Tang sight

[MLB]

It's not often that I do much in the way of modifying any gun, and even more rare that you'll find a post of mine on modifying a rifle that I've had for less than a few weeks.

Such was the case with the Henry levergun though. I figured that the tang sight was a "bolt on" type of thing. I neglected to notice that there's only one screw on the tang, and the sight would of course require two to keep it in place. Hmmph, no instructions.

So, down into the basement I go with my new rifle, and a bag of little metal parts. OK, drill and tap a new hole in the tang. I should be able to manage that. Off comes the stock, clamp the receiver, mark the spot, we're good to go.

My little thread feeler gage tells me 32tpi (so did the little bag, but I didn't notice that 'till later.) It did confirm my estimate that it was a number 10 screw though. Good deal, I have a 10-32 tap. What size drill to use though?

I have a small collection of old technical books. I know there's a machinists manual there somewhere. Sure enough I find the tome, this one came from my grandfather's library. Opening the book up to a scrap of paper stuck in there, it marks the spot showing a table of pilot hole sizes for common taps. That was kind of strange and cool at the same time.

Turns out you need a #21 (index) bit. Very fortunately, there's one of those in the drawer full of random bits too. The rest of the story is uneventful. The tang sight is on. I'll post pics soon. Now to find the time to try it out...

[MLB]

Still haven't been out to sight the new peep sight in, the vehicles are taking up more than thier share of my time. I did manage to get a picture together though. Outdoor light would have been better.

[TMan]

Here I go showing my ignorance again... What is a tang sight? Where did you get it from? Is there a manufacturer's URL?

I'm not sure if you have more skills that I have - yes, I am sure, I've seen pictures of grips you made - what I also know is that you have more guts than I do. I've pulled engines apart, and even rebuilt the head on a Mustang, but I would not drill and tap a receiver on one of my guns.

Yes DA, they have a statue of me in Marietta - the "Big Chicken".

[MLB]

OK TMan, I'll try to keep this in order:

Tang sight. A picture is worth a thousand words, especially if those words are mine. In short, small aperature, long sight radius. I got mine through TA. Here's a better picture of one installed on a Winchester 94:


Lyman's and Marble's are the two name brand manufacturer's that I could find:
www.lymanproducts.com/
www.marblearms.com/

Regarding skills, not likely. The tang is far enough away from everything (with the possible exception of the hammer spring) that there was little risk of damaging anything other than the finish.

I put new rear brakes and rotors on the Olds this weekend, and changed the oil in the truck (new RF bearing is next weekend's project), but rebuilding the heads won't likely happen in my garage.

[TMan]

Sites about sights - thanks.

Is it just the longer sight radius or having it closer to your eye improve the focus of the front sight on the target?

I'm still wondering about what I shot so good the other day with the MN carbine. I'm thinking that with the longer barrels the front sight is out there so far I'm not getting a clear focus on it. With the carbine, the sight isn't out there so far and I can see it better. It is either that or my long barrel guns are crap.

The head (it was a 4 cylinder Mustang II that was my secretary and I bought it for my son - made her happy - turned out not making me happy. God?), wasn't really that bad. The hardest part was replacing the cam bearings. It was a lot of years ago, but I think I used a hacksaw blade to cut the existing bearings out. I also replaced the pistons, rings, and pins. There were new main bearings and seals too. It didn't last very long though. The formula was: Son + Car + Telephone pole = 0.

Depending on the design, wheel bearings can be a little tricky. My wife's 87 BMW 325's rear-end was noisy, and I had it on my list of things to do. She mentioned to me the car was getting real noisy. I knew it wasn't a matter of life and death, and I would get around to it at some point. Turned out it could have been a life and death matter.

Well, she had gone to visit her mother, and I needed to go to the hardware store. It had been a couple of weeks since her car had be run, so I decided to take it. It roared; not the rear-end - the front right wheel bearing. I replaced it and put red-line fluid in the rear-end, and no more noise. What did I do wrong?

I should have replaced the front left bearing at the same time because I year later I had to buy another bearing and get all the tools out again. However, it turned out to be a bigger problem this time. It was winter time, and the garage was in the 40's. Hey Yankees, 40 is cold down here. The previous time, I warmed the bearing in the oven to 200 degrees prior to installing it. This time, since it was in the 40's vs. 90's in the garage. The temperature differential between the bearing and the spindle was greater.

I took the spindle assembly positioned it over the lubricated spindle and pushed. Wham!!! There was no resistance, it went on so fast and quick that I lost my balance and my head and the front fender merged. The fender won.

[MLB]

I picked up a Chilton's manual since I've never replaced a bearing on a 4 wheel drive vehicle. My first instinct was to pick up bearings for both front wheels, (my old 2WD Ranger was cheap and easy enough) but apparently they are an assembly on a Ford Exploder and go for $220 each. Perhaps I'll just do one at a time...

