Anyone with a BLR in 358 Winchester and a set of verniers?

[Jäger]

I have a Browning BLR that was rebarreled from .308 Win to 358 Winchester. The front sight has gone missing from the front sight ramp during work and other chaos. For iron sight work, I have a rear aperture that mounts onto the rear scope base that the Tally QD rings for the scope mount in. The idea of these sights isn't for shooting at any distance, just to have the gun set up as a bear wrench for use at about 50 yards and less. Or as a replacement if the scope should pack it in on a multiday hunt back in the sticks.

Anyways, to give me an idea of what I need for a replacement front sight, can anybody with a factory BLR in 358 Winchester pull out their verniers and tell me the height of the top of the front sight blade/bead above the axis of the bore? This isn't the original front sight mount nor the original barrel, so just the height of the front sight blade from the bottom of the dovetail isn't necessary relevant.

My replacement barrel is .628" in diameter perpendicular to the center of the sight dovetail. From the bottom of the sight dovetail to the bottom of the barrel is .925". So, minus half the sight diameter and the bottom of the front sight dovetail is .611" above the bore axis.

With the rear sight no longer on the barrel but an aperture at the back of the receiver mounted to a scope base, I'm assuming I should (or have) to buy a higher front blade, although the sight manufacturer doesn't say their replacement rear aperture has a problem being used with the original front sight on rifles. If I had the original front, of course, I'd know whether it was just fine with this sight.

 

[Ben]

Cut a piece of 14 ga. copper wire.
Shape it into an " L "
One leg should be about 2 " long.
The other about 3/4" inch long.
Take a roll of elect. tape and a good sharp pair of " side cutter "
pliers to the range with you.
Tape the long leg of the copper " L " on the barrel in front of the ramp .
The short 3/4" end should point straight up and will act as your new front sight.
Fire 3 rounds at 25 yards.
If the rifle shoots high, snip off a very small amount of copper
and fire 3 more rounds. You will " trial and error " this technique until the rifle is zeroed.

Once the rifle is zeroed you can measure the height of the copper front sight. You now know the exact height of the front sight that you'll need to order .

Of course, you'll need to also measure the sight base on the front of your barrel. Measure from the bottom of the dovetail to the barrel. This measurement will obviously need to be subtracted from the height of the copper front sight.

 

[Jäger]

Thanks for the suggestion Ben. I have in my bits and pieces drawer a few little plastic cones that end with a plastic leg sticking up, much like a heavy front sight. They might actually be intended for figuring out front sight height for all I know - the fit in the dovetail is so good it's almost like they were intended to fit I can do the cutting back thing with these little cones sitting in the dovetail rather than the wire and tape if I didn't have them to play with. Theres a fair amount of vertical adjustment in the rear, but of course it can only go down so far.

I would like to start out with a general idea of what Browning puts on the .358 BLR's for front sight height before heading to the range. With the forest fire situation right now, until it rains enough to minimize the fire risk, the range is closed and there won't be any shooting. So I have lots of time to sit at home and twiddle my thumbs and think about replacing that sight while looking through options at Brownell's et al.

 

[Ben]

Good luck ! !
I'd say you are getting closer to resolving your front sight height problems.

Ben

 

[oscarflytyer]

Jager - check your pms

 

[Jäger]

Jager - check your pms

Thanks. On the way.

BTW, looks like a break in the fire weather... I was going to try and dig those little plastic cone with a post on the end thingies for a picture. But if there's a break in the weather I'm heading for the river in hopes of a tussle with some Westslope cutties - at this point of the year, flyfishing for cutties takes precedence over being in the basement working on a sight replacement. No idea how long this break will last.

 

[RicinYakima]

My all time favorite fish on a fly line are sea run Cutthroats. Before they became endangered, I could fish for them and when the run was over, fish for summer steelhead.

 

[Jäger]

Good luck ! !
I'd say you are getting closer to resolving your front sight height problems.

Ben

Ben, thanks for your suggestion. I found one of the little plastic doo-dads I was telling you could slip into a front sight detail to save resorting to gun tape, bent wires, etc. A couple of pictures might be better than attempting a description. Maybe they're some sort of plug or insert that's available in McMaster Carr or some similar supply house.

