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Thread: Browning 1886 Carbine front sight?

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
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    Browning 1886 Carbine front sight?

    The last few years I have been adding receiver sights to all my lever actions and have now come to my Browning 1886 Carbine. The receiver will get a drill and tap but it is the front sight I need ideas on. I know it will need to be taller but Browning didn’t put it on with a dovetail. It looks like a little block which I would guess is silver soldered on and a little blade held in with a cross pin. Has anyone put a receiver sight on their Browning 1886 Carbine and how did you treat the front sight? I think the options are file out a taller blade or cut a dovetail.
    Thanks

  2. #2
    Boolit Master veeman's Avatar
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    I put a taller blade on mine when I put on a semi-buckhorn.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    Did you just put a taller blade in the block or did you cut a dovetail for a taller front sight?

  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy
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    It think it's the same as an 1895 (Winchester/Bronwing/Miroku not Marlin). Just get some brass stock that is the correct thickness and cut your own.

  5. #5
    Boolit Mold
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    If it is the same as the 1895 Winchester XO Sights makes a nice replacement in multiple heights. Link https://www.xssights.com. You hav to call as the front sight only is not listed but the had them in stock.

  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master pietro's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cbennett View Post
    If it is the same as the 1895 Winchester XO Sights makes a nice replacement in multiple heights. Link https://www.xssights.com. You hav to call as the front sight only is not listed but the had them in stock.

    Also, I have fashioned a new/taller front sight blade in a few other different ways.

    1) I bought a Lyman Ivory bead front sight blade meant for a 1903 Springfield, cut down (up ?) the bottom so the installed blade was the proper height, then cross drilled the blade while it was clamped in place, using a sacrificial 1/16" drill bit that I later ground down the shank to act as the new sight retaining pin.

    https://www.ebay.com/p/Lyman-1903-a-...eld/1431035179




    Depending upon the dimensions of the sight blade slot in the square mounting block, the flat blade may need to be thinned a little, or shimmed on the sides, where it fits into the slot.



    2) I ground both sides of a normal 3/8" dovetail front sight's male dovetail until I had a flat blade, and proceeded as above (I selected a donor sight that had a sighting bead, Ivory/Gold/Fiber-optic, that I liked).



    3) The forward half of a normal 3/8" dovetail front sight's male dovetail can be reworked to fit the sight slot in the block





    .
    Last edited by pietro; 06-13-2019 at 12:19 PM.
    Now I lay me down to sleep
    A gun beside me is what I keep
    If I awake, and you're inside
    The coroner's van is your next ride

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    I think I’ll make a trial blade and shoot some different loads to get an idea of the height of the new sight then look at the sights I have for a blade to fit. I may try the modified dovetail that pietro
    has in his bottom pic.
    Thanks for the ideas.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check