[TMan]

Yeah, they were over $400 each at the BMW dealers, but I found a place to order over the internet. I called them and asked them the quality of the aftermarket bearing and if they were made in Germany. They told me it was the same supplier that BMW used, but all the middlemen didn't get their mark-up. So I got them for $150 each and never had a problem.

She doesn't drive it much anymore and it has become a real garage queen.

[MLB]

Ah well, it seems my tang sight thread has degraded into a car mechanic thread.

Didn't get to the bearing on the Exploder. The blower motor seized up on the Olds. I knew it was coming sooner or later though. It's been squeaking for a while now. It was due to a leaking windshield seal that soaked the "fresh air" filter and directed the water right into the motor through a motor case vent. $120 later, the breeze blows again.

[TMan]

Well, at least you were able to replace the blower yourself. Incidentally, my daughter got rid of her Olds and got a ... crap, I can't remember what you call it. It isn't a Honda, but Honda is the parent company. It is really nice - especially compared to my Element. Did I mention I love the Element? ;D

I drove the Z8 today, and had to fill it up with gas: $2.99/gal for 93 octane. The Element uses the 87 octane stuff. Did I mention I love the Element?

BMW has a new M5 out with a V10 engine and 500 horsepower. It is 0 to 60 in 4.6 seconds. That puts it right in there with my Z8 from a performance standpoint, but I'm only 400 horsepower. Plus the M5 can carry 4 people comfortably, It is one heck of a machine. However, it has the SMG transmission, which I hate. I'm not too wild about the 6 speed manual in the Z8 either. There really isn't a need for 6 gears. Now with the SMG they have 7. My great-great-great grandchildren will have 43 speed transmissions.

However, I test drove the M5 on the track when we went to the two day BMW driving school. It doesn't have the handling that the Z8 has.

All right, let's get back to the topic. What is the difference between a "tang sight" and a "peep sight"?

The Savage came with what they call a "peep sight", but it is a round thing with a hole in the middle like your picture. Is there something unique to make it a "tang sight"?

[MLB]

Yes, it's orange and is used by astronauts. ;D

I'd say that a tang sight is a subset of peep sights. It just a peep sight mounted on the tang (the little strip of metal between the hammer and the stock.) As you can imagine, if the peep sight aperature is in the right spot, the stock rear sight will be in the way. That had to come out. I'm planning on replacing it with a fold down rear sight. The dovetail blanks don't look like they'd match very well on the octagon barrel.

Being away for the last week, I still haven't tried it out. It's looking good for this week though.

["DoubleAction"]

MVA SHARPS STYLE TANG SIGHTS

Windage adjusted by loosening the eye disc and rotating a 2-45 windage screw, which allows the shooter to make precise adjustments. A gentle tightening of the eye disc locks the windage and elevation simultaneously, insuring repeatability. All MVA Tang sights come with one set of mounting screws.

From Left to Right:
#107 - Sharps Long Range - $353.00
#108 - Sharps Mid Range - $316.00
#130 - Sharps Wind Gauge Sporting Tang - $285.00

www.shilohrifle.com/

[MLB]

Yes, that's a more traditional look. (They do get a bit pricey don't they? )

The windage adjustment on the Marble's is at the base of the post and is seperate from the elevation adjustment. Both are adjustable by hand and have a comforting "click" detent.

[MLB]

Ok, lets see... picked up the (spotting) scope for the Marlin, brakes are good on all vehicles, Olds blower moror repaired, and I finally got the Exploder bearing installed. Short of a catastrophic failure of the flux capacitor in the toaster oven, I might just be able to try this thing out!

[TMan]

What the heck is a "flux capacitor", and why whould a toaster over have one?

[MLB]

Ah, sarcasm doesn't translate well into ASCII.

The "flux capacitor" was the fictional part in the movie Back to the Future that allowed the Delorean to achieve time travel. I think it's highly unlikely that you'd find one in a toaster oven, but with the recent spate of mechanical failures around my house, I wouldn't discount it entirely.

(I think I might have a spare anyway, right in the toolbox next to the metric adjustable wrench and the rubber ruler.)

Hmmm. It doesn't seem that witty after having to explain it. I suppose there is the small chance that it simply wasn't that funny... nah.

[TMan]

OK, but as you know, there are several different kinds of capacitors, and you really blew that one by me. I thought it was something new that I hadn't heard of.

I just realized that an adjustable metric wrench might come in handy. I might have been able to get that bolt out of my brother's water-pump with one vs going to Sears to buy 6 point sockets (his were 12 point, which led to the disaster). I'll have to pick one up the next time I go to Sears, (I'll get a rubber ruler too - I'm always breaking those plastic ones.)

Modified to add:
I bet the rubber ruler would come in real handy for measuring yarns.

[5ontarget]

Not to worry MLB, you need 1.21 gigawatts just to load the capacitor. And the toaster has to be traveling 88mph in order for time travel to occur.

I've seen that movie way too many times.