Confirm dovetail size Savage 24

[nof60]

Where do you measure the dovetail that the rear sight sits in? I have a Savage 24. From a bit of googling it seems if rear sight has 2 dovetails they are 3/16. If it has 1 it is either 3/16 or 3/8. I want to put a peep sight on the gun. Redfield and Lyman made peeps for these but they are rare as hens teeth. So I was thinking of going with http://www.skinnersights.com/barrel_mount_6.html

Also was pondering maybe drilling and tapping the tang and adding something like this http://www.marblearms.com/standard-peep-tang-sight.html that would fold out of the way when using the shotgun.

Any other suggestions? Factory sights on these guns are junk.

 

[Potashminer]

From some time ago, I was trying to figure out correct rings to use on a CZ 452 receiver - at some times, CZ used one of either two sizes. As a result, I discovered there are two ways to measure a dovetail on a receiver. North American way is to measure the distance inside, tip of cutter to tip of cutter. So standard North American size is "3/8" - that is 3/8" from tip to tip inside the dovetail where the cutters were. European way is to measure the widest width of the dovetail - at the top. So can just lay a calliper on there and measure widest width - most commonly is 11 mm although other sizes are made. So widest European dovetail (11 mm) is about .4331" across the top. A North American one will measure very close to .500". And the angle of the slopes of the dovetails are different - North American to European.

With luck a picture below of my Savage 24C Series M - apparently was called the Camper Special - 22 Long Rifle over 20 gauge. I had drilled and tapped and installed a Lyman 53D side mounted rear aperture sight. Measuring those grooves on the 22 barrel is interesting - widest width is .390" / 9.9-10.0 mm - and has very high rounded "crown" between those grooves - so many bases will not fit. You can see this one has been used, abused and carried a fair bit, so not surprising to be some wear along those groove edges. So, I guess that I am not much help for a "clamp on" type rear sight that will fit onto a 22 Long Rifle barrel on a Savage 24. Because the width at top of dovetail is going to depend how far from top of round barrel that the grooves are cut, and the diameter of the barrel that the grooves are cut into, I would do a wild guess that Savage probably used a standard North American 3/8" profile - and that something like the Williams WGRS-54 likely fits - but a pure guess on my part - I do not have one here to try.

 

[guntech]

A 3/8" dovetail is measured at the bottom of the dovetail...

I always thought the factory sights suited the firearm.

 

[Potashminer]

I am still very much learning to use aperture sights - something I should have done 50 years ago or more, but I didn't, then. My impression is that the "aperture" effect works better with the "hole" reasonably closer to your eye - much better at a couple inches, than 6 or 8 inches away.

 

[Potashminer]

Picture below should show the rear sight mounting on the Savage 24C 22 LR barrel. OP seems to have an interest in a sight that installs into the barrel rear sight dovetail, instead of the grooves near the receiver on that barrel. A screw was holding the rear sight, into a small plate that has dovetail edges - that slides into the "carrier" that is set into that rear barrel - I have never removed the "carrier" so I do not know what is under there. The plate's dovetails measure .362" wide at widest part - so just a smidgeon more than 23/64", so I presume that the notch in that carrier is about .375" (3/8") - measured across the very bottom.