This one will be controversial for several reasons, so I wanted to present a few things prior to getting into the meat of the post. As a gunsmith and gunmaker my priority is to serve my customers and fulfill THEIR desires on THEIR firearms, so long as the end result is safe. You may have your opinions, and im not here to change them. This is my clients opinion and his rifle.

So…let’s install a red dot on a recent production H&H round action .500ne.

How can I accomplish this and live with myself?

I did these modifications in a way that will allow one to return it to something the factory would or has done. In this example, one can remove the sight/mount and install a 3-leaf sight commonly found on such double rifles made by the manufacturer. This came with some compromise as I wish the red dot was closer to the eye for field of view reasons, but I couldn’t come up with a way to accomplish such without much more invasive modification.

The rifle came with a single fixed blade rear sight, so I extended the dovetail cut in the rib, made a new rear sight I filed in for 50yds in the same style as original but longer, then made a QR mount for the red dot which slides onto the rear sight and locks on.

Next came the decision;should we use a QR lever or a screw with large slot to lock it in. My clients choice was a screw with large slot which can be attached/removed with a screwdriver, or even a large coin. His reasoning is the lever would stick out more and he worried about it catching on stuff.

Some engraving remains to do on the new sight, but that will be accomplished at a later date due to time constraints.

So, off we go…

500-2 by Aa Li, on Flickr

IMG_0271 by Aa Li, on Flickr

IMG_0268 by Aa Li, on Flickr

500-3 by Aa Li, on Flickr

500-4 by Aa Li, on Flickr

in practice...
500 by Aa Li, on Flickr

500-1 by Aa Li, on Flickr

Nice work and a very good solution to keeping the H&H as close to how it was produced and yet allowing modern sighting systems to look good on the double.

I don't think that looks bad, at all. Nicely done, with great taste in trying to preserve classic lines while bringing modern amenities that keep many still shooting these rifles when eyesight decides to go awry.

I'm curious how Rigby, WR, H&H, or other classic makers would respond if asked to integrate a red dot. I can't imagine too much differently?

I haven’t seen such provided by one of those companies on a double yet, but I don’t imagine that will be the case much longer. They are becoming far too popular to ignore.

Looks like head position will be much (or only a little?) higher but I guess the client had no problem with it. Nicely done. And nice to see some pics with the rifle in use!

Any issues with the height of the red dot? As long as I could get some semblance of a cheek weld, I would not have a problem with it. And it looks great.

No. The height of the red dot is still slightly lower than a scope would be.

There are ways to mount lower especially in a fixed mount arrangement, or one that requires more invasive modification to the gun.

No stones thrown and your work is outstanding as ever.

The beautiful H&H will get used more, the shooter will shoot more accurately, which the critters will appreciate.

Outstanding work, thanks for sharing!

I like that rear iron sight and believe they all should have shoulders like that. The typical 'express' sight with no shoulders makes sense if you have a swing-up moon sight but needs whatever bead is used to be hard down in the V to prevent shots going high when quick shots are needed.