Hardware Store Aperture - A Sight To Behold

[Semisane]

I recently acquired a nice .58 caliber Zouave rifle that is a real fun shooter. 
The only problem is my old bifocal eyes can't see that danged military rear sight.  Here's the gun.



And here's the factory sight.  With it, the gun shoots about a foot above point of aim at 50 yards.



Here's the sight disassembled.



That disk is the screw holding the sight to the barrel. 
When I got it out it turned out to be metric - 4mm / 0.70 pitch.



So I went to the hardware store and bought three bolts (1/2" X 20 threads per inch), and a nut.



I also bought a 4mm X 0.70 machine screw, a small rubber "O" ring, and a nylon washer.



Then I cut the head off of the machine screw and put it in the barrel in place of the sight base screw.



I drilled a hole in one flat of the nut and tapped it with 4mm X 0.70 threads.  Then ground it flat on both sides and rounded it except for the tapped flat. 

Here's a picture of the process in three steps.



Then a buddy with a lathe drilled the bolts with 1/8", 3/16", and 1/4" holes, rounded and dished the heads, and shortened the shanks to the thickness of the modified nut.



I then put the "O" ring on the barrel stud, then the nylon washer, then screwed on the modified nut. 

This in itself makes a pretty dandy low-light ghost ring sight.



Or, you can screw in any one of the apertures for finer sighting in good light.
 
Here's a picture with the 1/4" aperture in place.



As soon as I can get some Birchwood Casey cold blue solution, I'll turn the whole works blue and it will look a little better. 

RESULTS??? Well, I shot with it last Sunday from a bench and put six shots in a 3" bull at 50 yards using the 3/16" aperture. 
Windage was perfect, but I still need to raise the front sight to bring the point of impact up down.
 
GO AHEAD - LAUGH,;; but I do think I'm about ready to hunt with this sucker.
It's about the best $5 aperture sight you'll ever find.


[color] 

[cowboyup453]

Very nice work. Sure wish I had a buddy with a lathe.

[Slamfire]

If you wish to raise the point of impact, you'lll need to lower the front sight. Think about how it tilts the barrel. 

[Semisane]

You're right of course, Slamfire.  That's a misstatement on my part.  It's shooting about six inches above point of aim.  I need to lower the POI.  I guess my subconscious was thinking "raise the point of aim".

[Semisane]

Solved my front sight elevation problem.  Got a couple of 4 X 40 socket head screws and a brass nut.  Rounded the nut, filed the factory front sight flat, and soldered the nut to the flat.  Now I can screw in different lengths of screw shanks (or screws with the head on) and change front sight height at will.  The threaded post is real sharp when looking through the LOL aperture.  Works great with my bi-focals on.

Now I'm thinking about drilling a hole through one of the socket heads and inserting about 1/4" of fiber optic filament.

[kb]

Nice.  What load are you shooting?  I have the same gun.  Those .58's are great.

Kb

[Semisane]

Hey kb. Today I shot 100 grains Pyrodex FFG with Walmart pillow ticking patches lubed with CVA "Grease Patch" and .575 balls and got a 5-shot average of 1614 fps over the chrono.  Fifty yard groups were in the 3" range.

The most accurate load I've found so far is 100 grains Jim Shockey's Gold with the same patch/lube and .570 Hornady balls.  Velocity with the JSG  averaged 1361.

What are you shooting in yours?  This is my first experience with a .58 and I'm feeling my way around.  That load of 100 grains Pyrodex kicks the hammer back to half-cock.

[Saloon slug]

Now that is a nice bit of workmanship and smart thinking. Well done

[jjamna]

I am not laughing at all. I think it looks good.