Question on Sharps sights

[Johnny McCrae]

I recently picked up an 1874 Sharps (Armi Sport) from Taylors. It is a .45-70 with a 30” barrel. I'm having a lot of fun shooting this rifle but I don’t like the sight that came with it. I’m looking to replace it with a semi-buckhorn sight or possibly a Tang sight. I really like the semi-buckhorn on my 1866 Yellowboy. I probably will never shoot this rifle much over one hundred yards.

My question is:
Is it practical to use a Tang sight at fifty to one hundred yards or would a Buckhorn sight be a better choice?

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I just went to Dixie Gun Works to look for cartridge boxes.  No boxes, but Lots of sights for you to look at.

[Johnny McCrae]

Hello Sir Charles,

I appreciate your reply. I checked out the link to Dixie Gun works. Very helpful with a lot of sights to look at.

Thanks for posting this.

JM

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[Pitspitr]

Johnny,
Depending on the rifle, the load, and other factors, you may not be able to set the tang site low enough to use under 100 yds.
I have a Pedersoli Trapdoor Long Range Rifle that hits pretty high at 100 with the sight bottomed out even with a 500 grain bullet. With a 405 gr bullet it's WAY high!

[Johnny McCrae]

Hello Pitspitr,

Many thanks for your reply. This is just the type of information I'm looking for. I appreciate the help!

Incidentally, attached is a picture of the sight I want to replace. The notch is just too small for my old eyes.

[Pitspitr]

If  the notch is too small, why not just use a file on it?

Towards the bottom of the page in the link below is a picture of Major Matt Lewis sighting my sharps. in that picture you can see the sight I put on mine.

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,14573.0.html

[Johnny McCrae]

Good morning Pitspirtr,

Thanks for your suggestion.

Attached are a few more pictures of the current sight. It looks like a 90 degree V. As best I can measure, the width of the V is around .060 inches and .140 inches for the V on the Ladder. Do think opening the sight up to around a .140 inch V width would be a good starting point?

[Delmonico]

I have a similar sight on my Pedersoli, have never used it.  I have one of their tang sights, but never tried it at 100, 200 being the shortest I've used it.  I plan on replacing the ladder with the semi-buck horn from Pedersoli before the next deer season and remove the tang for hunting.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

MY old eyes, the uncorrected MARK I eyeball, doesn't deal with open sights that well anymore.  I'd go for one of the compact Lyman style tang sights with windage, for hunting.

[Pitspitr]

I can't really say what width would be best for you. Holy Terror has a good article on sights in the last Chronickel (however the heck you spell it)

[sharps50/70]

I have a hunter style tang sight on my 50/70 Shiloh and have no problem moving the sight down for 50 yards.

Another suggestion with your ladder barrel sight is to use the sight with the ladder up but the slide all the way down.  File the notch to open it until you get the sight picture you want.  You may need to put a taller front sight on though.  I use my ladder sight this way on a Shiloh 1863 carbine shooting at 50 yards.

[Johnny McCrae]

Hello Sharps 50/70,

Thanks for the input. I went ahead and opened up the existing sight to around .140" at the top of the V. I will shoot it Sunday and see how that works. Any information you may have or perhaps a picture of the Hunter sight on your 50/70 Shiloh would be greatly appreciated.

[Cherokee Bodie]

If  the notch is too small, why not just use a file on it?

Towards the bottom of the page in the link below is a picture of Major Matt Lewis sighting my sharps. in that picture you can see the sight I put on mine.

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,14573.0.html

Few questions I'd like to ask of you. In the pix you mentioned is it legal to use an optic scope for their side matches in a SASS meet. And another is I have  that same Taylor Sport that Johnney has with the ladder sight that comes stock on the gun , when you set for 200 or 300 yds do you set the slide at the line for 200 & 300 where you see the number, above the line?? If that's the case you can't set it low enough for 100 Yds  I have not done any LD shooting and so far have only purchased the gun. I'm thinking of getting that Bushnell Trophy spotting scope that is I think 20-60/65 that sells at Bass Pro for $229.00.  My ranges at Central Florida Rifle and pistol are 100, 200 yd, and 300 m. Will that scope work for me.
Thanks for any help you can give me on this.
Cherokee Bodie

[Pitspitr]

I can't speak about SASS rules because I didn't buy the scope or rifle to use in SASS events, but before I bought the scope I made sure I could use it in NRA BPCR events. I would ASSUME that if it's legal for NRA it'd also be legal for SASS. Here are the NRA BPCR rules reguarding scopes:

3.7 Sights:

 (c) Telescopic - Any sighting system which includes a
lens or system of lenses and an aiming reference or
reticle at the focal plane of the lens or system of
lenses. No length or power limitation on the scope,
tube body to be 3/4" or less in diameter. Any ocular or
objective lenses, adjusting or assembly rings are to be
less than 1" in diameter. No internal adjustments for
windage or elevation. Mounts are to be of the
traditional Malcom style of the period with yoke and
vernier on the side, with no click adjustment or turret
knobs, and contain the windage and elevation
adjustments for the scope in either or both the front or
the rear mounts. Either dovetail mounting or scope
block mounting is allowed.

Mine was made by RHO and has a double cross hair reticule. When the bottom horizontal hair is set for 200 yds. the top is on at 125.

You should be able to see a .45 hole at 200 yds with a 60X scope if it's a good one. Mine was a cheap one and I can see the holes at 200 some of the time.

I never used the ladder stood up. I used a tang sight until I got the scope.

[Yellowhouse Sam]

Here's a neat Hunters sight by MVA.  I like this style for hunting and moderate ranges as its compact and still looks authentic.  Little pricey but these are good sights.  I'm pretty sure that with the MVA sights you can order different bases and just switch the sights from rifle to rifle.  You'd have to record the sight settings for each one though. 

http://www.montanavintagearms.com/133_windgauge.html


You might look at Lee Shaver's sights and at www.buffaloarms.com for the different styles they have too.

[Johnny McCrae]

Howdy YHS,

Thanks for posting the links to MVA & Buffalo Arms.

[kurt250]

contact the axtill rifle company. there on the web. call them and ask to talk to carman axtill. she shoots and can give you all the info you need. also she makes the best sight around in my book. kurt250