West Coast Pedersoli Dealers?

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Otter,

BTW, I agree wholeheartedly on your post ... I felt kinda silly buying the book on one man's say-s0, but it is like the Bible of Buffalo Rifles ...

[Otter]

Waddy,

You don't shim the rifle, you shim under the base of the sight, on one side or the other, not both. Install the sight fully without shims. Lock the rifle in a gun vise as plumb to the world as possible (assuming the barrel is an octagon, the top flat should be level). Tape a piece of paper (with a vertical line on it, perpendicular to the floor) on the wall 5 to 10 feet in front of the muzzle. Rotate the gun vise left or right so you can see the line when looking through the sight at its lowest setting. Leave the gun vise in that location and gently raise the soule sight eye piece to the highest setting and look down the sight again. If the sight line is still on the line on the paper (or very close), you are home free, no shimming required. If the top of the sight is tipped left, you need to shim the left side under the base of the sight - if tipped right, just the opposite. It may take just a piece of aluminum foil as a shim if it is not tipped much, foil doubled up if it is tipped a bit more. If it is tipped a little more it may take as much as a thin strip cut from a soda can. Tighten the base back down after every time a shim is installed. It really isn't difficult, just may take some time . . . and PATIENCE. I guess you could use a file on the bottom of the sight base, but the shimming would be much more forgiving and less time consuming, IMHO.

Getting the sight staff installed vertically removes the canting of the rifle and keeps the arc of the bullet travel as close to vertical as possible. Not real evident or important at close ranges, maybe out to 100 yds, but at long ranges, 600 yds or more, it is real important. Well, unless you have 40 mph cross winds, then all bets are off anyway . . .

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Otter,

Let's hope Messr Pedersoli built the rifle so that it does not need shimming .... but I think I might know someone with a vise that might be able to help .... so I will try this out probably come January ... *S*

[Otter]

Not any old vise, but a gun vise. Kinda like this -
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=607786

[cpt dan blodgett]

colored string thumb tack and a weight will get you an absolutely vertical line.
If the front sight has a spirit level, level the bubble. And check the rear as explained above.Suppose one could actually not shim the rear sight.  Cant the rifle till the sight stays on the plumb line and not where the front sight bubble is and use that as the correct hold

Back in the day when I was shooting high power a lot of guys knew that in different positions they canted the rifle to some degree so perhaps when they went from 200 of hand to 200 sitting they would add x number of clicks right or left windage and when going back to 300 come up the appropriate amount of clicks and a windage correction as well.  Many would tape a card to their stocks with the no wind sight settings at various yards.

Certainly is simpler if one has 0 cant on the rifle as measured by the spirit level and 0 cant on the rear sight.  Given the rather monumental distance the rear sight travels for a 45 /70 between 100 and 1000 yards a plum rear sight helps a lot to keep from running out of windage in one direction or the other.