Spencer Rifle Sight Install

[Tanglewood]

Hello, I've been asked by a friend to repair the butchered up sight mortises on a Spencer rifle that he bought, then install an original sight and spring that he was able to find. I've never worked on a Spencer sight before, or any other quite like it with the overarching spring. Is there any trick to installing the sight and spring, or is it pretty straightforward?
Many thanks.

 

[OldSarge79]

I hired a gunsmith to put a rear sight on my Spencer about 40 years ago and he did a great job. In hindsight, I wish I had watched him do it. I've always wondered how one would go about that.....

 

[Conquerordie]

The rear sight will slide into a dovetail cut in the barrel. So take the original rear sight if possible, and fit it to the dovetail. Might have to file the sight base or the dovetail in the barrel. If it's loose, sometimes peening the bottom of the base of the sight to flare it out works to make it tighten up. My guess is the rear sight spring is inserted under the ladder first, then it is held in place by friction as you slide the base into the dovetail. Haven't done it myself, but that's how it appears to go.

 

[Tanglewood]

Thanks for the replies. I have the rifle now, and you can see what my task is from the photo. So from looking at it closely and looking at lots of Spencer photos online, I think that while the rear sight is mortised, the spring is not, rather it held downward by its own tension between the sight ladder and the barrel, and "stopped" by the ends of the flat areas. That would let it move slightly when the ladder is flipped. I couldn't understand how both ends of the spring could be mortised in place and still allow it to flex. Is this correct?
Many thanks.

 

[OldSarge79]

I couldn't understand how both ends of the spring could be mortised in place and still allow it to flex. Is this correct?

Yes, it arches up a bit but the tension keeps it in place.

 

[Tanglewood]

Thanks, Old Sarge.

 

[Jeff in Ohio]

How's your project progressing?

 

[Tanglewood]

Jeff, the sight project is finished. Not perfect, but my eyes and hands don't work as finely as they did years ago, I now swap three different magifications of glasses just to do something like this, lol.
Attached are a few photos of the process. First, studied and planned until I understood exactly what I intended to do (again, thanks to Old Sarge and Conquerordie).
I filed the flat areas for the spring. decided to leave a few previous barrel dings rather than chase after perfection. Then I welded in the damaged mortise and filed a new mortise. Coloring back to match well enough was the most difficult and time consuming task. Anyway. my friend's Spencer now has a working sight. I used to quietly do a lot of work for several collectors, almost exclusively on Confederate guns and swords.
It's just too difficult and time consuming anymore, although I still have projects of my own to complete.

 

[Tanglewood]

Had trouble getting photos to load, just get a message that just says "Oops, we ran into some problems." Not much to go on there. I reduced the size, tried one at a time, nothing works so far. I'll try later..

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[Tanglewood]

The photos were too large, I suppose. I kept reducing their size until it worked.

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