FirstFreedom
Moderator
New to muzzleloading/black powder. Picked up the NEF Sidekick 50 - nice price - $143 plus tax. But recommend a don't buy on this one (til they fix the main issue) - two problems with it - one major and one minor.
The major problem is - the sights are "defective" in that they're not calibrated anywhere even close to a typical load. The rear sight is way too low, or the front sight way too high, depending on how you look at it. OK, here's the facts...went to the range Sun to sight it in (muzzloader season starts this NEXT Sat, the 23rd). On the rear sight elevation adjustment, it was set near the middle, a little higher than half way. It's over 14 inches low at 100 yards. This is with a very standard loading under normal weather conditions - 100 grains of triple seven (2 pellets) over a hornady XTP 240 grain, .451 bullet, saboted. I don't think it gets more standard than that does it? Moved the rear sight up to the HIGHEST marked adjustment. Still some 7 or more inches low at 100 yards - and these would all obviously be hitting the target even lower with 260 or 300 gr loadings. Then moved rear sight up even higher, well past the highest actual marking - still 4 inches low at 100 yards. Then moved the sight so far up the rail that it's about 3/4ths hanging off, and only 1/4th on the rail - just enough for the screw to hold it on - and it's a little wobbley and could easily be knocked askew in this situation - not good at all. The rifle is STILL 2" low at 100. So I take it back to the store today. Their in-house gunsmith hears me out - he doesn't look surprised (hmmm). He goes to the back, then comes back a few mins later with a much larger/higher rear sight assembly and says "this is the one they used to use on that gun; don't know why they changed". Replaced it for free, to their credit, but still I was very inconvenienced in that I had to make another trip to the store and will have to do another range session before Fri now to sight it in, and I lucked out in that that had the part to make it right there on site - you might not. This sight setup might work fine if you're shooting 210s or less, or use a 75 yards zero, but not for more standard conditions.
The minor problem is that the ramrod uses an 8/32" insert screw size, unlike every other muzzleloader in the world, that uses 10/32", since the standard for muzzleloading accessories is 10/32". So I found out the hard way that I need a "worm" to remove the cleaning patch - I had to unscrew the damned breech block between every shot, for cleaning, when the patch didn't come out. And the worms for sale are for 10/32. The answer of course is a little adapter that changes the 8/32 to 10/32. But they are out of the adaptor, or never had it, so I'm pretty well SOL for now. So if NEF corrects this rear sight problem, and if you get this rifle, get the adaptor from the get-go, or you'll be making the rounds, or ordering from the net and waiting for your adaptor to come in.
The major problem is - the sights are "defective" in that they're not calibrated anywhere even close to a typical load. The rear sight is way too low, or the front sight way too high, depending on how you look at it. OK, here's the facts...went to the range Sun to sight it in (muzzloader season starts this NEXT Sat, the 23rd). On the rear sight elevation adjustment, it was set near the middle, a little higher than half way. It's over 14 inches low at 100 yards. This is with a very standard loading under normal weather conditions - 100 grains of triple seven (2 pellets) over a hornady XTP 240 grain, .451 bullet, saboted. I don't think it gets more standard than that does it? Moved the rear sight up to the HIGHEST marked adjustment. Still some 7 or more inches low at 100 yards - and these would all obviously be hitting the target even lower with 260 or 300 gr loadings. Then moved rear sight up even higher, well past the highest actual marking - still 4 inches low at 100 yards. Then moved the sight so far up the rail that it's about 3/4ths hanging off, and only 1/4th on the rail - just enough for the screw to hold it on - and it's a little wobbley and could easily be knocked askew in this situation - not good at all. The rifle is STILL 2" low at 100. So I take it back to the store today. Their in-house gunsmith hears me out - he doesn't look surprised (hmmm). He goes to the back, then comes back a few mins later with a much larger/higher rear sight assembly and says "this is the one they used to use on that gun; don't know why they changed". Replaced it for free, to their credit, but still I was very inconvenienced in that I had to make another trip to the store and will have to do another range session before Fri now to sight it in, and I lucked out in that that had the part to make it right there on site - you might not. This sight setup might work fine if you're shooting 210s or less, or use a 75 yards zero, but not for more standard conditions.
The minor problem is that the ramrod uses an 8/32" insert screw size, unlike every other muzzleloader in the world, that uses 10/32", since the standard for muzzleloading accessories is 10/32". So I found out the hard way that I need a "worm" to remove the cleaning patch - I had to unscrew the damned breech block between every shot, for cleaning, when the patch didn't come out. And the worms for sale are for 10/32. The answer of course is a little adapter that changes the 8/32 to 10/32. But they are out of the adaptor, or never had it, so I'm pretty well SOL for now. So if NEF corrects this rear sight problem, and if you get this rifle, get the adaptor from the get-go, or you'll be making the rounds, or ordering from the net and waiting for your adaptor to come in.