Has Anyone Changed The Rear Sight or Both Sights on Their Lever Gun?

[JohnnyFlake]

I have a Rossi M92 Lever Gun in .454/.45 Colt and I am having a hard time, with my old eyes, using the stock sights on the gun. I am thinking of changing the rear sight to something larger and more visible, at the point it is now mounted, or maybe going to some type of Tang Sight that mounts back behind the hammer.

Any thoughts and/or suggestions will be appreciated.

[357Mag]

JohnnyF -

Howdy !

Yeh...... I switched the rear size on a M-336 .35 Rem to one from Marbles. I made use of the replaceable rear sight blades that they offer in various styles/heights. I used it w/ the stock gold bead front sight.

I also had a 'smith install a tang-mounted peep sight ( a slightly modified sight that was offered for M-94 use ).

This made a great combo for use out to 100yd, and I could have shot confidently, to even further out.

I DK the ranges or game you have in-mind, but wonder whether you could make use of a "dot" sifght, or reflex-type unit ?


With regards,
357Mag

[JWFilips]

Switched one of my 336 Marlins to Williams Receiver rear and Lyman 17 Target front. This way I can swap out the front insert from a post or bead for times in the woods and aperture disc insert when I'm on the range working up loads. Best of both worlds Same with the Williams Receiver rear.... Disc in for target work & disc out for hunting

[Der Gebirgsjager]

My choice would be a receiver mounted adjustable peep sight. Most modern lever actions come drilled and tapped for them from the factory.
Some aren't, but it's a relatively easy job if you have to do the drilling and tapping yourself. It's not hard to pick up a used one on e-bay. I've done several, sometimes required replacement of the front sight. Somehow those tang mounted folding peeps always seem to get in the way of my thumb.

[minmax]

I've been looking at getting a Skiner sight. For my Marlin 1894 45 colt, but have not pulled the trigger yet. They get really good reviews.

[JohnnyFlake]

JohnnyF -

Howdy !

Yeh...... I switched the rear size on a M-336 .35 Rem to one from Marbles. I made use of the replaceable rear sight blades that they offer in various styles/heights. I used it w/ the stock gold bead front sight.

I also had a 'smith install a tang-mounted peep sight ( a slightly modified sight that was offered for M-94 use ).

This made a great combo for use out to 100yd, and I could have shot confidently, to even further out.

I DK the ranges or game you have in-mind, but wonder whether you could make use of a "dot" sifght, or reflex-type unit ?


With regards,
357Mag

I have tried a Red Dot type sight that my son has for one of his rifles, but I just don't like it.

I am looking to zero in at 100 yards and then adjust from there for different ranges out to 200 yards max.

[JohnnyFlake]

There have been several rear sights mentioned, Williams, Skinner and Marble. I am going to start checking them out.

Thanks

[pietro]

.

IMHO, a receiver peep sight is more practicaL than a tang peep sight - which may effect one's hold due to the tang sight base interfering with grasping the wrist of the stock with the trigger hand.

I added peep sights to both my Rossi M92's, and replaced the rear bbl open sight with a slot filler blank.


On one rifle, I installed a Williams 5D-94AE receiver sight intended for an Angle-eject Winchester 94, which allowed the aperture holding bar to be adjusted low enough atop the receiver to easily zero using the issue height front sight blade.
I did have to replace the bolt-top safety with a lower blank to achieve the lowest aperture positioning.

http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r431/pwawryk/DSCN0385.jpg http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r431/pwawryk/DSCN0384.jpg


On the other rifle, I elected to replace the safety with a Skinner LoPro peep sight to make a bolt peep sight - which (although it had no windage adjustment) allowed an easy zeroing via slightly moving the front sight blade a tad.

http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r431/pwawryk/DSCN0478.jpg


Instead of purchasing commercial slot filler blanks to fill the rear bbl open sight's dovetail in the bbl, I made filler blanks from old longleaf rear open sights.

http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r431/pwawryk/DSCN0461.jpg

http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r431/pwawryk/DSCN0466.jpg

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[JohnnyFlake]

Good info pietro, about the Skinner LoPro peep sight. That is one I will be checking out.

[stubert]

I put a Williams fp in the back and a fire sight on the front. They are on a 1895 guide gun, it gives a nice long sight radius, and you can change the size of the aperture.

[historicfirearms]

If your rossi has that extra bolt mounted safety, Steve's Gunz has a sight that will replace that safety.
http://store.stevesgunz.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=20_30&products_id=5

[milrifle]

I put a Marbles tang sight on my Win 94. I did not have to replace the front sight. It makes sighting MUCH easier. No more fuzzy sights. I love it.