The one I laid my hands on in my odds and ends drawer was in with a bunch of No. 4 MkI front sight blades in a 35mm film canister, so I assume I was thinking "temporary front sight" when I stuck it in there.

This one is almost 3/4" high.



Fights pretty tightly into my front sight dovetail, so at least it won't rattle side to side and out of the dovetail while shooting.



If anybody regularly does stuff where they have to figure out a proper front sight height, a bag of these might come in handy. That is, if anybody can identify what industry they're from. I took a speedy look through Brownell's and I didn't see anything that looked like these.

 

[MW65]

Ben, thanks for your suggestion. I found one of the little plastic doo-dads I was telling you could slip into a front sight detail to save resorting to gun tape, bent wires, etc. A couple of pictures might be better than attempting a description. Maybe they're some sort of plug or insert that's available in McMaster Carr or some similar supply house.

The one I laid my hands on in my odds and ends drawer was in with a bunch of No. 4 MkI front sight blades in a 35mm film canister, so I assume I was thinking "temporary front sight" when I stuck it in there.

This one is almost 3/4" high.



Fights pretty tightly into my front sight dovetail, so at least it won't rattle side to side and out of the dovetail while shooting.



If anybody regularly does stuff where they have to figure out a proper front sight height, a bag of these might come in handy. That is, if anybody can identify what industry they're from. I took a speedy look through Brownell's and I didn't see anything that looked like these.

That's from xs sights... test post... have one or two around

 

[Ian]

In from right, out from left...

 

[oscarflytyer]

another thought. Skinner Sights makes tall blades. Might be able to just get the tallest that fits the dovetail, and shoot and file down. I do it every time I put a rear peep on one of my lever guns

 

[Jäger]

In from right, out from left...

Thanks Ian, got some measurements yesterday from another member. It looks like a factory (or his) factory 358 BLR had a front sight blade of about .420" height from the dovetail base.

Doing some basic math to determine height of front blade above bore axis, as my rear aperture is higher than the stock rear sight, best theoretical guess is a front sight around .620" from dovetail base to top of sight should give something close to the same axis of barrel/axis of sights geometry. My gunsmith buddy who built the rifle said he's pretty sure he has a few about that height I can stick in the dovetail and see if that works. That led to more talking and he offered to build me a front blade of the right height with a big white bead of whatever size I want. Then he told me he offered to do that because he was worried I was going to put one of those bright fiberoptic blades on the rifle and he thought it might be functional, but it would be ghastly. He needed have worried; I long ago decided the same thing about those sights.

Anyways, I'll be mindful of your reminder when I get the blades. Thank you.

My all time favorite fish on a fly line are sea run Cutthroats. Before they became endangered, I could fish for them and when the run was over, fish for summer steelhead.

I didn't realize sea runs were considered endangered like the steelies. Sea run cutties were a lot of fun in the creek and river estuaries along the inlets; haven't lived at the coast for about 30 years now, so fishing for sea runs and steelhead is probably history for me. I think my vote would have to reject those in favor of bucktailing off a slow moving boat for northern coho on a nice warm sunny September morning. Those northern coho are psycho fish when they're on the bite.

But running out to get that fishing in yesterday afternoon and then this morning, the West Slope cutties were up and eager to play. This one posed with the black and red ant I just removed after spoofing him with it



The reason I got a couple of back to back trips to the stream is my 95 Dodge Ram 2500 died on me. I have about zero automotive mechanic skills, and less as a diesel mechanic, but I think the diesel lift pump on the Cummins pooped the bed. I ordered my truck new through the dealer and paid for it with my Bullet Bonus from that deployment. First time in 25+ years of driving it that it has failed me.

Have to go back and rescue it Monday when the garages and etc. open up again. I'm pretty bummed to be put on foot for a while. On the other hand, it was trustworthy enough to get me back onto the slab and only shut down about 6 miles from the house. I was fishing about 40 miles up a forestry road... I can imagine what that towing bill would be like.