Peep sight questions

[gonzogeezer]

I have an old .22 rifle from my dad.

It is a Stevens “Springfield 87M” that had a peep sight mounted on it in years past. I can’t tell what brand it is, no name appears, but I think if there was it was cut away when the sight was fitted. My issue is the aperture appears to be the thickness of a frog hair to these old eyes but I guess it’s a .05”. I want to get a wider one, say .1”, but I don’t know if there is a difference in these apertures between say Williams or Lyman, etc. the outside diameter is .50” and the threaded part appears to be about .21”.

Any thoughts from the cognoscenti up here?

 

[jcj54]

Sight ID

Your sight is a Redfield Target knob sight.
Which model is the question.
Aperture thread should be 7/32-40

 

[gonzogeezer]

Your sight is a Redfield Target knob sight.

Which model is the question.

Aperture thread should be 7/32-40

Thanks. Any idea of the age? The gun itself is probably 1946 or a little later. I ordered a 7/32x40 .093” aperture long shank from Williams. Sounds like it might work.


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[bamaranger]

wow

That is a very nice old rifle, and I can't say that I have ever seen one, for real, or a picture, before!

Don't know what your eyes are doing, but for me, ...reducing...the diameter of the aperture clears up the front sight better. I've had to swap out all my big "ghost rings" for inserts with smaller dia holes.

 

[gonzogeezer]

For me A larger aperture allows me to see the front sight in lower light conditions. Plus the front sight on this thing is not a target style blade.

 

[jcj54]

Sight I D

Further research indicates your sight is a Redfiels 70HD made for your rifle. It dates to the era of manufacture of the rifle being made from the early 1940's until 1964.

 

[gonzogeezer]

Further research indicates your sight is a Redfiels 70HD made for your rifle. It dates to the era of manufacture of the rifle being made from the early 1940's until 1964.

Interesting. But it doesn’t use the factory holes already present on the side of the receiver. Someone drilled and tapped new holes so the sight is mounted as far back as possible. In fact the back screw hole actually goes into the threads of the takedown cap. As a result the sight must be removed to field strip the rifle. And it wasn’t made for this stock as it was cut down to make room and as you can see the bottom of the elevation scale has been cut off.

 

[jcj54]

Sight ID

The 70HT wes made for the Springfield 87.
It is possible a different model 70 sight was modufied and used.
Normally the letter designating which version of the sight is stamped on the side facing the receiver.

 

[T. O'Heir]

All those dimensions, threads included, are measurable. Your local smithy will have the tools.
"...guess it’s a .05”..." Guess again. 50 thou is very, very small. A National Match M1 Rifle front blade is 62 thou wide as something to compare.
The peep without the disk is already bigger. Looks like it's 1/8"(.125") at a guess.

 

[gonzogeezer]

All those dimensions, threads included, are measurable. Your local smithy will have the tools.
"...guess it’s a .05”..." Guess again. 50 thou is very, very small. A National Match M1 Rifle front blade is 62 thou wide as something to compare.
The peep without the disk is already bigger. Looks like it's 1/8"(.125") at a guess.

No. The aperture is .050”. I can fit a large paper clip through the hole that I measured to be .044. And my front sight post is at least .100”, hard to get the jaws of the caliper between the protective ears.

The mount for the aperture is 7/32” (0.218”), the diameter of the aperture shank.


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[tangolima]

No. The aperture is .050”. I can fit a large paper clip through the hole that I measured to be .044. And my front sight post is at least .100”, hard to get the jaws of the caliper between the protective ears.

The mount for the aperture is 7/32” (0.218”), the diameter of the aperture shank.


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0.05" is not too small for a peep sight aperture. 0.1" could be a bit too big, although it let more light through.

You can try eBay. There used to be a guy making discs for different peep sights. Price is quite reasonable. There you can specify the hole size. Another option is to 3D print a bunch of disc "blanks" and drill the hole yourself. Certainly you can consider drilling the hole in the existing disc bigger. A set of numbered drill bits offers several steps between 0.05" to 0.1".

-TL

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[Bart B.]

That sight has a 40 tpi pitch on its adjustment screws. 4 clicks or 1/3rd turn moves the aperture .0083333..." and with a 30 inch sight radius, that's exactly 1 inch at 100 yards. This has been the standard in the USA made aperture rear sightsfor decades.

Competitive shooters often use .030 to .040 inch aperture sizes.

 

[gonzogeezer]

Just to finish up, the Williams aperture arrived, and the .093 hole will be a much better size for me.

Thanks to all for the information and advice.