How level is your rear sight blade??

[TheMystro]

I noticed that depending where you adjust your rear blade, it may not be perfectly level. It's not a funtion problem rather than a OCD issue. When you take very long shots and you are squaring the rear blade with the front, they may not be perfectly square. Anyone else notice this.

 

[AveragEd]

Hmm - are you sure your front sight isn't canted? That has become more common and all of my S&W adjustable sights are level regardles of where they are set.

Ed

 

[TheMystro]

No..I can see the blade dips ever so slightly in the rear sight. If you turn the screw, it will go back to level. Some of my other S&W do this pending were the sight is adjusted right or left of center. You have to look real close to see it.

 

[Iggy]

Glad to see I ain't alone.

I think the adjustable sight on every S&W revolver I own, the rear sight slants ever so slightly downward to the left.

 

[TheMystro]

Thank you. I have S&W handguns from 1969-2012 and they all do this. I was thinking I was going crazy.

Glad to see I ain't alone.

I think the adjustable sight on every S&W revolver I own, the rear sight slants ever so slightly downward to the left.

 

[AveragEd]

It sure is odd that one person's sights would all be canted while another's are not. I just rechecked a few of mine and the suckers are all level. I'm trying to think what could cause them to cant and my only guesses are they became bent somehow or there is uneven pressure on the sight tang. Did you ever try loosening and retightening the forward mounting screw while holding the sight dead center in its groove?

Ed

 

[TheMystro]

The rear blade changes level pending where it is adjusted right or left in its grove. I can make mine level if I adjust it away from where it needs to be for my aiming style. It appears to be the nature of the sight. To check your sight, all you need to do is adjust it one way or the other and you will see its level vary slightly.

 

[steamloco76]

I too am glad to hear somebody else has experienced the S&W rear sight blade level issue! About two- thirds of my adjustable sight S&W's exhibit some degree of sight blade cant.

 

[TheMystro]

It doesn't matter, both sights are connected by a gun. If you turn the gun, both will follow equally.

How do you know if you're holding it perfectly level?

 

[ejeli]

If the blade changes level when you adjust the windage screw the only cause is that the windage screw itself is bent. This is easly caused be bumping the blade at some time. It can be corrected with patience and a small tapping hammer or by replacing the screw.
e

 

[TheMystro]

I was thinking that but since it seems so common on all my guns, I probably would bump it and slightly bend it again. My gun is on, I am leaving it alone. Elevation is the only adjustment I tune a bit.

 

[KLYDE]

Yeah, I would say the sights "are on" after that 175 yarder. I wouldn't mess with a thing.

 

[jaymoore]

The rear blade changes level pending where it is adjusted right or left in its grove. I can make mine level if I adjust it away from where it needs to be for my aiming style. It appears to be the nature of the sight. To check your sight, all you need to do is adjust it one way or the other and you will see its level vary slightly.

This is the method I use to maximize the rear sight's squareness.

Used to utilize the old Millett sights on silhouette revolvers to get around this small drama. But TheMystro's technique seems to work well enough on those that don't get constant adjustments. How else to to explain his 175yd deer?

 

[jaymoore]

It doesn't matter, both sights are connected by a gun. If you turn the gun, both will follow equally.

Conversely, if you always hold the rear sight level, the gun will shift. Which is the actuality of zeroing! Sights don't move, you adjust the firearm underneath...A huge case of the tail wagging the dog.

 

[Marathonman]

My front site is also canted

 

[jaymoore]

My front si[ght] is also canted

Which has what to do with the rear sight? Whole different thread....

 

[Duke426]

I only have two adjustable sight revolvers, made 37 years apart, and the rear sight blade on both cant slightly low to the left.

 

[Marathonman]

Which has what to do with the rear sight? Whole different thread....

Only making note that the factory sights front and rear are not perfectly straight.

 

[jaymoore]

Only making note that the factory sights front and rear are not perfectly straight.

Yes but the front sight, canted or no, is a fixed element. If you use it to establish the levelness of the sight picture it remains constant. So no worries. The varying cant of many adjustable rear sights can cause some degree of lateral displacement for longer shots. Probably not a real issue for shots at 75 yards or less, but for those that shoot further out it can be noticable due to the rapid drop of most handgun bullets. The cant also can change the elevation as the blade moves up and down a little too.

In actual fact, whilst it was a slight annoyance on centerfire silhoutte revolvers, the idiosyncrasy was particularly bad with .22 revolvers at at 75 and 100 yards. The little steel turkeys especially aren't hard to miss. Coupled with lots of sight adjustments for the different ranges, adding a windage correction could make for a few more misses. (Used to keep a notebook with sight changes recorded for each range. Even used feeler gages sometimes, usually to establish baseline settings.)

Since most of us use use the top of the rear sight to establish "level" having inconsistancies is not a good thing. If nothing else, it's distracting, which plays hob with what is primarily a mental exercise.