Building an 18" blr 71 saddle ring carbine and would like to find a repro 1866-73-76 carbine short 300yd non adj flip rear sight. and a rear tang peep that will work with the blr71 stock.
If I have to modify the stock thats fine.
Ive searched and have not come up with the rear flip sight and dont know what rear tang peep will work with that stock/tang.
Any ideas are surly welcome.
thanks
Good evening
Is your tang already drilled and tapped? Measure it and go with whatever Winchester sight fits. I would think an 86 sight will be real close.
"Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28
Male Guanaco out in dry lakebed at 10,800 feet south of Arequipa.
Missonary, no it is not drilled and taped yet, just don't know if the old rear peeps were designed for pistol grip stocks or not, so just looking for advice
Dixie Gun Works has a late carbine folding leaf EP2200
"Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28
Male Guanaco out in dry lakebed at 10,800 feet south of Arequipa.
Well I'll be, missionary that's the one..will have to see if that .340 dovetail creates a problem for John or not. thanks buddy.
Have you tried fitting any tang peeps to your 71s. Curious about hole spacing, hitting the stock when folding etc.
This is primarily a bear gun? the Winchester 71 had a bolt mounted peep (option I guess) maybe not elevation adjustable but would be fine out to 100yards . I like to shoot with my thumb over the wrist - dont think that would be a good experience with a lightweight 50 alaskan and a tang sight - that thing is gonna come back quick and hard. Even if you handle the jolt at the back end ok I reckon a tang mounted peep is gonna open up the web of your thumb at some point. Why not get John to D & T it for a Williams or similar receiver mounted peep. I have a tang sight on my 45/75 and its ok but a ten pound gun that I shoot kinda slow with way less boot than you are signing up for. If you throw a gun up fast where does your thumb end up before you think about it? - if you have developed the unconscious muscle memory that lays it along the stock ? all good but if you go thumb over ------Originally Posted by hard88cast
I never looked into a tang sight. Like Joe wrote above a tang sight will chew the daylight out of your hand.
Plus with the receiver sight I can hit a 6" target at 150 yards sitting with little problem sitting or standing leaning against something. Those wide flat nose cast are going to shed speed awful fast.
But also it will not matter how slow they are going whatever they hit is going to get thwaped plain terrible.
"Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28
Male Guanaco out in dry lakebed at 10,800 feet south of Arequipa.
Tang sights on heavy recoiling, large caliber rifles have two serious issues. During recoil if your thumb is over the wrist it will get battered and chewed on as mentioned above. Recoil inertia will also cause the sight to fold down and hit your forehead or eye socket. The sight than needs to be pushed back into it's vertical position prior to firing the next round. A side mounted receiver sight is you best option.
Rick
i have a 71, and the receiver sight is the way to go.
Last night I spent lots of time looking at sights. And you guys are correct, midway has a (looks like) single hole tang peep made for the 71and after looking at it , it looks like it would chew my thumb up bad in a quick firing situation, and never even thought about what you mentioned Rick about it folding back into my eyeball.
Ok, the tang peep is out for this 18" rifle.
I did look for a receiver mounted peep but they are all aluminum and I haven't found one of the old steel ones , that at least have all the parts.
I ran into this same issue on my last build, the sights, none of the rest of the build gave my any decision making problems,
But the sights have been and are an ongoing problem.
What I want is a rear ladder with an 86 silver blade like my antique 86s, but can't hardly see thru those sights any more so I get stuck on this issue.
My 45-90 has silver blade, ladder and a tang mount, for some reason when I look through and line all three sights up I can see well, put the tang mount down and can't see at all. Weird.
Joe, I am going to see if I can find that bolt mounted peep, never seen that one, talk to john about it, and will keep looking for a receiver sight. Thanks guys, your input really helps.
And I think you guys may be wondering why I'm building anther rifle when I haven't even finalized the reloading for this first rifle.
Three reasons, barrel is a little to long and adds to a little to much weight, thats two, and when I started the first project I told myself not to build a safe queen, the donor rifle turned out to be a brand new 1986 and the barrel of my dreams just turned out too nice. 1\2 Oct 1\2 round, and the wood on that rifle is spectacular.
