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M96 poor man’s Rigby cocking piece peep sight

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07 March 2017, 21:12
JORGE01
M96 poor man’s Rigby cocking piece peep sight
I have a Husqvarna M46 rifle in 9.3x57 that I made a poor man’s Rigby cocking piece peep sight. This was done by drilling and taping the lip on the cocking piece on the M96 Swiss bolt and putting a swing swivel stud. The peep sight is adjustable for elevation only. If you want to do this, I suggest you buy a cocking piece from eBay or some other place, so you don’t damage the original. If you have a pedestal drill all you need is the right drill bit and tap and some careful measurements. The metal is fairly soft and the swivel stud just fits the available space, so be careful. Note this only works on the M96 Mauser action. I also had to remove the barrel mounted iron sight; it interfered with the peep sight. You will also need to put some loctite on the threads, if not the sight will spin as the firing pin assembly falls when you pull the trigger. The idea is not originally mine but got it from this site:

http://www.castbullet.com/makeit/rr.htm

These are pictures of what it looks like:







Also, here is a target with the peep sight installed at 100 yards, from the bench. This is two (2) different loads they make a group of some 3.5 inches, of three (3) shots each (the target is turned 90 degrees from the vertical). The ones without the halo are from a load using 285gr bullet, at about 1950 f/s at the muzzle. The other with the halo is using 95 gr Makarov bullets with shotgun powder, to make a gallery load. This load recoils about like a .22.




I hope this is helpful to those that have an M96 action rifle and want very serviceable peep sight on the cheap.
07 March 2017, 21:22
richj
Cool






07 March 2017, 22:08
JORGE01
Richj thank you for posting the pictures. How did you do it? Were my pictures too big?
07 March 2017, 22:08
speerchucker30x378
GOOD GRIEF !

That is so absofuckinglutely absurd, you would think those things were actually designed for that purpose! The only improvement I can think of would be to get a blued, 10-32 nut to replace the knurled nut so that you could lock it up permanent like. Some may giggle, but it's a great idea for a simple sight and it serves the purpose quite nicely.

I stock the featherweight version of what you have. LOL

sling swivel by Rod Henrickson, on Flickr


When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years!
Rod Henrickson
07 March 2017, 23:20
z1r
Great out of the box thinking!


I've done the same using the peep out of an XS Sight. They have finer threads making adjustment a bit easier..

I may have to modify a spare cocking piece for my M46B. I can't shoot the open sights very well anymore but a peep is another story!




Aut vincere aut mori
08 March 2017, 00:04
richj
Jorge

I used the "IMG" link box on the photobucket page and I removed the URL part and left the IMG data.



quote:
Originally posted by JORGE01:
Richj thank you for posting the pictures. How did you do it? Were my pictures too big?

08 March 2017, 00:30
Bill/Oregon
That's just bloody brilliant.


There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.
– John Green, author
08 March 2017, 02:03
Mark Taylor
Might be an answer to a problem I am dealing with. Awesome.


Society of Intolerant Old Men. Rifle Slut Division.
08 March 2017, 02:50
JTEX
Outstanding! Very creative.
08 March 2017, 18:52
nopride2
I've installed the XS peep on a few double rifles. It takes a special tap, .220 64tpi.

Dave
08 March 2017, 21:38
p dog shooter
sounds and looks like a old farm boy fix good job.
12 March 2017, 08:03
lee440
As Yogi says. "You are smarter than the average bear!" Great idea!


DRSS(We Band of Bubba's Div.)
N.R.A (Life)
T.S.R.A (Life)
D.S.C.
12 March 2017, 18:09
Fury01
Great mod. Well done!


"The liberty enjoyed by the people of these states of worshiping Almighty God agreeably to their conscience, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their rights."
~George Washington - 1789
12 March 2017, 22:21
thirdbite
This looks a lot like the Skinner low profile sight.

12 March 2017, 23:43
JORGE01
Yes it looks like a Skinner sight. The idea of the Poor man’s Rigby cocking piece sight, patent pending (just a joke). Came from many sources, of course Rigby’s original sight, the website I mentioned in the original post and the Skinner system of sights, etc. My idea was to make something simple and inexpensive that someone with limited resources could make.

If you want to improve on it, you can drill and tap a set screw on the side or back of the cocking piece, rather than use Loctite, so it becomes easily adjustable for elevation. Also you can drill and tap the peep hole so it will accept different size apertures. Se the website I reference above.

If anyone has an idea of how to make it adjustable for windage in a simple manner, please chime in with your ideas.

Just as an aside, the Mauser 98 is a more complicated affair. The cocking piece is much shorter and as far as I can see it can’t be drilled from the top to accommodate a similar idea (too little space). It can only be mounted from the back, either by welding, machining or drilling and taping with a sight at 90 degree angle. Yes I know there are commercial sights available, but they are very expensive.