doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Armstrong receiver sight repair

Good morning folks. I'm stuck here in St Louis, TDY, awaiting the inevitable snow storm and thought I'd peck out a note. I have an Armstrong receiver sight that I have had mounted on my MKI Martini barreled for 45-70. It's been on the rifle for nearly 40 years, is as nice as most of the Lyman 48s I have had, and is constructed similarly. As fate would have it, the Martini fell out of the rifle rack the other day and broke the windage shaft where it enters the adjustment knob. I have seen replacement shafts for sale on eBay for Lymans but Armstrong parts, as well as complete sights, do not come up very often. It appears to be a straight foward job for a small lathe but I do not have the equipment at the moment. Does anyone have a source for repairing these receiver sights? Thanks guys. Terry

Terry, I'm no sight guru but have repaired several Lymans of various vintages and can offer some info, but only as it applies to Lymans. Yours may require a different approach.

First, you may have left-hand threads on your shaft, not a huge problem but will require either tooling or imagination.

Second, cut threads as opposed to rolled threads are almost always either too loose or too tight (and soon get too loose) if not done by an expert with, again, the proper tooling. Unfortunately I am no expert machinist and especially not on such small items.

Third, for a quick-&-dirty fix that used to be seen with Lyman 48s used on older 1903s and similar, simply file a tiny screwdriver slot in the broken end of your shaft. Seems that many owners of iron-sighted 1903s had a problem with the windage knob being inadvertently rotated by slidng into or out of the gun case or saddle scabbard, and so to prevent this they simply removed the knob, shortened the shaft (or not) and filed a slot for adjustment. Probably many of these short shafts were originally caused by accidental breakage, as yours was, but I've seen this alteration on many an older 1903 and I'm sure some were done deliberately.

Fourth, it might be worthwhile to investigate repairing your original shaft. A good workman could possibly silver-solder or braze or even epoxy an extension onto the shaft's broken end to accept your knob.

Food for thought, good luck, Joe

Great ideas all Joe. I'll try the epoxy approach first and see where it takes me. The screw driver slot will certainly work well although I will not have use of the detents then. I was chasing another identical Armstrong on eBay last week but got sniped at the last minute. I like the Armstrong sight because it fits contoured, as well as flat sided, recievers and is very Lymanisk in it's quality. I appreciate your input Joe. Talk to you later. Terry

A topic I would like to go into a little when I'm on the mend. I caught a bug and had to cancel Vegas. As I have time I'll post a couple pictures, then we can discuss the why-for of it. There is more to this than meets the eye.

Michael,

Sorry to hear you are off your feed. Looking forward to your discussion. Talk care of yourself.

Terry

For the first decade when 1903 Springfields were customized the standard practice was to use the original Armory barrel and front sight with a Lyman 48 rear sight. The issue front sight is high and if one wanted a lower front sight they had to lower the rear as well. The Lyman 48 sight staff when all the way down and setting on the base goes up and over the hump on the rear of the receiver. I believe that it was Bob Owen who first used a Lyman 48 base for 1903 and staff made for the Mauser which when lowered is flat across. Owen then milled out the rear receiver so the Mauser 48 staff would go lower. When this was done the windage knob was in the way of the magazine cutoff flag. The windage knob was removed and screw slot cut into the shortened screw. Many makers followed suite, some with understanding of why it was done and others not. You will also see the ‘Flags’ on some rifles rounded off as well. There may be many reasons why a custom rifle is found with the windage knob removed but this was the original thinking on the subject.

Some have had good luck and dealings with Mr. Bean. His company's name is "Sights and Antique Guns." He is located in York, PA and ships. (717) 755-9070. They call him the "Sight Man". Nice man and very helpful to work with. His motto is that if he doesn't have it, he can almost always find it for you.

A much more inventive solution to the problem.

Michael/Joe,

The more I read about it the more cutting a slot in the end of the shaft sounds like the most practical solution. In some respects I think the Armstrong is a more substantial sight that the Lyman 48, although I have never seen one with the log range elevation slide like the Lyman. When comparing it to my M48WJS it is eveident that the windage assembly on the Armstrong is more heavily designed with machined end caps and a heavier aperature windage platform. I always thought the dual range feature was also unique.

GROGEL...do you know if Mr. Bean repairs sights or primarily a retailer? Thank you all for your input. Terry

Folks who pointed him to me ran into him at a gun show. I dont know if he does repairs, but he is a possible source for the part you need.