Cape gun sight

[Wayne Smith]

I have a Cape gun that was made in Stettin, Germany, between 1885 and April 1, 1892. It is in 10.5x47R and is the 24th different such chamber Dave had at CH4D! I designed a 286gr boolit and Dan made the mold. I shoot 777, a case full.

It is shooting 11 inches high at 100 yards. (Note, since cataract surgery I can shoot open sights again!) The front sight is a silver piece in a base that is clearly dovetailed in, or no, that's an assumption since I can't actually see the dovetail. I need to raise the front sight.

What are my options?

[JSnover]

Could you silver solder a taller blade into it?

[Wayne Smith]

Humm, never done that, but probably. My existing front sight blade is relatively thick, more so than a dime. Gotta think about something else to solder on. It is a piece of silver, btw, my front sight blade.

[ulav8r]

It is probably "German Silver."

https://somethingborrowedpdx.com/what-is-german-silver/

https://chestofbooks.com/home-improvement/workshop/Handy-Man/German-Silver-Solders.html

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Soft+German+Silver+Solder&crid=TQOUTQW97P47&sprefix=soft+german+silver+solder%2Caps%2C999&ref=nb_sb_noss

[M-Tecs]

Cape guns barrels would be soft soldered, so you have to be very careful with heating them. What gauge is the shotgun barrel?

The people here tend to have a lot of expertise on these types of firearms. https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=cfrm

[Wayne Smith]

Shotgun side is 16x2.5 - Damascus barrel. Rifle side is fluid steel, it says so, but in Deutsch.

At this point whatever I use I'll probably start with super glue rather than solder, given the age of the gun. Don't want to take the chance of damaging it.

[waksupi]

Wayne, you may want to try a heavier bullet with more bearing surface. A friend got a Shiloh Sharps, and was trying a 405 gr. bullet, and it shot high like yours is. I gave him some of my 560 gr bullet loads, and they shot to point of aim.

[Wayne Smith]

That's a decent idea, Ric, but this is a 10.5 mm. Not a common size - between .41 and .42 if I remember correctly. And, with this small case, a heavier boolit might just be too much. With this 286gr and 777 I basically have a .44Mag in a rifle barrel.

[Bmi48219]

I think we need to see a picture or two of this rifle. Not that it will help me have any good ideas, it just sounds like a neat firearm.

[Gewehr-Guy]

You might try finding a piece of solder wire about the same thickness of the blade, bend and trim it to fit, and temporarily glue it on . Then shoot it to determine what height adjustments need to be made. Later a proper piece could be filed out of an old coin, and epoxied or soldered on

[slughammer]

How tall is the rear sight? Can you lower it?

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

[Rapier]

Sounds like a cast bullet for a 41 mag might size to fit your purposes, in testing. Reduce the weight, increase the velocity, reduce the height of impact above the point of aim. Could a substitute powder, like 5744 work in that cartridge, gun combination?

[TCLouis]

I have the formula somewhere, but this will have to do since I can't find it!

https://www.dillonprecision.com/sight-correction-calculator.html

[Wayne Smith]

I must be missing something. That doesn't let me put in the needed correction. My sight height from the center of the barrel (approximate) is .47". I assume that is the first value to be entered. I'm shooting at 100 yds, and my sight radius is 18". I am currently shooting 11 inches high at that range. How much height do I need to add to my front sight to drop my point of inpact 11"? I don't see how I can use that program to solve that problem.

[Cap'n Morgan]

We need more threads with pictures in here!

I have a nice C. G. Edwards & Son 12 gauge/450-577 cape gun which suffers from the same front sight problem.

https://i.imgur.com/2xmXdcH.jpg

The front sight is way too low:

https://i.imgur.com/NMJRZaf.jpg

This 4-shot group were shot at forty meters. The gun can certainly shoot but obvious needs a higher front sight.
A holo-sight would probably be the best solution for my aging eyes, but it would be totally out of style!

https://i.imgur.com/a4nKESt.jpg

The rear sight is marked for 100 yards, and has two more blades for 200 and 300 yards.
If that's not enough it can be raised to 1200 yards! Pretty optimistic, if you ask me...:grin:

https://i.imgur.com/YR07FoD.jpg

[Wayne Smith]

Hey Cap'n - if I can figure out how to send a phone pic to my e-mail I can get some pictures up. Until then... Mine has a side swinging lever in the forend.

[LAGS]

Sights like that look like they can be removed and a taller one installed.
But be careful.
The barrel rib is I think soldered on.
So you might have to drive it out or press it out carefully without heat.
If you remove the dovetail sight blade.
Then you can build up the blade by sweat soldering on an extension .
Finding a taller original replacement sight might not be easy.

[txbirdman]

Could use JB Weld to build up that front sight.

[Wayne Smith]

Using Brownell's formula, (amount of change)x(sight radius)/distance to target = correction needed. I get 11x18/3600=.055. That's still a goodly piece of metal to add. If that sounds right to you folks I'll go see what I might have that I can use. Got lots of junk in the garage!

[Wayne Smith]

Got it! #54 drill bit. Guess which one is missing from my collection??

[LAGS]

You can use a larger drill bit , nail or brass rod.
You can always file it back down to the height you need.

[Cap'n Morgan]

If your front sight looks anything the the one my gun, the easiest fix would probably be to file down the old sight post, file a lengthwise slot in the remaining base and soft solder or braze a new blade in place - brass would do fine. Make the blade a bit too high to allow for a final adjustment and add a nice sloped/rounded profile to it.
My gun has V-notches in the rear sight blades, meant for keeping the "ball" in the front sight matching the "V" but I much prefer a flattop front post for height alignment.

[Wayne Smith]

I do have some brads, which would be easier to adjust with a file than a hardened drill bit. But the drill bit is just around the corner at the local hardware store.

[DougGuy]

Arghh.. You'd likely be adjusting a drill bit with a dremel tool, may be too hard for a file. You could use pieces of guitar strings, there you would get many different diamters, .052" is a popular size, .046" is a popular size I would seek out a guitar or instrument repair shop and see what you can find. If you superglue the windings of the string will be a good grip for the glue or you could also use some of the 5min epoxy from lowe's to hold the string in place. this would give you enough shots to see if you need to go bigger or smaller with the string, this is to give you an accurate idea of how much height correction you need, then you could set about a proper repair in steel. They also make stainless steel strings.

If you can't find anything useful without a lot of trouble, I probably can scrounge up a few short pieces of nickel wound string.