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sight drifting
- Thread starter P35
- Start date
Unkel Gilbey
New member
Move carefully here! If you have a brass drift, use that. A nylon drift would be my second choice, and anything of steel would be a long distant third.
Be prepared to fire a few rounds during this process. If you've never done this before, I'd proceed in this fashion...
1) place drift firmly against the left side of the rear sight - and hold it there. Hit the drift a fair whack, only one! What is a fair whack? Hard to say exactly, but you don't want to move the sight visibly. An incredibly small amount of movement at the rear sight will cause big changes down range.
2) Fire three rounds down range, and see the effect of your adjustment. There's a chance that the sight didn't move very much at all, and there's an equal chance that it moved too far.
3) From the results of your drifting and subsequent firing, you'll be able to determine whether you need to repeat step one over again.
Remember, you aren't trying to knock the sight off the barrel, just move it a hair. Better to whack it lightly and move it incrementally then to really crack it and then try to chase the proper setting back and forth. This will go on until you either luck onto the proper setting, or the dovetail will loosen to the point where it won't hold the sight firmly anymore.
A brass drift (punch) is essential, and I'd recommend around a 8 - 12 oz ball peen hammer. That, and a box of rounds. If nothing else, you'll have an enjoyable time just whacking and popping!
Let us know how it works out! Good Luck!
Unkel Gilbey
Be prepared to fire a few rounds during this process. If you've never done this before, I'd proceed in this fashion...
1) place drift firmly against the left side of the rear sight - and hold it there. Hit the drift a fair whack, only one! What is a fair whack? Hard to say exactly, but you don't want to move the sight visibly. An incredibly small amount of movement at the rear sight will cause big changes down range.
2) Fire three rounds down range, and see the effect of your adjustment. There's a chance that the sight didn't move very much at all, and there's an equal chance that it moved too far.
3) From the results of your drifting and subsequent firing, you'll be able to determine whether you need to repeat step one over again.
Remember, you aren't trying to knock the sight off the barrel, just move it a hair. Better to whack it lightly and move it incrementally then to really crack it and then try to chase the proper setting back and forth. This will go on until you either luck onto the proper setting, or the dovetail will loosen to the point where it won't hold the sight firmly anymore.
A brass drift (punch) is essential, and I'd recommend around a 8 - 12 oz ball peen hammer. That, and a box of rounds. If nothing else, you'll have an enjoyable time just whacking and popping!
Let us know how it works out! Good Luck!
Unkel Gilbey