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Front Bead Height

oldgunner
How do you measure the height of front sights? I need a taller one for my Win Mod. 1890. I can find them of several heights but don't know where to measure from, the top of barrel, or bottom of dovetail. The present one is a quarter inch tall from the top of the barrel. I get a nice group at 35 yards, four inches too high with the rear notch all the way down.

There are no bad guns, only bad people.
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Comments

6 comments

Date Votes
  • MIKE WISKEY
    TOTAL HIEGHT OF THE SIGHT (BOTTOM OF THE DOVETAIL TO THE TOP OF THE SIGHT. YOU PROBABLY HAVE A .315 (APPROXIMATE) SIGHT NOW YOU PROBABLY WANT A .375 OR .410 DEPENDING ON THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE SIGHTS.
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  • oldgunner
    Okedoke Mike, thanks!

    There are no bad guns, only bad people.
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  • nononsense
    Jim,

    I know that you got the right answer from Mike but I thought that it would be helpful to post the solution to determining the corrected sight height when your firearm shoots high or low.

    Correcting Sight Height

    If your rifle or pistol is shooting high or low, there is a formula you can use to determine what the correct height for your sight should be.

    Terms
    Amount of Error: Measure in inches the distance from the bullseye to your shot.
    Sight Radius: Distance in inches from the front sight to the rear sight. *
    Distance to Target: The distance in inches from your shooting position to the target.

    Note: Be sure that your rear sight is at its mid-point before you shoot.

    Formula

    Amount of Error X Sight Radius = Sight Correction Needed
    Distance to Target

    If you are shooting low, you would replace your front sight with a lower sight, and conversely, if you were shooting high, then you would replace your front sight with a higher sight. Add or subtract the number of thousandths needed to the actual height of your sight and you will have the correct height of the replacement sight.

    Example
    At 100 yards, your shot is 6" low and the distance between your front and rear sight is 19.5".

    6 X 19.5 = .0325
    3600

    Since you are shooting low, you would need to lower your front sight by .032".

    * For rifles, you measure the front sight height from the bottom of the dovetail to the top of the sight. For pistols you measure the height of the blade only. This is true unless stated otherwise in the sight specifications.

    This is from Brownells website but it is also available from other sources.

    http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/GunTech/sight.aspx
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  • oldgunner
    Excellent!! Thank you both.

    There are no bad guns, only bad people.
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  • 260
    had the same problem this morning in my shop. customer wanted an aperture sight installed. as always, this changes the front sight height (?). this is what i done. took and old sight that was damaged beyond saving. milled the top flat. filed the sight so as it would slip into the dovetail with finger pressure. removed sight and drilled a #44 hole in TDC . then took one of the straws like comes with WD-40 or the like. cut to .895" slipped it in the hole i drilled in the sight. i just started snipping at the straw till i got the sight height i needed, measured and knew what size or height front sight was needed. david @ POINT BLANK FIREARM REPAIR
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  • oldgunner
    I brought this one back up to let you know how it turned out..I did the calculation, ordered the new front sight, installed it and checked it out today and it's perfect. Didn't even have to do any adjustments except a bit of left to right.

    Thanks again
    Jim

    There are no bad guns, only bad people.
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