Anybody have experience in setting up (filing) Express sights?

My new rifle has a "1 fixed, 3 flip-up" configuration. I've worked up a load that is good enough, so now it's time to get out the file and zero in my rear sights.

What is the "best" method for this.

And, what are realistic ranges...50, 100, 200???? this is a .375 RUM, BTW.

Thanks,

Jeff

If I where you I'd get a Brownells catalog and use the correction chart (pg. 320 in current catalog) to see how close you can get by changing the front sight before I'd ever think of breaking out the file. Just use your current range data. It will be a whole lot easier to change one sight and maybe fiddle with loads a bit than trying "file to fit" all four rear sights.

Ref to abowe..
I was in the same situation with my cz550-375HH
Dont adjust the rears

What I did..only finished , polished and partly matt blued the rears.

Front sight,took the old one away,made one completely new where the height was right adjusted to 100m distance,needed to shoot few shots on range,to find out the correct height.

Size of the new, 8.9mm X 2.3mm.
Glasblasted,mattblued with one silver square size 2.3w x 2.5h on bacside top to give better wisibility in low light conditions.

Works perfectly

Elias

If the barrel taper and blade sizes already create height variations, than the rest is easy. Have the U cuts (wide V for the fixed blade) milled into the leaves. Find a front sight height that gives you the best versatility, and than mark your leaves for the approximate range that they zeroed for. Then blue.

If the blades are the same height, or you have a fixed front sight, then you will have to do some filing. You will find it easiest to buy 2 identical inserts. Do all of you makeshift filing with one set on the range, than have the duplicate set neatly milled to those heights, marked, and then blued.

For express sights, I would have the fixed blade a wide V for 50, than have flat top U cuts for precise shooting at 100, 200 and 300. The foremost blade should be the range at which your cartridge drops off like a pumpkin (some are 250).

Put a good scope on it if your want to be effective (realistic) at longer ranges!!! To hell with the express sights unless you are hunting DG upclose and personal...

Hello,
Your question does not have a simple answer, but as a rule of thumb, approx. .008" change, up or down of sights, bead, post, notch, etc., will give you approx. 1.00" change of impact at 100 yards Example: If I were to file off .008" of your front sight blade then the impact would be appox. 1" higher than previous.( I am assuming your distance from front to rear is appox. 20-24"??)
Remember, front sight is opposite of rear sight adjustment. If I want to raise the impact upward, then I adjust,alter, etc. the front sight downward and vice versa. Same applies for windage adjustment. Rear sight is adjusted to where you want the impact to be, right is right and up is up, etc. etc. (gonna be tough for you to increase or raise your rear sight!!)

Since you have what appears to be three or four sight blades to consider, you will need to determine what ranges you will experience the most and go from there. Would advise establishing the shallow v for the closest range, 50 yards??, and spend some time at the range for the others keeping in mind the rule of thumb mentioned above.

To go out to the 300 yard mark, you may have to install different height front sight blade. Without more data, hard to say for sure just what you will have to do to regulate each of the blades you mentioned. 300 yards w/ notch rear/blade-beade/ front sight is getting out there, but has of course been done, but depends on caliber, level of marksmanship, in a hurry, etc. Hope have not confused, but half the fun is in the working out such problems.
Favor Center!!
dsiteman

Use the KISS principle...shoot it and file in the one standing, and the others will be a bit higher, shot them and file...

50, 100 and 200...use the scope for anything over that...

I like one standing zeroed for 1" high at 50, then its about the same at 100..I don't use the other two..

Normally I use a ghost peep, file the one standing completely off so as not to block the line of sight for the peep...then I sight in the two down for emergency only...and have a scope option..that gives me 4 sets of sights to choose from...More than needed but available anyway....

to actually answer your question rather than telling you that what you want isn't what you should be doing in the 1st place (like throw them away and get a scope; one should give a poster enough credit to assume he has sense enough to know what he wants), you can be a little more precise than trial and error. by using the rule of similar triangles - think back to high school trig - you can calculate very close to the change required in each successive blade at whatever yardage you select for it.

1st measure distance between blade and front sight face, then convert the muzzle to target distance to inches. for eg, say is 20" between sights and 200 yds to target and bullet is impacting 10" high (if bullet is impacting low no amount of filing on the rear will fix it). let "X" be the change required. you'd get X/20 = 10"/(200yds x 3' x 12"). X = .028" which amount you'd have to remove from bottom of the V.

similarly, if you know the drop figures of the ctg/bullet/velocity combo in question, once you get sighted in at 100 yds you can anticipate closely where the successive leaves need to be, basing their respective depths as that much less deep than the 100 yd setting, leaving full and tweaking.

I'm on it Ray!

Thanks for everybody's input,

JW

I am w/ Ray, just one standing sight. I had my smithy set up a express blade & went to the range w/ a small file that has a cutting edge only. Shoot 1 round @ 50 w/ the bead in the 'V'. You will more than likely be high. File straight down approx. .015" (1/64") then fire another shot pushing the bead down into that groove. Repeat until you are on. Back to the smithy for milling & blueing. THis can be repeated w/ all sights but really, one standing will doout to 100yds.

Yes I agree...sure it's cool to have all of those neat little engravings 10, 200, etc... but at the end of the day...

...the simpler the better.

Thanks for the input!

Jeff

I will tell you something about all those charts, they don't always work, they only get you in the ball park and then not always....

If you have 3 sights file the one standing at 50 then the two down at 100 and 200...do them one at a time at the chosen distance, if you want them correct..

Actually after you get the one standing filed in the other two come will only require elevation and to zero pretty quick...

It easy to do but go slowly and don't file them too much at a time, just walk them in the bullseye or a tad high on all targets, I stop a tad high, that way I won't go to far with the file......

I have a couple of very flat shallow V files that I picked up some years back that are perfect for this..I have never seen any since...

What rifle do you have chambered in 375 RUM? Did you put express sights on a Remington,or do you have a CRF of some type?

quote:

all those charts, they don't always work, they only get you in the ball park and then not always....

exactly, and reading what i actually WROTE i see the words "anticipate closely" and "leaving full and tweaking" to get them correct.

now once you know your POI is a given distance high at a given range, the math is absolute as filing on the sights isn't going to cause the bullet to speed up, slow down or change its shape. it's a very simple perfectly linear relationship between change in sight height and change in bullet poi.

the file you mention, long ago brownells sold but if they still do i can't find it and i desperately wish they did.