully, you have the rest of the card of inserts; if not, some of the sight manufacturers should be able to fix you up with extras that fit. It should be fine for competition, if that is the purpose of the rifle.

A hard case with a clamshell hinge is best for rifles with this type sight. Be careful with soft cases with the zipper opening at the butt end. If you try to drag the rifle out of one of those, the little spring will catch in the padding and pull up, bend to uselessness, and may even break off. Don’t ask me how I know this. Some people put a rubber band or a piece of electrical tape over the spring to protect it. In any case, one can see why fancy target sights were kept in a separate case in the old days.

If you want to get another barrel sight, go for it. Some hardy traditionalists do very well with them out to 400 yards or so. Mine don’t interfere with the tang sight picture at 200 meters, anyway. It would be the way to go for rough hunting, as the tang sight is pretty fragile for dragging through the woods. The aperture front is kind of delicate for this work as well.

Your rear sight is kind of a “sporting tang sight,” with the added complication of a screw adjustment. It will be fine for load development, plinking or “fun shooting,” but it will drive you crazy if you intend to compete. Without the vernier scale, you cannot adjust to a MOA and reliably come back to the same adjustment later. It will be “there or thereabouts” and your windage adjustments will be even wider. I don’t understand the thinking behind that extra nut on the elevation screw. If you lock the eyepiece down by tightening it, all the extra nut will do is derange the elevation setting, depending on how tightly it is screwed against the eyecup base.

If you use Indian Joe’s recommendation, always bring the elevation thumbscrew setting from the same direction, as the backlash in the screw will not allow the sight to move the same distance in both directions. Eventually, the “slop” in the screw and nut will increase from wear, making even this technique kind of iffy.

[Captain*Kirk]

Thanks for all the info!
I agree; without the vernier-type reference marks on the eyepiece block, it really isn't a true "vernier" rear sight, more like a "Kentucky Windage" sight. There are no marks to line up with the scale markings on the upright other than the edge of the eyepiece block. The fact that the windage adjustments are "guess and nudge" is not all that precision either, but since I'm only going to be shooting out to 200 yards at the present (distance-limited by my BP range) for fun, it should get me by for the moment.
The elevation lock nut serves to (apparently) keep the adjustment screw from being accidentally moved or turned. Loosening the eye cup allows the whole eyepiece block to move so that's evidently why they put the lock nut there.
I have several different inserts for the globe front that were graciously sent to me from the seller; enough to get me by. The ones I don't have I didn't really care for anyway.
Thanks for the tip on the front sight spring; this is apparently what happened during shipping, as the spring was open and the insert missing. I will either get a hardshell or some method to protect the sight if using a softshell case.

[indian joe]

Your front sight is the “traditional” type with the little spring on top to hold the inserts in. More modern versions have a threaded tube that holds the insert in. Hopefully, you have the rest of the card of inserts; if not, some of the sight manufacturers should be able to fix you up with extras that fit. It should be fine for competition, if that is the purpose of the rifle.

A hard case with a clamshell hinge is best for rifles with this type sight. Be careful with soft cases with the zipper opening at the butt end. If you try to drag the rifle out of one of those, the little spring will catch in the padding and pull up, bend to uselessness, and may even break off. Don’t ask me how I know this. Some people put a rubber band or a piece of electrical tape over the spring to protect it. In any case, one can see why fancy target sights were kept in a separate case in the old days.

If you want to get another barrel sight, go for it. Some hardy traditionalists do very well with them out to 400 yards or so. Mine don’t interfere with the tang sight picture at 200 meters, anyway. It would be the way to go for rough hunting, as the tang sight is pretty fragile for dragging through the woods. The aperture front is kind of delicate for this work as well.

Your rear sight is kind of a “sporting tang sight,” with the added complication of a screw adjustment. It will be fine for load development, plinking or “fun shooting,” but it will drive you crazy if you intend to compete. Without the vernier scale, you cannot adjust to a MOA and reliably come back to the same adjustment later. It will be “there or thereabouts” and your windage adjustments will be even wider. I don’t understand the thinking behind that extra nut on the elevation screw. If you lock the eyepiece down by tightening it, all the extra nut will do is derange the elevation setting, depending on how tightly it is screwed against the eyecup base.

My thoughts too ! I cant see the point of that screw in the position it is -- The cheap sight staffs I have used have a pair of locknuts on the lead screw up the top - and set neat that limits backlash in the elevation thread to about a half MOA - thats maybe not ideal but workable for most of us

If you use Indian Joe’s recommendation, always bring the elevation thumbscrew setting from the same direction, as the backlash in the screw will not allow the sight to move the same distance in both directions. Eventually, the “slop” in the screw and nut will increase from wear, making even this technique kind of iffy.

.....

[country gent]

One insert I have that gets a lot of use is a wise blade for the front its probably .100 wide. at sil ranges and animals to my eyes it covers the horizontal centerline of there body making windage easier to see. The other odd one I like is one with 4 points t center probably .090 wide at base and tapering to points that meet in the middle.

[country gent]

One thing to try your various inserts. at 100-200 yds with a target silhouette or bull and try each one in the for sight picture seeing what your eye and mind likes. Takes a little time to do. but shows you what to test and try. I think Distant Thunder ( or one ) makes custom inserts in the size and shape for most front globes