Help with Parker Hale PH5 sights

albertacowboy

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
6   0   0
I would appreciate getting the name of someone to whom I can turn for help on using these sights.

I am in Edmonton and have shooting use of a Fulton's BSA Commercial SMLE with the PH5A sight, and a PH-setup Winchester P 1914 with the PH5B sight. I need help on usage and proper care of the sights re lubrication, etc.

All help most welcome!
 
I clean it once a year with some kerosene and a toothbrush. then lube with some CLP.

The important thing to notice is that you can back off the nut on the front of the sight, push it in and then pull the bridge off. The rifle is stored with the bridge off the rifle. Otherwise it will get bent.

If you have a bunch of these sights and rifles, colour code the sight bridge to the sight base. Otherwise Murphy will strike.
 
Great bit on info on removing the bridge, I will have to do that later today.

My particular model has the adjustable aperture and I noticed that you can get filters for it but not sure where to look or which colours to get, any ideas?
 
The sight will hold a filter or a prescription lens, or a coloured prescription lens.

My optometrist made the lenses for mine. If he makes you a prescription lens, make sure it is marked, so you know how it should sit. Same for a polarised filter.

I had 2 prescription filters. A 20% yellow, to increase contrast on dull days, and polarised one, for sunny days.

The advantage of the lens in the sight is that it is always at 90 degrees to the eye.
 
The sight will hold a filter or a prescription lens, or a coloured prescription lens.

My optometrist made the lenses for mine. If he makes you a prescription lens, make sure it is marked, so you know how it should sit. Same for a polarised filter.

I had 2 prescription filters. A 20% yellow, to increase contrast on dull days, and polarised one, for sunny days.

The advantage of the lens in the sight is that it is always at 90 degrees to the eye.

Excellent information, I will have to ask about that if / when I get my eyes examined next.
 
The sight has a wind and elevation scale plate. These can be zeroed.

The elevation sale can be read as minutes. (I zero my rifles as 10 minutes at 300 yards). You could also zero the plate to read zero at the yardage marked on it. You could set it to read 100 when zeroed at 100 yards, or 300 when zeroed at 300 yards. Then, if you move back to 600 yards, you could set the sight to 600 and would be quite close.

The Parker Hale sights are not really true minutes. The minutes are too big, so if you have a calculator that says you should come up 20 minutes, you only need about 17 PH minutes.
 
To add to Ganderite - verner scales are clever. One side has divisions of fives. Those are the gross numbers. The arm (for windage) or the staff (for elevation) has divisions of four. Those are the fine numbers. Read up and right.

So, when the bars of 5 align perfectly with the bars of 4, the sight is at the whole number on the 5s and the 1 and 4 of the 4s. Crank clockwise on the knob 4 on the staff, assuming the sight is quarter minutes, and the 1 on the fours now aligns with the next increment on the 5s. For now, ignore the top alignment bar. Your sight is now at 6 or 11 or 16 minutes. Crank one and you have 6 and one quarter clicks. One more click and you have 6 and a half. Notice where the bars on the 5s and 4s align each time. With practice, those values become instinctive.

At some point in perfect conditions, you will hammer in a trustworthy zero with good ammunition at short range, ie 300yds. At that point, take out your finest tip screwdriver and slack the screws on the adjustment [plate. Slide it to zero. Retighten the screws. Never monkey with them again. With the right tables and experience, each distance will become a practised number of clicks up so the first shot will be in the black. The windage won't change much, although at long range even a centre zero will show some rotational drift. I forget how much but at 1000yds it might be 1 or 2 minutes left to compensate.
 
Great bit on info on removing the bridge, I will have to do that later today.

My particular model has the adjustable aperture and I noticed that you can get filters for it but not sure where to look or which colours to get, any ideas?

Anything between your cornea and the target will cause distortion. Over age 40 expect to notice your eyesight deteriorate. So, as Ganderite explains, sometimes a very slight correction can be tolerated. But I have a set of prescription shooting glasses, ie not aviator shotgunners' shaded, but $500 titanium framed "appliances". The trick with apertures is to find the smallest one that allows enough light in so your can see the target and the front sight, without being so open your subconscious cannot centre the image.
 
Back
Top Bottom