New sight

[wyldwylliam]

Howdy boys.

Don't know if this would be of any interest to you other guys, but I just installed a Marbles full buckhorn rear sight on my Henry by removing the little slide at the back of the sight and putting it on backwards, so that the rear of he sight faces front.

I've tried it out, using it as an aperture sight and I found it is much more accurate and faster to find the sight picture than the original. With that little slide removed the hole is perfectly round except for the cut at the top.

Although maybe not common back in the day, but I figure it is at least arguably period correct as I've seen a number of old lever guns with the rear sight turned back to front in this way.

Just thought I'd pass this along in case anybody else might like to try it. Sure works good for me.

[wyldwylliam]

As a rifle is only as good as its sights, l was kinda hoping this topic would generate some discussion. Things have been might quiet around these parts of late.

Any comments positive or otherwise? Makes sense? Best idea you ever heard or equivalent to mucking out a pig barn?

Speak Pards!

[King Medallion]

Pic's would help. 

[wyldwylliam]

Sorry, KM, but that kind of fancy new fangled know how is something I don't know how. These machines fox heck out of me. Just too old a dog, I guess.

[Pancho Peacemaker]

Here's a thread from a few years ago about Henry rear sights.


http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,40978.msg517490/topicseen.html#msg517490

[will52100]

Me, I love the standard Henry sights.  With two exceptions, the rear sight is too short for 100 yard shooting and the ladder won't stay put when going beyond that.  Thinking of adding a set screw to the ladder and leaving it sighted in at 200 yards and thinking of welding on the top of the sight to raise it up a bit.

[Coffinmaker]

Well .........
I just don't like Buckhorn sights.  Full Buckhorn, sorta Buckhorn, no difference.  For me, PERSONALLY, Buckhorn sights just suck.
The rear sight isn't that critical unless it gets in the way.  Buckhorns get in the way.  The most critical is the front sight.  We have to see the front sight clear and crisp and it should be easy to pick up.  Nice big shiny brass or white beade.  Something looks sorta like a door knob.
We can't focus on three things at once.  We can't focus on the rear sight and front sight and target at the same time.  Two of the three have to be fuzzy.  The bullet goes where the front sight rests.  Front sight on the lawn, yer gonna mow grass.
I PERSONALLY think for the CAS game, we need to see the next target real quick.  Flat sight.  Nice wide horizontal plane with a large notch for the door knob.  I usually file a Buckhorn flat and put a nice "V" in it. 
Talk about a long winded road ........
I think the stock Henry ladder is super.  Just open up the "V" and go.

Coffinmaker

[will52100]

Long winded maybe, but for the most part I'm with you except I don't like the door knob front sight, like a flat toped fairly thin blade but wide enough I can focus on the top glimmer.  Just the way I was trained using military rifles.

Only issue I have with the Henry sight is I'd just about have to file the front away to get it on target and the ladder won't stay put.

I may look into an adjustable rear buck horn and file the horns off, thanks for the idea.

[Coffinmaker]

Cut a chunk of brass rod to length shape to the top of the Henry sight and solder it in place.  Polish up the back of the brass rod and "presto" the elevation is adjusted.  The numbers on the Uberti may correspond to the phase of the moon, not much else.  Using the ladder feature must br very deliberate.  Once one finds a spot on the ladder that matched up with their load at say .... 200 yards, a spot of clear silicone will make a solid yet impermanent fix.
A fine beade or thin blade is OK if your hunting game at 100 yards or so.  For CAS, at 15 yards, speed is the issue.  Nice big sight you can pick up quickly. 
Of course, some folks just plain like Buckhorn sights. (Uck)
I do have to throw in a bit of a caviat though, as ALL of my Henrys have had a chunk of brass rod soldered to the front sight and I've attacked the tear sight with a "V" file to open the sight up.  Plus, for whatever reason ALL the ladders on my Henrys (4) and '66s stay put.  Nice and snug.  For each of the rifles, I have a little note page where to put the ladder for different ranges if competing in long range pistol caliber.  The little book is a nuisance, but they all shoot to a slightly different point.  Of course, a battle rifle need only shoot to minute of human body so a real fine sight is .... Unnecessary.
Now, getting back to the OP and a backwards Buckhorn, if it works for you, far be it from me to criticize.  Track of The Wolf sells a nice (if rough) Buckhorn that works a treat on Henrys and '66s.

Coffinmaker

[will52100]

I've thought of that, and milling a small piece of mild steel and silver brazing it on.  Might go that route, might just machine a new sight, not sure.

Me, I'm more into precision shooting and less on the speed, for CAS distances I often don't even look at the sights, just sight down the barrel and point at the target.  Unless I'm trying to get a bonus or some such.  Doesn't matter, you could time me with an hour glass.

[wyldwylliam]

Interesting to see this thread back up because since I OP'd, I've since taken off the buckhorn and gone back to the stock rear sight. Also, I had soldered on a bit of brass on the front sight to get poa down.

But after looking at pictures of lots of original Henry's I noticed that many of them had the rear filed down a lot. Whether at the factory or at the hands of an original owner I don't know. But what I saw on a lot of them is that the "ears" were just not there and the "V" was much wider than the Uberti job.

So I filed down the ears right down to the level of the barrel part of the rear and filed the V a good bit down into the barrel. I thought this might get thru the pin that runs thru the barrel but this turned out not to be a problem.

I also removed that bit I had added to the front. No, my Henry shoots poa at 24yds which is pretty close at 100, and the whole thing looks much better and closer to the pix of the originals I've seen.

I'm much happier with this setup now.