JWFilips
Well-Known Member
I wasn't planning on posting this as thread because I wasn't sure it was going to work. But now since I have been having very good success with it I thought I would share a way of making a front aperture sight on a military Mauser rifle to be used in conjunction with a real receive sight for shooting black bull targets.
This is my favorite type of target shooting iron sights that I use. My GEW98 Mauser wears an old Redfield Receiver sight and I adapted the front sight block to take a Lyman 17 A globe sight wich I use with Lee Shaver aperture disks.
Because my 1916 Spanish Mauser has been such a hard rifle to get to shoot well I just put on a cheap 5D Williams receiver sight and was just using the original post front sight of that rifle. As I finally got it to shoot better I decided I needed to have an aperture front type sight for target work however I was reluctant to purchase a new Lyman Globe sight for a rifle that I have never been sure of. So I got to thinking....since the front sight on the 1916 has a partial shroud & I know where my point of aim is located at the top of the post sight I may be able to fit a Lee Shaver aperture disk into it if I were to cut a slot for it in the shroud so it could drop in. So I took it into my workshop Locked it up in the vise and proceeded to cut a fine slit into the front section of the shroud with my jewelers hand saw.
Well the First problem I had was the shroud was partially hardened so as I started to cut downward my blades kept dulling....so I took off the shroud and had to anneal it. Once it was cool I put it back on the rifle and continued the cut which now went quickly. Once I got it to the point I knew it was getting deep enough, I started trying the apeture disk in the slot so that the center of the disk aligned with the top of the rifle post sight. When this finally occured it just put the very top of the outside of the disk slightly above the top of the shroud. This was ok but I knew that area now would be fragile and I had to think about protecting that area.
Now to keep the disk in place I mixed up a bit of JB Weld epoxy. Ben turned me on to this product & it turned out to be everything he said good about it so now I can't be without it in my shop. The reason I went with epoxy instead of a drop of solder on each side of the disk was because the Shaver disks are very thin and I was afraid to heat it up to the tinning point..... This epoxy is strong so I wasn't concerned about it moving.
After it set up over night I checked its position realative the post again and was satisfied .....I then removed the shroud on more time....taped out the front post sight and then put a slight bend in the shroud cross pin before reinstalling it on the rifle to make sure it would stay on tight. Also while I had it off the rifle I cut two more slits into the sides of the shroud and I fashioned a piece of sheet brass into a hood similar to my Marlin 336 rifles. I didn't anneal the brass so it has some spring to it. I made it so it can slide tightly into these side slits which shades the front sight as well as protects the very top of the sight disk from damage.
Anyway it has been a big improvement in accuracy for this rifle.
It sure isn't Mil Spec or Pretty but it works!
Jim
This is my favorite type of target shooting iron sights that I use. My GEW98 Mauser wears an old Redfield Receiver sight and I adapted the front sight block to take a Lyman 17 A globe sight wich I use with Lee Shaver aperture disks.
Because my 1916 Spanish Mauser has been such a hard rifle to get to shoot well I just put on a cheap 5D Williams receiver sight and was just using the original post front sight of that rifle. As I finally got it to shoot better I decided I needed to have an aperture front type sight for target work however I was reluctant to purchase a new Lyman Globe sight for a rifle that I have never been sure of. So I got to thinking....since the front sight on the 1916 has a partial shroud & I know where my point of aim is located at the top of the post sight I may be able to fit a Lee Shaver aperture disk into it if I were to cut a slot for it in the shroud so it could drop in. So I took it into my workshop Locked it up in the vise and proceeded to cut a fine slit into the front section of the shroud with my jewelers hand saw.
Well the First problem I had was the shroud was partially hardened so as I started to cut downward my blades kept dulling....so I took off the shroud and had to anneal it. Once it was cool I put it back on the rifle and continued the cut which now went quickly. Once I got it to the point I knew it was getting deep enough, I started trying the apeture disk in the slot so that the center of the disk aligned with the top of the rifle post sight. When this finally occured it just put the very top of the outside of the disk slightly above the top of the shroud. This was ok but I knew that area now would be fragile and I had to think about protecting that area.
Now to keep the disk in place I mixed up a bit of JB Weld epoxy. Ben turned me on to this product & it turned out to be everything he said good about it so now I can't be without it in my shop. The reason I went with epoxy instead of a drop of solder on each side of the disk was because the Shaver disks are very thin and I was afraid to heat it up to the tinning point..... This epoxy is strong so I wasn't concerned about it moving.
After it set up over night I checked its position realative the post again and was satisfied .....I then removed the shroud on more time....taped out the front post sight and then put a slight bend in the shroud cross pin before reinstalling it on the rifle to make sure it would stay on tight. Also while I had it off the rifle I cut two more slits into the sides of the shroud and I fashioned a piece of sheet brass into a hood similar to my Marlin 336 rifles. I didn't anneal the brass so it has some spring to it. I made it so it can slide tightly into these side slits which shades the front sight as well as protects the very top of the sight disk from damage.
Anyway it has been a big improvement in accuracy for this rifle.
It sure isn't Mil Spec or Pretty but it works!
Jim
