Gunsmithing - How to Make an Original Style Tang Sight for a Rolling Block Target Rifle 

The Stoned Videogame Nerd They aren't everywhere. Also being an aporentice is a good way to get your name out there, and allows you to build a portfilo if you will.

There is nothing at all wrong with shimming the front sight, it is the simplest solution that works as well or better than any other solution, including complex ones like manufacturing your own front sight from scratch, when you have one all made that will function perfectly as well with a shim. That isn't true of shimming a scope. Having said that, I have shimmed scopes in the past and had it work just fine, even if it is a hillbilly fix. Of course, I have duct taped a flashlight to a shotgun and had that work fine too, in a pinch!

Donz Milky - Imbecile.

yes! shimming is a easy out i saw that vedio lol

HDSME - This, from an ignorant whetto who couldn’t shim a key on his mother’s computer keyboard. Back to the basement, gringo. Imbecile.

KKG51 that's not even the tip of the tip of the iceberg of metalwork. Larry is very experienced, my best guess is he made that part in 2 hours, give or take some thinking time and a coffee break.

You can find used bridgeports for cheap from highschools that are getting rid of them, auctions, craigslist. And if you get lucky you may find one for a steal. You can even find files from garage sales, usually people think they are garbage if a little rusty, but they still work great. Even tool boxes and machinist tools can be found for cheap if you are patient. look around, and you may get lucky :)

What is a Bridgeport?

Even so, he's the CEO of Midway, and I will never have that kind of loot to buy the caliber of equipment he has. He has a lot of highly specialized tools, like that hammer spring compressor that he used on the Sharps rifle. I know he custom makes a lot of the specialized tools he uses, and to tell you the truth I (along with most of the population, including most gunsmiths) will never have the use for 80% of the tools he uses.

Very true.

What's a Bridgeport?

+discostucrazymunkey You answered your own question mate. The machinery is used to rough out the piece, to a very close tolerance, but the really fine work and finish is always done by hand. It is artisan work. During my apprenticeship (not gunsmithing) we had an exercise to produce a very similar piece, but not a tang sight, from a piece of mild steel, the only machine we were allowed to use was a drill press. We were given strict tolerances to work with and were not allowed to use emery paper or anything other than a file to polish the end work. I expect Larry learnt these skills also and it is extremely satisfying to sit back and look at the finished, handmade result. Believe it or not, to get finer tolerances, it is much better to finish by hand what you start with a machine. All the best!

+Pilot McBride I see what you are saying from a satisfaction point of view, but I used to make tooling for can ring pull tops with machine tooling. A 50 micron tolerance cannot be consistently reproduced by hand. Not for £40 per hour.

discostucrazymunkey I take your point mate, but not everyone has access to such machinery, certainly not where I was trained. And I'm an old fart, lol.

+discostucrazymunkey Sometimes it's easier to use a file and hand fitting instead of making a one off setup to hold the part on the mill. I might spend several hours working out how to hold something and 10 minutes actually machining it :-))) Milling a rounded corner on a manual machine is non trivial work, just bung it in the vice and have at it with a file....

Another thing to consider is the gun its self was not made with such precise machinery. The parts have to be hand fitted because the guns themselves were hand fitted. Moreover, having a more human finish fits the look of the gun since perfect finishes were not available when it was produced.

I think the hole is centered, but there just may be something in side the hole making the light reflect off one side differently as it spins. Look at how he made the piece again, and you'll see it has to be centered.. And from the picture I just found on google, it appears that that same sight disk contacts the receiver tang, not letting the sight drop far enough to hit the stock when fully assembled.

I think some of the abrasive got in there. Or it's possible since he is simply polishing it at that point there wasn't any need to make sure it's center.

He's the owner of Midway USA... He's a pro.

He's mad cool.

+Andrew Leatham the chanels of the dove tail at not quite parallel so that the sight drifts in a little easier, but if you go in the wrong way it can booger up the edges

You can probably look up the dimensions online if serious.

Frog Man, not sure they have to be, do they? Are they not simply reference marks for repeatability? You don't actually dial in a particular MOA setting or anything, do you? I think you experiment at range and just write down what settings work for you. Maybe I am totally wrong, I have never even held a sight like this, but it would make sense to me that they are simply reference for repeatable settings.

FortuneZero you never have seen this function of a set of calipers, you need to get out more and stop calling people scrub for doing what everyone has been doing for years. Even top caliber machinists. Oh btw a set of calipers is not a high precision measuring device it wont hurt them. So scrub on scrub.

+Richard Schmidtendorff he meant scribe btw