New Design Lee Shaver sight

[lovedogs]

Recently got a new H&R Buffalo Classic .45-70 for my lady friend so she could shoot long-range silly-wets with me this summer. Several of us locals have come up with a way of mounting Lee Shaver's long-range (Soule) aperature sight on the buttstock just behing the receiver. We've had excellent results with this comparitively inexpensive sight. When I called to order a new sight for the darling's new cannon I found that they had raised their price from $150 to $189. That's a big increase to my way of thinking. They told me they'd made some improvements over the old model. The old model had roll-marked staffs. I'm not sure what the new process is but they claim they're easier to see. They used to use Pedersoli's staffs. Now they are making their own. So we get a healthy increase in price. I'll let you all know how they work out in case there's an interest. I've found that the Shaver's work fine and don't cost near what some of the other brands do.

[Catshooter]

Show us a pic when you can if you can. Also, can you link us to this Shavers outfit?

Thanks.


Cat

[PatMarlin]

Yes and pics please.... ! ;-)

[Buckshot]

http://www.fototime.com/193D60B7CD23034/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/3144C594B86259F/standard.jpg

The 2 photo's above are of the same sight and are Lee Shaver conversions. Myself and 2 other guys sent 4 of the cheap Italian tang sights to Lee for conversion. This was maybe 4 years ago. Last I'd heard (at that time) was that the conversions were $75. When I called to confirm he said their prices had gone up slightly, and that it was also based upon the difficulty of the conversion.

All 4 sights we sent (I sent 2) were of the so called 'Flip Flop' windage types. These have the staffs anchored on the bottom end with a pivot screw. Some will have adjuster screws at 9 and 3 o'clock to bear against the staff. A kind of "Loosen one and tighten the other" method to tilt the staff. Obviously as the elevator is raised up the staff, and it's leaning out more, your windage values greaty increase.

What Lee or his gnomes do is to cut the staff off and fit it to their Soule windage deal which is then mated to the base you sent along. The Soule addition is then ground on the bottom to match the flat spring in the base. In addition they buff the side of the staff to bring the scale out, and then engrave a vernier on the side of the elevator (which you can see on the side of the elevator).

On this sight staff the factory markings on the staff were only lightly rolled on and are somewhat faint. Faint enough so as to not really show up in the photo.

In the left picture, on the face of the staff they install (glue?) a polished plate with witness marks for windage. In the photo the flash has washed these out so it's just a bright square. The windage knobs are marked and one full revolution of either windage knob moves the staff left or right one mark on the windage plate there on the staff.

The other sight I sent up was different in details then the one in these 2 pictures. The one in the photo has a fixed eyepiece. The other one had a slot on the back of the elevator and a bar which moved back and forth in the slot. The eyepiece threaded into the bar. By loosening the eyepiece you had some additional windage movement.

On that one, in addition to all that they did to the pictured one was to put witness marks on the bar and elevator, plus they drilled and tapped and installed a tiny binding screw. This way you could loosen the binding screw and slide the eyepiece back and forth between the legs of the staff as before, but with thier witness marks you had a reference as to where you were and how far you'd come.

At that time these inexpensive tang sights could be had from various sources for $49. I believe they're a bit higher then that now. They're better then no sights at all the way they come, but not very repeatable nor precise. The Shaver conversion makes a quantum leap in useability. While they aren't in the same league as a MVA, they're certainly good enough for entry level competition.

IIRC the 4 sights we sent ranged in price from $83 to $98 for Shaver to do, so it was close to $150 each when you figure in the initial cost of the tang sight. The other sight I had done is a much better representation of the work Shaver puts into the sight conversion.

................Buckshot

[PatMarlin]

That's really a cool mod. What shooters do you have those on Buckshot?

[Trailblazer]

lovedogs, at $150 I considered the Shaver sight to be in the same price range as the Marbles tang sight. When I called Shaver and found out about the price increase his sight moved into another price category with the Ukraine sights. Everybody agrees the Ukraine sights are better quality plus their sights come with the Hadley type eyecup with 6 apertures. I didn't ask but I am sure the Shaver with the Hadley eyecup would be higher priced than the Ukraine sight. I am no longer considering the Shaver sight at all.

[AkMike]

Does anyone know where or who in Ukraine builds these sights? I'm going back there next winter and might have to bring an extra suitcase for necessary supplies. Sorry to high Jack the thread.

[PatMarlin]

Now that's a good idea.

I went over to Viet Nam in 1997 and brought back a pile of wind proof butane cigarette lighters they had for about $99 here in the states at the time.

I paid a buck each for them, and sold them all for $50 each.. :mrgreen:

[AkMike]

Yup, Things are very cheap there. Especially if you find the right "Ivan" and grease his palm.
It's about 5/1 of their 'dollars' to ours. You can live pretty well on $200 a month there. And the women... :D:D Wow:D:D

I even married one!:D

[Trailblazer]

Well, that's a thought! My neighbor travels to Russia and the surrounding area regularly. I will have to talk to him.

[AkMike]

From what I hear they're made in Ukraine NOT Russia.

[waksupi]

Parts Unknown, Inc.
206 Oxford St.
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada R3M 3J6
email: spustogo@shaw.ca
Phone & FAX: 204-487-7185

[AkMike]

Thanks Waksupi. But I need the name of the town in Ukraine and the name of the company there that makes them.
I doubt that Parts Unlimited would tell me if it meant losing sales.
I've been Googleing but no luck so far. Most places over there don't have websites.
Do Svidania

[PatMarlin]

Yup, Things are very cheap there. Especially if you find the right "Ivan" and grease his palm.
It's about 5/1 of their 'dollars' to ours. You can live pretty well on $200 a month there. And the women... :D:D Wow:D:D

I even married one!:D

Pics please AKMike!.. [smilie=w:

-naw, just kiddin'.. :mrgreen:

[AkMike]

Pat, No pics like you're thinking. And the description welll,that'd take up wayyyy too much space in this thread. :D

[Buckshot]

...............When the Parts Unknown sights first became available I read a review of them. In it it said that they were being made by a company that had been involved in making surveying and other precision instruments. I gather that most of their output had been bought up by the Soviet government. They'd mentioned that after the collapse of the Evil Empire most of the factory had been idled.

...........Pat, I have one on a 45-90 Sharps and the other on a Pedersoli Super Match 40-65 rolling block.

................Buckshot

[Bullshop]

Dont know if anyone mentioned that the PU site base has adjustable hole spacing, and staff angle. This makes it usable for lots of different tang angles and hole spacings where most other bases are angle/spacing specific. I think there are just two bases available that will cover everything. Its very simple to pull the hinge pin and swap the staff to a different base. Takes a little more fiddling to swap the base to a different tang with different angle or spacing as you have to locate the spring to adjust angle.
Another option is the Browning site, the ones that came on the BPCR. You can get the set with front and rear or seperatly. The staff comes with three eye cups with different size holes and the front comes with a full card of inserts and spirit level. I went to the Browning front for my roller but have the PU long range rear. I like the Browning front because of the very thin wire used in the apetures covers less area so its easier to pick up the target.
BIC/BS

[lovedogs]

Thanks for the help, Buckshot. I don't have the ability or know-how to post photos. I like the look of the new sight. It looks like your photos and seems quite an improvement over the old ones. I don't know anything about other brands of sights as I'm just getting started and live in a tiny town where we don't have access to much of anything. I can't afford expensive sights anyway. The Shavers were about all my budget could handle. I've seen the Ukrainian sights in catalogs but would wonder where you'd get service if you needed it.