This donor rifle im Sending out this morning is used, not abused, but used and the wood is so plain its ugly.
I finally was able to buy/receive some bp(rec 2 days ago), so 50-100 is eventually going to get a diet of BP(and be babied) and the 50AK smokeless is my mountain gun. Hate to say it but a young man with wife and four kids left behind was just killed by a grizz last week right here.
Your right joe, its my grizz protection.
Original bolt mounted peep sights were factory installed in a modified bolt. Bolt top had several additional milling operations. You can't install a factory bolt peep without the additional machining. I have owned several original bolt peeps. They were fine for ocassional day hunts. I would not want to rely on one for day in and day out use. It is real common to find original bolt peep rifles with sight parts missing. Years ago one had two options for spare replacement parts. A shop in Mn. had very well made replacement parts. They are unfortunately long gone.
A Lyman 56 F is the proper steel receiver sight for a 71. They are few and far between!
Rick
PS Most bolt peeps were factory installed on Pre War long tang Deluxe 71's. A good original BP would go for 600.00 + in todays market.
Last edited by Rick B; 04-21-2022 at 02:17 AM.
The bolt peep is being reproduced , they run $440 and require that your bolt be machined to fit including some changes to the firing pin. Might be easy to find someone who knows how to machine the bolt correctly but it also might not . Your Browning should be factory drilled for a side mount receiver sight , take your time and find an old steel 56 and you will be happier.
Here's a link to a company that sells the repro bolt peep and also has repair parts for the originals.
http://oldgunsights.com/Inventory.html
Grumpy Old Man With A Gun....... Do Not Touch !!
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Any tang rear peep sight made for a Winchester 1886/86 will also fit a Model 71 after D/T'ing the tang.
For the barrel sight, search (google) for "Ladder rear sight"
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
I wasnt paying attention properly ! your Browning 71 should already be D & T for a receiver mounted peep - mine was - neat too - two little grub screws in the holes to keep em clean and tidy.
A rugged peep sight would be the XS/Ashley Outdoors peep. Unfortunately they stopped making the wider model that fits the 71/1886 frame width but you might find someone that has old stock. The receiver does need to be D/T-Ed though.
From what I have read the bolt on the Browning 71’s is very hard and difficult to machine to fit an original bolt mounted peep. Pedersoli has bolt mounted peep for their 86/71 clone but pretty sure your bolt will require machining.
Otherwise try and hunt down an original steel Lyman or Redfield side mounted peep. They come up for auction on eBay and Gunbroker from time to time.
FWIW I have a Williams 5D on my browning 71, the box is marked 94-336, I always assumed its the normal model that would go on a model 94 . It has worked fine - fits my 71 really neat! maybe I got a wider one by accident? would not want it to be any wider than this one is. The crossways end of it sits just a 1/16th inch inside of the outer edge of the receiver body. I could never see the need for a wider body model than mine has - would not want that!
Skinner has a sight that mounts on the top edges of the receiver, like the Winchester 94's that take a top mounted scope or peep, top edge of receiver needs to be drilled, tapped. One of the Williams WGRS style sights might work tapped into the bolt, Skinner or Ranger Point might also have something that would mount on the bolt. My Browning 71 is D&T for a the 'standard' side mounted receiver sight like most all 'modern' the Marlin's and many Winchester 94's, Williams makes a Foolproof to fit 71's and 86's.
That advise is oh so wrong. When the gun is fired, the sight folds forward away from you face. I have a model 71 with an MVA Soule sight mounted on the tang. The rifle recoils back but the tang sight does not, it folds forward. I have shot my model 71 for 25 years this way and have never had either the sight hit my head, or my thumb battered oar chewed on.
yeah it do go forwards but with a midget weight 50alaskan I bet his eye socket is gonna be doin some of the pushing -- same message for the tang sight - IF your muscle memory has developed enough to keep your thumb off the tang when things get hot then you may be ok but if youre like me and your normal shooting position is thumb over the top ........that tang sight is gonna get you ....not if just when and how many stitches required for the repair
My 71 wears a bog standard 94 Williams 5D aluminium peep ----I dont shoot it a lot (6 or 700) but that sight has never shifted since I put it on. 348 recoil is only about half the 50 AK tho
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