Trouble with tang sight

[am44mag]

I bought a Lyman no 2 (Win 92 and 94 model) tang sight for a Rossi 92 (octagon barrel). It's pre-drilled at the factory for tang sights. I have read numerous posts where people say it fit their gun just fine. Mine doesn't. It seems like the holes are slightly too close together on the sight for them to properly line up with the holes on the receiver. They are really close, but not close enough. It doesn't seem to perfectly match the contour of the tang either.

So what's going on? Did Lyman change their sight, did Rossi fudge up their holes, or am I doing something wrong?

[Drm50]

I have no experience with Rossi guns but have Lyman tangs on 3 rifles. 53Win, 94 Win and a
100 yr old Marlin 1894 32/20. Perfect fits. I would tend to think it Rossi problem. Have a lot of
Lyman sights of both newer and old production. I like the older ones better but have no fit or
Function problems with them.

[john.k]

You will have to file both holes just a little.This is much better than filing one hole,and the countersinks should still fit ok.....if not,then reduce the dia of the screw heads a little.......if nothing better,chuck the screw in a small drill,and spin against an abrasive with a hard surface,not a piece of sandpaper held in the fingers......Fit twice,cut once.

[indian joe]

You will have to file both holes just a little.This is much better than filing one hole,and the countersinks should still fit ok.....if not,then reduce the dia of the screw heads a little.......if nothing better,chuck the screw in a small drill,and spin against an abrasive with a hard surface,not a piece of sandpaper held in the fingers......Fit twice,cut once.

yes to John k

[am44mag]

Here's how far it's off with the rear screw completely seated. Is that too much to file?


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180714/bd9555ebf2bbd46ebae2be8dba90d7be.jpg

I'm fine with filing it. That's a pretty simple job. I don't want to do it though if it's going to mess up the sight or make it look terrible. I might be better off just sending it back and getting a Marble's sight instead. The rear sight on those is slotted so there's some play in it. I'll see if I can find out what the center to center range is on that and compare it to my gun.

[WALLNUTT]

I have a Rossi, pre-drilled holes. I bought a Marbles and it fits fine. It took all of 15 min to install. Besides, the Marbles is adjustable for windage.

[ndnchf]

Odds are the sight holes are correct, and Rossi drilled the holes wrong. Measure the hole spacing and compare with the specifications. If the rifle hole are wrong, the best course of action may be to have a gunsmith weld up one of the tang holes, then redrill and tap in the proper location.

[am44mag]

I just went ahead and returned the sight. The Marble's (which is specifically for my rifle) max center to center spread for the screw holes is 2.185". My rifle is 2.288" :mad:

This is why I don't buy Taurus or Rossi stuff anymore. The closest decent gunsmith is 2 hours away, and I'm not keen on paying someone to fix a manufacturer's screw up.

[smokeywolf]

I just went ahead and returned the sight. The Marble's (which is specifically for my rifle) max center to center spread for the screw holes is 2.185". My rifle is 2.288" :mad:

This is why I don't buy Taurus or Rossi stuff anymore. The closest decent gunsmith is 2 hours away, and I'm not keen on paying someone to fix a manufacturer's screw up.

Sounds like somebody at Rossi had their dial off by .100".

[Drm50]

I buy no guns that sound like they should come with breadsticks. Too many glitches over the years
and major pain when you are the dealer that sold it. I got to point that I would only order such
guns for a customer, with disclaimer on responsibility for it. Then stopped selling them at all on
the account of customer forgetting all about it when he gets a bum gun.

I have never had a issue with Lyman, Marbel, Redfield sights fitting the model they were intended
for. From the old originals to the new production Alumilum models, this includes Williams too.

[Speedo66]

Rossi used to make their own tang sights, I wonder if the spacing is for them. I put a Rossi tang sight on a 20" round barreled Rossi 92, which didn't come with holes, had to have it drilled and tapped for the sight. Not a bad sight though.

It did come drilled and tapped under the rear sight for a Rossi scope mount though, which was included with the model I bought.

Rossi dovetail cuts for the front and rear sights were also not industry standard. Still, I really like the gun.

[enfield]

you will like the marbles better anyway, it has windage adjustment. the old Lymans are nice but the new ones are a bit iffy and without windage they are lacking in adjustability

[country gent]

Ideally to save future hassles with any sight changes, I would plug the lower screw hole clean it up and re drill and tap on location. Modifying the sight works for the one sight any others have to be modified, making the rifle right everything works.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I'd agree that it is probably Rossi's fault, especially if their holes come a round figure apart in centimetres. That looks too much of an adjustment to do the way people have suggested,and had it been a modern sight I would have suggested hacksawing through the rear tang of the sight, and silver soldering in a spacing piece, which you would then file flush and drill to match the rifle. But it would be a shame to treat an original Lyman sight that way.

On a rifle with no finish I'd consider welding up and redrilling and tapping the hole in the rifle tang. But you punish yourself, not Rossi, by spoiling their case-hardened finish. I believe I would file and drill or ream the rear hole in the tang rearward, and t0 about ¼in. diameter or slightly more to eliminate the incorrect screwhole and cover the position of the new one. I would bevel the hole slightly at top and bottom, insert and epoxy in a piece of steel rod to stand slightly proud of the top and bottom of the tang, and use a simple cold-forging technique (aka hitting it with a hammer) to expand the ends into the bevel and hold it in place. Then I would file it flush and drill and tap it in the right place for the Lyman sight. Alternatively you could just screw and epoxy a blanking plug into the hole, then drill and tap, so that you have a figure-eight shaped hole with one part plugged and the other threaded. I don't think that would loosen as you drill and tap, and certainly not afterwards.

I suggested the rear screwhole for any of these treatments, as it won't weaken the tang as much as the front hole would. You should use slow epoxy so that the hammering won't break it. The joint would be hidden by the tang of the sight. I prefer the Lyman, and have never liked basic hunting tang sights with windage adjustments. These are usually big enough to be clumsy, but not big enough for better-controlled adjustment than you can get by tapping the front sight sideways. If that takes enough adjustment t make the front sight look off-centre, you can tile the Lyman sight with a thin metal shim under one side of its base, and epoxy and lamp black to hide it.

[bigted]

So i fall in the plug it and redrill and tap in the correct place.

Easy to do;

Do chamfer the rear holes top and bottom for peening.
Install a grade 5 filler screw into the hole with green locktight.
Cut the filler screw slightly proud at top and bottom.
Peen into the flair top and bottom.
Carefully file the remainder of the filler screw flush.
Next center punch the corrected hole center and drill the correct hole to make good threads.
Thread the hole and slightly ... very slightly chamfer the top of your new hole.
Clean with alcohol and touch up with cold blue.
FINISHED. Now you can mount ANY wrist sight you desire.

[Naphtali]

Rossi Model 92s have changed distributors more than once. My 92 was not drilled-and-tapped. I mention this because it's possible that Lyman has available more than one tang sight base for Rossi/Puma/Braz-Tech (and on and on) 92s.

If it makes a difference to you, I had mine drilled-and-tapped to accept a Marble's Marlin 336 tang sight base. "Why?" you might reasonably ask. Affixed this way I can obtain a conventional grip with my thumb over my half-pistol grip.

Another, Oh yes, I forgot to mention . . . I had my carbine converted from straight grip to half-pistol grip, 20-inch barrel to 24-inch octagonal barrel, and on and on. Nothing on the work done was done properly except this drilling-and-tapping. I have another gunsmith doing what he can to render a nauseating eye sore to something that at least works.

Hope something in this mishmash helps.