[Tn Jim]

I put a Skinner Black Gold peep on my Henry Big Boy 44. I then had to go to a Skinner Brass front sight because I couldn't get it down on target with the stock brass bead. I also removed the factory rear buckhorn and put the Skinner blank in it's place. This was a huge improvement for me. Trying to focus on targets at three different distances with progressive bi-focals was not happening. My group sizes dropped 50% at 50 yards.

Another plus to the Skinner is you can remove the screw in aperture and use it as a ghost ring, if you like. That would be my choice for a early morning/late evening deer hunt. Peeps are definitely a lot faster to get on target and more accurate.

[dragon813gt]

All my Marlins wear Skinners in some form.
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/dragon813gt/Firearms/32781EB4-945A-442B-B02A-DB9AD6B40485.jpg (http://s198.photobucket.com/user/dragon813gt/media/Firearms/32781EB4-945A-442B-B02A-DB9AD6B40485.jpg.html)

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/dragon813gt/Firearms/A3121523-882F-4CD8-9C08-4B9BB1196ED9-8997-000006F3C7119101_zpsea9a0a54.jpg (http://s198.photobucket.com/user/dragon813gt/media/Firearms/A3121523-882F-4CD8-9C08-4B9BB1196ED9-8997-000006F3C7119101_zpsea9a0a54.jpg.html)

The front posts have been replaced w/ brass ones. My Savage 99s all wear Skinner barrel mount apertures. Works surprisingly well. Front posts have been replaced on them as well but the stock ones work.

Recently bought a Merit aperture to work w/ the Skinners. It's great and I will be buying one for every rifle. The ability to change the aperture size on the spot is nice.

[pietro]

.

All nice suggestions, EXCEPT they're solutions for closed-top receivered rifles, and not for a Winchester/Rossi/etc Model 1892/92.

While the Skinner LoPro was half the cost of Steve's drop-in bolt peep sight, I DID have to fashion a safety replacement plug that could then be D/T'd to accept the LoPro.

http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r431/pwawryk/DSCN0432.jpg

.

[GoodOlBoy]

I replaced the stock rear sight on mine with a marbles semi-buckhorn rear and it helped for a good long time.

GoodOlBoy

[JohnnyFlake]

.

All nice suggestions, EXCEPT they're solutions for closed-top receivered rifles, and not for a Winchester/Rossi/etc Model 1892/92.

While the Skinner LoPro was half the cost of Steve's drop-in bolt peep sight, I DID have to fashion a safety replacement plug that could then be D/T'd to accept the LoPro.

http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r431/pwawryk/DSCN0432.jpg

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Yes, there are many good suggestions, however, most will not work for the Winchester/Rossi Style Lever Guns.

[Edster]

I replaced the buckhorn with a Skinners barrel mounted peep sight. This was on the Rossi in 45Colt. The front sight did not have to be changed. The quality of the Skinner is outstanding and really made the difference with aging eyes.

[tygar]

[QUOTE=JohnnyFlake;3041000]I have a Rossi M92 Lever Gun in .454/.45 Colt and I am having a hard time, with my old eyes, using the stock sights on the gun. I am thinking of changing the rear sight to something larger and more visible, at the point it is now mounted, or maybe going to some type of Tang Sight that mounts back behind the hammer.

I'm old & cant focus well either. I put the green glass site on the front & the double ghost ring on the rear. It works very well. Got them from Midway.

They just fit into the current stock cutouts.

[Scharfschuetze]

For maximum flexibility with boolit weights and zeros at various ranges a good Lyman Model 66, an older Redfield or the top of the line Williams sights will give you the most bang for the buck.

With a Merritt adjustable iris in any of the above sights you'll be able to adjust for light and actually help your front sight focus a bit.

If you put a Lyman Model 17 front sight on your rifle, you can then use interchangeable front sight inserts. While I like and use the included mid-width blade/post style, if you are having trouble focusing on the front sight, you can go to one of the many aperture sizes included with the sight. You can then relax your focus a bit and still maintain good sight alignment and excellent sight picture, particularly with bullseye targets. They come in different heights so you can select a height that will help maintain a comfortable cheek weld on your rifle's comb.

Below are shots of a Merritt disc on a Redfield aperture sight, Model 17 Lyman front sight, sight picture with an aperture front and rear sight, and two of my Marlins equipped both front and rear with the above described sights.

