Where to find front iron sight post.

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Fire306

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I picked up an old Sako a couple of years ago, and after a long search found ammo for it. 9,3x53, I shot it a few times and then just packed it away in the safe, I only found 80 rounds of ammo, so I didn't want to use it all up. Anyway, I have now purchased dies for it, and would like to use the rifle more. Problem is, it shoots really low. The rear sight is a barrel type of sight that can be rotated to 4 preset ranges, marked 1, 1.5, 2 and 2.5, but even at the 2.5 setting, at 50 yards it shoots 12" low. There is no way to move the rear sight higher, so from what I can see, only option would be to lower the front sight, which would require replacing it.

Anyone have any ideas where to buy replacement front sights? I will have to measure the dovetail, and guesstimate the height required.
The pictures show the rear sight, its is pressed (possibly silver soldered) onto the barrel and I can't see anyway to shim or adjust it.
I have checked the barrel, best I can, and it does not appear to be bent or warped at all.




 
Getting a dovetail front sight of the height you need shouldn't be too tough, and the measurement is readily made if you have a linear caliper or a micrometer. Dovetail front sights can be had from Williams, Lyman, and Skinner among others. The dovetail is usually a bit over sized, and requires a little file work to fit in the front ramp, but you should measure the size to ensure its 3/8ths.

The calculation for the height of the sight can be found here . . . http://www.brownells.com/GunTech/Sight_Height_Calculator/detail.htm?lid=13186
 
Something looks wrong here. Looking at the pictures of the rifle and how high each sight looks above the bore, they look abut right.
However, it shoots a foot low at 50 yards. Assuming the sights are about two feet apart, with rough calculations in my head, I think the front sight would have to be lowered on the order of 1/6 of an inch and that would make a mighty short front sight.
 
H4831 said:
Something looks wrong here. Looking at the pictures of the rifle and how high each sight looks above the bore, they look abut right.
However, it shoots a foot low at 50 yards. Assuming the sights are about two feet apart, with rough calculations in my head, I think the front sight would have to be lowered on the order of 1/6 of an inch and that would make a mighty short front sight.
Click to expand...

This is what I'm thinking/seeing as well. If I use the above brownells calculator, it shows that I need a front sight just a hair shorter than whats there, but I know it needs to be a lot lower than that. I'll try my best to explain, when shooting iron sights I would normally center the front bead/post in the notch of the rear sight, make both level across the tops. Then aim at my target with my hopeful point of impact right on top of the bead/post. 6 O'clock hold it what I have always called it. With this rifle however, I have to center the post with the full bead above the level of the rear sight, then bury the target behind the bead, just to put it on the paper at 50 yards. That's with the rear sight set at the 2.5 (highest) setting, which should be for the furthest distance.

To me the front post should be about 1/3 of the height it is now. Not sure if I will find one that low, and the dovetail is extremely small compared to most others I have seen. Or another option would be to replace the entire ramp with a lower one. The rifle is almost 75 years old, I've only had it for 2-3 years, so who knows what is original??
 
Might be better to have the ramp removed and shaved, then soldered back on. Then you could use the current or higher bead.

I'd also be inclined to try a few handloads in it before doing anything...
 
I will wait until I handload some rounds, that's a bit of the reason I would like to just get a lower front sight to try, rather than modify the ramp, or anything like that which would be hard to reverse.
I'm using Sako 102D ammo. So far, its the only ammo I have ever found made, or able to locate. Only have 4 boxes of 20, down to 2 1/2 boxes left I'll likely only reload 20 of the rounds and keep the remaining 2 boxes of factory for keep sakes.
 
I'd have no worries trimming the bead off that front sight, then it would be a nicer to acquire pin type. As for ammo, it ain't easy finding factory stuff over here, but 7.62x54 brass can be blown out easy enough. Slug the bore to see which bullets will best fit 'er first.

The Finns necked up & down the 7.62x54 much the same as we did over here with the .308 Winchester & the
Mosin Nagant can handle pressures to 45,000 psi without worries if in good condition. Be a nice moose dumper fer sure.:)
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