ohland
06-22-2011, 12:12 PM
Picked up an IHMSA / Lyman rear sight for a Contender.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/179094e020c3b36f46.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=1267)
It left me sorta dejected, after running the elevation and windage screws, it seemed a bit imprecise. The black finish is not hard, and IMHO, will start to wear off rather quickly. After disassembling the sight, I put 'er in a ziplock, tossed it into a cabinet, and wrote it off as experience...
But.. while scouring the net for 25-35 or 256 Mag info, I ran into an article of a Mike Bellm Contender... Oddly, the sight is mentioned as "old Side Saddle Williams Silhouette rear sights"
http://seanhhi7364.tripod.com/producttests/id7.html
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_179094e02136ce19e4.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=1268)
There in all it's glory is a Lyman base, with a Williams FoolProof stem... This intrigued me greatly. Grabbed my FP-Deluxe stem and diddled a bit. First, the Lyman sight dovetail is a bit shallower than the FP dovetail. You can take care of this with a good file (the Lyman base is steel! Thought it was aluminum...). The next doesn't fit is the elevation screw. The Lyman screw is bigger and the Williams screw sorta half-buttocks screws in, but not loose enough to slide into the hole.
I see two reasonable mods, the first being drilling at right angles to the thread and pin in a short length of round stock. Then drill out the existing threads a bit, drill entirely through the round stock, then drill and tap. The sight should be cross-drilled for the plug, then pulled out, use a small bit to align the existing screw thread to the drill / mill, place in vice / fixture, pop in plug, pin it, now drill for the Williams elevation screw. Or just cross-drill n tap for a short length of a machine screw, cut a slot in the stub, add some LocTite, then stick er in. That screw will not turn while being drilled...
The second approach is to turn a very thin collar around the screw, then insert into the drilled out original thread. This looks dicey, as there isn't a lot of thickness to drill out the existing thread.
Now that I have taken a stab at it, the question remains- how much to machine out the bottom of the Lyman dovetail? The elevation screw needs to be aligned between the Williams stem and the Lyman base..
If idle hands are the devil's playground, then I MUST be an amusement park...
[smilie=6:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/179094e020c3b36f46.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=1267)
It left me sorta dejected, after running the elevation and windage screws, it seemed a bit imprecise. The black finish is not hard, and IMHO, will start to wear off rather quickly. After disassembling the sight, I put 'er in a ziplock, tossed it into a cabinet, and wrote it off as experience...
But.. while scouring the net for 25-35 or 256 Mag info, I ran into an article of a Mike Bellm Contender... Oddly, the sight is mentioned as "old Side Saddle Williams Silhouette rear sights"
http://seanhhi7364.tripod.com/producttests/id7.html
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_179094e02136ce19e4.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=1268)
There in all it's glory is a Lyman base, with a Williams FoolProof stem... This intrigued me greatly. Grabbed my FP-Deluxe stem and diddled a bit. First, the Lyman sight dovetail is a bit shallower than the FP dovetail. You can take care of this with a good file (the Lyman base is steel! Thought it was aluminum...). The next doesn't fit is the elevation screw. The Lyman screw is bigger and the Williams screw sorta half-buttocks screws in, but not loose enough to slide into the hole.
I see two reasonable mods, the first being drilling at right angles to the thread and pin in a short length of round stock. Then drill out the existing threads a bit, drill entirely through the round stock, then drill and tap. The sight should be cross-drilled for the plug, then pulled out, use a small bit to align the existing screw thread to the drill / mill, place in vice / fixture, pop in plug, pin it, now drill for the Williams elevation screw. Or just cross-drill n tap for a short length of a machine screw, cut a slot in the stub, add some LocTite, then stick er in. That screw will not turn while being drilled...
The second approach is to turn a very thin collar around the screw, then insert into the drilled out original thread. This looks dicey, as there isn't a lot of thickness to drill out the existing thread.
Now that I have taken a stab at it, the question remains- how much to machine out the bottom of the Lyman dovetail? The elevation screw needs to be aligned between the Williams stem and the Lyman base..
If idle hands are the devil's playground, then I MUST be an amusement park...
[smilie=6: