H&R Buck 162 sight

[megasupermagnum]

I know a lot of people have always been curious about adding sights to an H&R or other single shot shotgun. Lots of people have wondered how H&R made the Buck 162 with peep sight, despite nobody seemingly wanting to drill and tap any other 12 gauge version. I always assumed they had used some kind of trick to make it work. The way they are mounted makes it look like they might have drilled and tapped at an angle to allow more metal to work with.

Back in the fall I was digging around in my safe and I found an H&R Buck 162 I had bought about this time last year and completely forgot about. I've never even shot it. I decided to see exactly how the sight is mounted. As it turns out there is no magic going on. H&R drilled and tapped straight over the chamber at about the 9 o'clock position. It's just two small screws, no epoxy or anything like that. There is not extra metal. It has exactly the same chamber thickness as a Topper model. They did not drill all the way through to the chamber.

I thought people might want this info if they were looking to add sights to another single shot 12 gauge where they are worried there is not enough metal to drill and tap. There is, but you would have to be very careful doing it. I see no reason you could not mount a Skinner peep sight to one. You could probably use a reflex sight. I would not mount any kind of scope to one.

https://i.ibb.co/1fyHWrD/IMG-20220216-134802275.jpg (https://ibb.co/1fyHWrD)

[725]

I used to have a 20 ga H&R that somebody D&T'd to mount a Weaver Rail base. Worked just fine. They had more guts than I would have had. Seems like not enough meat to hold the screws, but there was. I've been wrong before :).

[megasupermagnum]

A 20 gauge H&R has a cannon barrel thickness. No worries there. It is nothing at all like the 12 gauge.

[Texas by God]

What did the original sight look like? This is a Redding simple ghost ring.Tapping this 12 gauge, I only used the bottoming tap- but there's a 44-40 barrel inside so a depth mistake wouldn't have mattered. I wouldn't want to push my luck and try it again, though.
Pre- NEF/H&R1871 Toppers have lighter contour barrels, especially the contoured frame models.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220217/fe699a72efb50c46b8f047da40e812f0.jpg

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[megasupermagnum]

I'll get a picture up later, and I'll do some measuring. I can only assume this Buck 162 is a pre-1987 H&R, simply because it uses a rebounding hammer. Every 1987 and later I have seen have been transfer bars. I would also really doubt a smooth bore slug gun like this would be marketed after 1987, right when rifled barrel shotguns were becoming popular. I'm almost positive post 1987 they changed the name to Tracker (later rifled Tracker II), and used standard Ruger pistol sights on the barrels instead of the buck 162's proprietary peep sight.

I have not taken measurements yet, but just by eye, the barrel thicknesses of this are not any different to a later standard profile 12 gauge model like the Topper or Tracker II. I did try to put this barrel on a newer frame, but the under lug seemed to be too wide. I'd say if you wanted to drill and tap, it would be best done on a mill. It can certainly be done if you have any means to accurately drill a hole. It's not something I would attempt in the garage with a Harbor Freight drill press, but it could be done if careful. This one you would want to push it to the limit. Any less and you chance stripping the holes, and then you have a real mess to clean up. I'd drill to about .010" shy of the chamber, then finish with a flat tipped drill bit to make a flat bottomed hole. Something this shallow would probably be useless to try a normal plug tap, just go straight for the bottoming tap.

[Mk42gunner]

I think you may be about a decade off in your dating of this gun. As far as I know, H&R started the transfer bar actions in the late 1970's. I do know the Model 58 .410 I got for Christmas in 1975 had the rebounding hammer, but the various .30-30 and .22 Hornet rifles my friend and I had in the early 80's had the transfer bar, all of which broke at inopportune times.

I have seen a date chart for H&R's somewhere on the web, maybe gpc? I know the code is the first few letters of the serial number.

Robert

[megasupermagnum]

Let me know if you find that chart. I only mention 1987 since that is the year the company restarted, at least I thought so. I could be wrong there too.

Ok here is some numbers for you guys. The first thing I did was take out my 12 gauge NEF Pardner with 28" modified barrel, and 12 gauge NEF Tracker II with 24" rifled barrel. All three are pictured below in the order of Pardner, Buck 162, and Tracker II. All three are the exact same barrel profiles. They are all about 1.115" over the chamber, and taper down to the same dimension in about the same spot. All three are about .811-.812 in ID for the chamber, giving a chamber wall thickness of about 0.152". The screw holes on the Buck 162 are drilled to about .125" deep. They seem to be normal #6-48 screws. The second and third picture is the Buck 162 with the original peep sight as requested by Texas by God. I did replace the elevation screw with a #10-32 allen bolt and nut since the original was missing.

@725, the 20 gauge has the exact same OD of the barrel. I'm measuring a chamber wall thickness of my 20 gauge NEF Tracker II at .210". That's a lot of meat, you can drill and tap them easily for a scope mount, and run any scope you want on them. It wouldn't hurt to go for a #8-40 screw if you were going to use a 2-7x or larger scope.

https://i.ibb.co/C2MNS3w/IMG-20220218-010402081.jpg (https://ibb.co/C2MNS3w)

https://i.ibb.co/CvkYz7m/IMG-20220218-011714319.jpg (https://ibb.co/CvkYz7m)

https://i.ibb.co/WpS1pZh/IMG-20220218-011752859.jpg (https://ibb.co/WpS1pZh)

[megasupermagnum]

I found a chart for H&R. According to that, my Buck 162 with AL prefix is a 1973. I'll look up more another day, I already put most back. According to Shotgun World, my NEF Tracker II 20 gauge is a 1992.

[Texas by God]

Thanks for checking that out, megasupermagnum. That is a neat peep sight; the first one of those that I have seen.
Put me down in the rebounding hammer fan club- I like it better than the transfer bar.

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[Mk42gunner]

0.027" doesn't sound like a lot of wiggle room for high pressure loads, but obviously H&R thought it was enough. I do know the gunsmith at Carl's Gun Shop wouldn't drill and tap an H&R 10 gauge when my buddy and I wanted one for nighttime coyote calling.

I'm in the rebounding hammer fan club too. I never had a problem with my .410, but every single H&R I have been around with the transfer bar has broken it, even my 3½" 12 ga. Last time I bought a spare for the parts cabinet, if I can only find it when I need it.

Robert

[megasupermagnum]

The thickness doesn't matter. You are talking about a #6 size screw hole. If you drilled all the way though you wouldn't die, but if you shot it without a screw in the hole, bad things might happen. That's the only reason for not drilling all the way through is so you can still use it without a screw in the hole. Some gunsmiths wont do it anyway because .125" isn't that deep of a hole. It requires a little more care and thought than the normal job.

[wcp4570]

The discussion about date the transfer bar was added according to the guys on Gray Beard Outdoors was 1976 (first transfer bar on model 155) and 1978 (Transfer bar added to all models). Someone over on GBO put together a serial number list that I saved and have attached here for those interested.

wcp

298316

[Geezer in NH]

Thanks for the list Great info! :goodpost: