Gents I have a SMLE I want to sporterise. Can a peep sight be mounted to them? Ghost ring type?

Tony:

Start by asking in the custom rifles or gunsmithing sections. Those guys know this stuff and likely one's around your area too.
Quite a few of those old guns have been rebuilt and shown in those threads.

Good luck.

George

The No4 had a peep type battle sight . Can you find one of them and bore the aperture out to suit?

Hope that's not a nice, minty Lithgow you are wanting to sporter, Bakes.

This may be a stupid question, but why won't the Lyman 57 SME or SMET work for you? They are designed for the Small Ring Mauser and Lee-Enfield, as I understand it.

No its not minty Bill, its is nice however but I find I just don't shoot it. I want to do it up as a shooter for my son.

I'll check it out Muzza

I'll check them out as well Doubless

Yes, you could fit a peep sight to an SMLE. There are a couple of options.

First option would be one of the several different peep sights made for SMLEs for target shooting, such as Central, Lane, Mues, Parker Hale 5A etc. These have been out of production for quite some time, but there are plenty of them around, and you could pick one up at a gun show, usedguns.com.au or perhaps a military rifle club. You'd need a mounting plate as well as the sight unit, but once you have these they are usually pretty simple to fit, using the existing screw-holes in the action. Once fitted you'd simply unscrew the eyepiece to use the sight as a "ghost ring". The only real downside is that they aren't usually as compact as you might like, though some are designed to fold away, and you might have some doubts about their ruggedness (though a fair few went to places like Gallipoli, back in the day).

The second option would be a commercial sight like the Williams 5D-SMLE, made for the SMLE. These are a good deal more compact, but would require drilling and tapping the action to fit.

Or you could trade the SMLE for a No 4 or No 5, which have a good ghost ring peep as-issued.

If you search for an old Mues or BSA sight you could retain the open sights then fold out the target aperature like this one!

Thanks BAW

Bakes, go to Gunsales OZ,accessories, page 3, about a third of the way down.... theres a couple of smellie peeps .....hope this helps

cheers

Roger

Thanks mate. I'll check it out tonight. I'm going to bring the rifle back to Townsville with me so I can work on it. Even thinking of mounting a scope but don't know yet.

I have a N.O.S. fully adjustable replacement aperture sight assembly for No.4 rifles. I believe it was made by Parker-Hale, but I'd need to take a look. I know that installation requires minor alteration of the No.4's receiver-at-sight for it to fit.

I have wanted a No.4 rifle for many years, but never "pulled the trigger." So if you have interest in acquiring it, let me know. I'll find the package and furnish information and photographs - if I can figure out how to use the digital camera a friend gave me.

Thanks for the offer mate. I'll let you know.