[sthwestvictoria]

For maximum flexibility with boolit weights and zeros at various ranges a good Lyman Model 66, an older Redfield or the top of the line Williams sights will give you the most bang for the buck.


A great point. Particularly for cast shooters where you may have one load doing a bit over 1000fps, another in the 14-1600fps and a 1900fps hunting load. With the Williams or Lyman 66 you can record the rear sight elevation and just dial it in for shooting that load. The Skinner is set for one load requiring anything else to be hold over/under estimations.


.

All nice suggestions, EXCEPT they're solutions for closed-top receivered rifles, and not for a Winchester/Rossi/etc Model 1892/92.

Yes the skinner has that restriction however the Lyman and Williams side mounted options are great - this is a Lyman 66 on my Winchester 1894 30-30, ejection is unaffected:
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[starmac]

Just finished switching my williams out for an older steel redfield peep, on my 94. Either one is easier for these eyes to see, but I am seriously thinking about scoping the guide gun and the marlin 308. I know scopes don't belong on levers, but I can see it happening sooner or later.

[huntrick64]

I put the skinner barrel mounted rear peep and his front flat blade on my Rossi M92 (24 " barrel) in 45 colt. I just filed down the front blade to get close on elevation and sued the peep to adjust the rest. I use 300 grain KT boolits that are probably going around 1,500 fps. I sighted it in at 80 yds for hunting and I'm good out to about 125 with a little bit of holdover. At 80 yds the half-turn elevation change would yield me about 3-4" of impact change. This sight was the answer to my poor vision since I was just flat against mounting a scope on that gun. I think the receiver sight would be a little better, but it is amazing how quick I can get on target with this barrel mounted one. Back up to 40 yds and bounce a tin can around as fast as you can and you will see that a "large aperture" peep really doesn't slow you down.

At first I thought that not being able to "fine tune" the elevation was going to be a problem. Reality is, I went to this because my eyes are old, and with old eyes, 3-4" at 80 yds is way better than I can see.

[pirkfan]

I replaced the buckhorn with a Skinners barrel mounted peep sight. This was on the Rossi in 45Colt. The front sight did not have to be changed. The quality of the Skinner is outstanding and really made the difference with aging eyes.
Yep, me too. The barrel mounted sight works better than expected, if the aperature it comes with is too small, you can just remove it and use the sight as a ghost ring. Works very well for my old eyes either way.

[JohnnyFlake]

Thanks Scharfschuetze and Tygar, those are both great set ups. Man I need to start checking this stuff out! (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?23645-Scharfschuetze)

[pjames32]

I put a Williams peep on the receiver of my Marlin 1895. Works good!
PJ

[Geezer in NH]

Williams receiver sight get rid of the insert and a Fire Sight front or the correct height.

You don't see the rear just the front dot. All my levers wear them. Next step will be halos optics IMHO

[chg]

I've replaced front and rear sights on all my lever guns. Went with the Lyman M17 on the .32 H&R and Marbles flo. red pipe on the 45/70. Flo green on the .357 and .35 Remington. The flo. green proved so superior for me to pick up under all conditions, I switched the other two rifles to it also. Rear sights were replaced with either a Lyman or Williams depending on what I had on hand. Also replaced the apertures with the brass rimmed ones available from Brownells and went with the .125 on the 45/70 and .35 Remington. .90 or so on the .32 and .357. Getting old sucks BUT sure beats the other option.

[JWFilips]

I would like to pipe in here about "Getting Old" and having "bad eyesight": About 4 years ago I was diagnosed with eroded corneas and Detached vitreous in both eyes. What this means is my eyes burn like heck for 3 weeks out of every month ( until the layer scuffs off) then I have a good week! Eye drops help this some. The Detached vitreous causes massive black floaters in my eyes that get most pronounced when looking into an aperture especially if magnified like a scope ..telescope or worse for me a camera ...I'm a professional photographer for over 42 years!

When I went back to shooting my rifles again a few years ago ...with cast boolits I realized that all my scoped rifles were too hard to shoot because the magnification of the scope magnified the large black floaters in my eye. I did something drastic and removed all my scopes and installed Receiver peep sights. Well My quess worked: The Receiver Peep along with the lyman 17 target front sight improved all my scores out to 100 yards! Yes better then the scopes ( only because it was harder for me to see the magnified target). This upcoming year I'm looking forward to trying my eyes at the 200 yd range!
Seriously I have shot better targets now at 62 years at 50 & 100yds with Receiver Peeps and Aperture fronts ( With my cast boolits) then I have done in 1980 with scoped rifles and jacketed handloads.

