And not much point having a back sight and no front sight! Not sure what they were thinking there.
As mentioned above, a lot of work went into these "one-piece" conversions. Some of the target crowd liked them when the No4 was still competitive. Mostly it's a Mauser prejudice, so to speak: a belief that two piece stocks could never be solid enough. In fact, if it was put to the test, I'll bet a well fitted two piece stock flexed less than many one piece stocks: shorter piece of wood means less opportunity for flex.
I think an old Parker Hale sporter foresight with the sloped ramp would look good on that rifle. You should be able to find one at almost any gunshow in the parts boxes. I agree with the comment above about the stock sights being best, but too late with the ears gone.
You can drill and tap this one to your heart's content anyway, but the bases you have, if properly fitted, are very functional. Even if they're not pretty.
If the sight arm is missing you should be able to get one off eBay. Or another of the same sight.
You could carefully grind a little off the underside of the bolt handle where it contacts the butt socket so that the bolt closes a little further and you don't see that gap you do now between the long recoil lug on the bolt and the flat next to the bolthead guide rail.
Make sure the slot in the bolt head where the guide rail engages is beveled at each end, otherwise you run the risk of the bolt head tearing up the edges of the rail at the opening (where you can lift the bolt head up to remove the bolt.)
If you want to make it look a little classier you could have the left side machined so that the bevel continues all the way down the side of the action, or you could have it cut a little lower, like the EAL rifles did.
The really fancy sporters would plug the back sight plunger hole and fair that whole shoulder on the right hand side down to the bolt handle on a nice convex curve.
As mentioned above, a lot of work went into these "one-piece" conversions. Some of the target crowd liked them when the No4 was still competitive. Mostly it's a Mauser prejudice, so to speak: a belief that two piece stocks could never be solid enough. In fact, if it was put to the test, I'll bet a well fitted two piece stock flexed less than many one piece stocks: shorter piece of wood means less opportunity for flex.
I think an old Parker Hale sporter foresight with the sloped ramp would look good on that rifle. You should be able to find one at almost any gunshow in the parts boxes. I agree with the comment above about the stock sights being best, but too late with the ears gone.
You can drill and tap this one to your heart's content anyway, but the bases you have, if properly fitted, are very functional. Even if they're not pretty.
If the sight arm is missing you should be able to get one off eBay. Or another of the same sight.
You could carefully grind a little off the underside of the bolt handle where it contacts the butt socket so that the bolt closes a little further and you don't see that gap you do now between the long recoil lug on the bolt and the flat next to the bolthead guide rail.
Make sure the slot in the bolt head where the guide rail engages is beveled at each end, otherwise you run the risk of the bolt head tearing up the edges of the rail at the opening (where you can lift the bolt head up to remove the bolt.)
If you want to make it look a little classier you could have the left side machined so that the bevel continues all the way down the side of the action, or you could have it cut a little lower, like the EAL rifles did.
The really fancy sporters would plug the back sight plunger hole and fair that whole shoulder on the right hand side down to the bolt handle on a nice convex curve.
