Rossi Rifleman

Please refresh an old man's memory regarding drifting sights for windage. Is it best to leave the rear semi-buckhorn alone and drift the front sight? As you can see shooting from rested (no bag, just elbows) it was shooting to the left. Doesn't need to come across much though.. I can't damn well remember which way to drift it..????

Move the rear sight in the direction you want your group to go.

That's what I thought.. now I just have to remember where I put my brass punches..

I'd like to hear how that goes, and if you will, or did remove the fore-end to hold the barrel in a vice while adjusting

Mnemonic that I learned on this forum: FORS - Front Opposite, Rear Same

I always drift the rear sight, unless I can’t.

Vice, shmice. This is done at the shooting bench. Lay ‘er on ‘er side and tap/whack as required. The other valuable tool is a Sharpie to mark your starting point.

Wait, what the hell do you care? You’re waiting for a ladder sight.

HarryAlonzo wrote:. . . This is done at the shooting bench. Lay ‘er on ‘er side and tap/whack as required. The other valuable tool is a Sharpie to mark your starting point.

Marking the starting point is critical. I carefully align a piece of masking tape on which I've drawn a clear line with the front of the rear sight. A sharp pencil will make a line about .01" thick. This is an important point of reference because you're going to move the sight in much smaller increments than you'd expect.

The sight radius on my 20" R92 is 16.5". Referring to the Marble's chart you'll note that using the 18" column (for the sake of rounding) moving the sight .005" changes the point of impact 1" at 100 yards. This means that a movement of .01" will move the point of impact 1" at 50 yards, which is my realistic limit for sighting in with the R92 sights. (I'm 78.)

In other words, each width of the pencil line will move the POI 1" at 50 yards. This works well for me.

Wow it's a good thing Tom didn't ask about something complicated like changing a light bulb.

You need a hammer, drift punch, rifle, steady shooting position and a handful of bullets.

Shoot. Tap rear sight in the direction you want holes to go. Shoot again. Stop when holes are in center of target.

I found a little helpful addition to my sights. There is a tiny punch mark right in the centre of the top flat of the barrel, right in front of the sight plate. I have a photo but it wont let me load it..!!!

So, using the above mark as a reference point, I have tapped it across to the right, just about a pencil line's worth. If I have it right it should bring my shots across to, more or less, where I want them. It's really a moot point as I have a set of Skinners ladder sights ordered so I'll be changing them out anyway. But of course that little punch mark will give me a point of reference for fitting the ladder sights too..

Just ordered a leather lever wrap from Hellhound Leather. Nice people to deal with.

Re my previous post regarding a 'punch mark' on the barrel in front of the rear sight.. here's a photo.. I measured, with digital callipers, the width across the barrel and this little mark is dead centre, perfectly placed for any future adjustments.