Muzzleldrs Assembling a rear sight from an 1853 enfield

[Ronald C.]

Yall, I've been at this for well over 2 hours now.

I recently got a traditions 1853 enfield kit, and I can't for the life of me figure out how to put the sight assembly and the leaf together. I can't find any information anywhere. Anybody know?

 

[rob63]

I've never had to work on this particular sight, but if it is like most there should be a small screw that goes through the hole in the spring and screws into the sight base. The top photo looks like what I would assume is the correct orientation.

 

[Ronald C.]

I've never had to work on this particular sight, but if it is like most there should be a small screw that goes through the hole in the spring and screws into the sight base. The top photo looks like what I would assume is the correct orientation.

Yes, but the problem is in the top photo the screw holes don't align. The top and middle photos show the same orientation.

 

[Old Soldier]

This is a repro sight. The original sight spring was 'flat' with a slight bend upwards towards the pivot. The only screwhole in the original sight was for the spring which was dovetailed into the backsight bed, then screwed to secure. The original backsight was soldered onto the barrel, not screwed on.
Here is the diagram for the Armisport repro sight:

It seems as though you have the spring the wrong way around, it should curve upwards. It looks as if the sight bed needs to be screwed to the barrel first. (Parts 5(x2), 8,10. This will also secure the sight spring (8). Before fitting the leaf, tap the pin (9) in a short way for starters. On all my P53s, a hard push down is needed to align the holes to get the pin in, it can be quite a 'push' too! Tapping the pin in should only require light taps. The slide (parts 3,4,7) can be fitted afterwards.

 

[Joe Whitworth]

This is a repro sight. The original sight spring was 'flat' with a slight bend upwards towards the pivot. The only screwhole in the original sight was for the spring which was dovetailed into the backsight bed, then screwed to secure. The original backsight was soldered onto the barrel, not screwed on.
Here is the diagram for the Armisport repro sight:
View attachment 511709
It seems as though you have the spring the wrong way around, it should curve upwards. It looks as if the sight bed needs to be screwed to the barrel first. (Parts 5(x2), 8,10. This will also secure the sight spring (8). Before fitting the leaf, tap the pin (9) in a short way for starters. On all my P53s, a hard push down is needed to align the holes to get the pin in, it can be quite a 'push' too! Tapping the pin in should only require light taps. The slide (parts 3,4,7) can be fitted afterwards.

To add to Old Soldiers comments I would advise first using a punch of proper diameter to hold the rear sight blade in place and then tap the pin into place while displacing the punch thus keeping your parts in alignment. YMMV

 

[Old Soldier]

To add to Old Soldiers comments I would advise first using a punch of proper diameter to hold the rear sight blade in place and then tap the pin into place while displacing the punch thus keeping your parts in alignment. YMMV

The real struggle is to get the holes aligned so that punch or pin can be inserted. The leaf tends to 'wander' and the trick is to pin it raise it and mark a reference point on both sides before the spring is installed. The pin and leaf can then be removed to install the sight bed. BTW - the old sights are far harder to align as the spring is pretty strong.