Yes I also believe that age has made me a better shooter so that has to be part of the equation..... But back then my eyes and mind were sharp and clear...& now both have grown dull.

Prognosis of the eye condition is cornea transplant and for the Detached vitreous issue the operation has less then a 45 % chance.... with blindness being the 55% so I'm thinking of switching any new rifle to Receiver peeps and Aperture fronts!:bigsmyl2:

[Mr Peabody]

Buy the one from Steve's Gunz, It's simple and works. I didn't have to change the front sight out either.

[targetfreak]

I changed BOTH the rear and front sights on my Henry Big Boy, .357 Mag. I copied (and improved upon) the Skinner sights. I made them because I have the machines (and experience) to do the job, and it's a kick to make one's own stuff. The front sight, I got a replacement from Henry, then modified it by soft-silver-soldering. That way, I can switch back to factory equip if ever needed. I prefer peep sights to any other iron sights.

[Frank46]

Winchester Canadian Cenntenial took off the front and rear sights. Plugged the slot with a sight blank installed a Lyman 17 front globe sight and a williams adjustable rear. Call it my 30-30 match rifle. Octagon 20" bbl. Will do the same with it's bigger rifle with the 26" bbl. Frank

[Salmoneye]

Rear sight on my Marlin 1894S...

It's a Winchester Model #96A/B sight off an old Model 68 single shot .22...

124356

[spotsboss]

You gotta love that Skinner brass dovetail. And it functions as good as it looks.

[searcher4851]

I went with the Marbles tang sights on my Rossi 92's. They work great for my aged eyes.

[JohnnyFlake]

I went with the Marbles tang sights on my Rossi 92's. They work great for my aged eyes.

I am giving a Marbles Tang strong consideration, however, I am concerned about how it may affect my grip on the stock. Do you have any issues with that?

[searcher4851]

It doesn't bother my grip, since I don't wrap my thumb over the top of the stock anyhow. I just hold it along side the wrist part of the stock. That keeps it away from the sight, and makes it faster to cycle the action. The tang sight increases the length of the sight plane, which helps my attempts at accuracy. I also just like the look of it better than the receiver mounted sight systems on a lever gun. Something about tang sights and levers just seem to go together in my mind. It is also more period correct for the model 92, if that matters to you.
I have receiver/peep sights on some other guns, but none on any of my lever guns. I've also tried the Marbles Bullseye rear sight on one of my levers, which made for quicker target acquisition, but at the cost of accuracy. For close range field work, it's a great option, (and much less expensive than the tang sight) but I prefer to attempt accuracy.

[snaketail]

I have the same rifle. I added a Marbles Tang sight and the "recommended" front sight...big mistake with the front sight. I should have stayed with the factory sight untilI saw where it was shooting. Bottom Line - I ran out of elevation at 50 yards, and changed to a taller tang sight, but could have done as well with the factory front sight. If you put a taller front sight on your rifle your point of impact will be lower (any action in the front sight gives you the opposite reaction in bullet placement...a left movement, results in a right side bullet strike. Lower the sight and the bullet strikes higher, etc.)

You'll have to drill and tap no matter what sight you ad - might as well pick one you like.

FYI the tang sight has never bothered me when shooting .454s in it. If you think you'll hurt your hand (you won't) I'd go with a Williams Receiver sight.

M

PS: If your eyes are really bad - use the scope mount holes under the rear sight and mount a scout scope.

[JohnnyFlake]

Thanks for the comments snaketail & searcher4851. Very helpful info. I need to make a choice and I just cannot at this time. Looking at both the Marbles and the Williams.

[searcher4851]

I don't know what your eyesight condition is, but I have to wear "reading" glasses to read. This situation also transferred to open rifle sights. The tang sight solved the problem for me. The receiver sight was better than the open irons for me, and the tang is better than the receiver sight is for me. That's just been my experience with MY eyesight condition. I don't know if that'll help you or not.

I'm too far away to give you a chance to try the various options out that I've tried, but maybe you can find someone closer that'll give you a chance to see for yourself.

[JohnnyFlake]

I don't know what your eyesight condition is, but I have to wear "reading" glasses to read. This situation also transferred to open rifle sights. The tang sight solved the problem for me. The receiver sight was better than the open irons for me, and the tang is better than the receiver sight is for me. That's just been my experience with MY eyesight condition. I don't know if that'll help you or not.

I'm too far away to give you a chance to try the various options out that I've tried, but maybe you can find someone closer that'll give you a chance to see for yourself.

Thanks for your input. Every little bit helps.