444S front sight problem

[Bulltipper]

I have a 1980's Marlin444S and I wanted to upgrade the sights on it. I bought a Skinner tactical rear peep sight and installed it. The rifle shot low but ok on center. So I bought a Marble's .450 front sight to replace the .500 front sight that was on the rifle and fitted it this morning to center on the barrel. test firing at 50 yds showed way off to the right but good groups. I moved my rear sight to max left and tried again, still prints group right. I then drifted the front sight maximum drift right looks to be 1/8" off center (kinda hanging off the gun really and pretty damn ugly...) and I am finally getting good groups on center. The front sight width is .531, and I am wondering if I would be better off with a .340 width or if that will be just as ugly. Am I missing something here? is this normal for a Marlin 444 to be this far off?

[pietro]

A few points.

Hmmmmm.............. Unusual........ Since the Skinner peep sights are a top-mount sight, they have always needed a front sight blade HIGHER than issue in order to zero the rifle, since they would otherwise shoot too high due to the much higher rear (peep) sight.

FWIW, a front sight blade with a base width of .531" is meant for mounting directly in a barrel dovetail, and not in a front sight ramp - so the female dovetail slot in the barrel will be completely filled.

A front sight blade with a .340" wide base is intended for mounting in the Marlin front sight ramp, among most (but not all) others.

That said, IMHO you don't have a front sight windage problem, your rifle has an issue with the windage/alignment of the tactical (winged) peep sight with the bore C/L - with a misalignment of one hole in either the new sights base, or in one of the receiver top holes it's mounted in.

I would check the receiver hole alignment via removing the tactical sight and holding a straightedge along the sides of all four of the receiver's top scope mount screw holes, to see if one of the two hole the tactical sight was mounted in is out of line.

If all is well, I would measure the distance of each mounting hole in the bottom of the tactical sight's base from the same reference - one side or the other - to ensure they were equal.

If the sight's bad, I would exchange it.
If one of the receiver holes was offline, I would either move the sight to the front pair of scope mount holes or rework the sight base to adjust it's angle to the bore C/L.

If both alignments are good, the only other thing I can think of is this:

The issue iron sights, both mounted on the barrel, aligned with each other & zeroed; but IF either the barrel was slightly turned after installing the open sights, or the sights were installed off kilter - the tilted front sight would be slightly awry from any sight receiver mounted.

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[Bulltipper]

Pietro, thanks for the insight, it makes sense. I will check out the reciever sight in detail and post my findings.
BT

[Bulltipper]

Well, I took it all apart and checked all the alignments and they were fine. I put the old sights back on it and it shot fine. I put the new sights on it again and it shoots fine. I think it was my eyes or the flinch I developed shooting that thing, the high comb bruises the heck out of my cheek... Anyway, I am shooting minimum Lyman loads for Unique out of it till I heal, and it is a lot more forgiving.

[pietro]

Sorry - I was thinking in terms of the rifle.

I'm glad you're arriving at a solution easily - and the power levels and/or bullet weights may also have a significant impact on the POI.

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