[GuyMontag]

Picked up this flintlock earlier in the summer and it currently shoots ~5.5 inches low at 50 yards (touching holes, just low). I see no way to change the sight elevation except file down the front blade, but unless that’s the expected method I would prefer not to mess with such a beautiful rifle.

Anyone have any suggestions or resources to direct me to?

I tried to include clear pictures of both sights, but can add more if helpful.

Made by Wayne Crouse (deceased) I’m told, who I can’t find anything about regarding his builds, but that’s a question for another time.

 

[Critter]

That's the way that they sighted them in back in the day. They would pick a distance that it was going to be sighted in at and then file the front sight down if needed or take it to a gunsmith to add a higher sight if needed.

 

[rtockstein]

Wow that is a fantastic rifle. I love the nose cap shape. What caliber is it?

It looks like the rear sight use to have an additional leaf in it that would flip up or down depending on distance you're shooting. The way the sight is situated I think the leaf that is missing would have been taller when flipped up, which would give you a higher POI. If you don't want to file down the front, you could look into finding a leaf that may fit, or just making yourself one from some hardware store mild steel and some music wire for the pin. It shouldn't be too hard to make one. You could also just get a replacement rear sight if it's not set in with a raised dovetail. If it is a standard dovetail like the front sight is, you should be able to drift the rear out with a punch (brass punch preferable) and then install another the same way. The gun works muzzleloading emporium has a selection of various rear leaf sights and maybe just the leafs too. You can also find sights/parts on muzzleloaderbuildersupply.com and trackofthewolf.com.

If you go over to the American Longrifles forum and post there, they could probably provide some suggestions on where you might find a leaf, instruction on how to make one, and some additional info on Wayne Crouse.

Alternatively, just do as Critter says and slowly file down the top of the front sight until you get it zeroed at some range. Usually people do 75 or 100. You likely want to find to find what load is most accurate prior to filing a lot though.

 

[DallanC]

Do NOT start filing that front down yet.

I'd take some stiffer construction paper or something and start taping that to the back of your rear sight, cutting a notch and shoot it until you get a sense of how high the rear needs to come up to get it hitting. Keep cutting taller and taller paper 1/8" at a time until you are happy with how it shoots.

Then you can decide just how you want to deal with it.

You can either file down the front as much as the rear had to raise (I wouldn't)... or I personally would build a flip up sight like rtockstein said it most likely had, the pivot holes are already there. The notched paper, at least lets you know dimentionally what you need to do to correct the low shooting.

-DallanC

 

[rtockstein]

Dallan's paper/card suggestion for figuring out the rear sight is a great one and that brings to mind another possible fix for your rear sight that may be the easiest other than getting a replacement. After you have a card cut out that is the proper height for the rear that you want, you can trace that onto a piece of mild steel sheet, 16 gauge to 22 gauge should work just fine, cut it out and file it to match the shape of your card and then you can either super glue it or epoxy it to the back of the current rear sight. If you want to make it match and be mostly unnoticeable, you can get some Birchwood Casey blueing solution or plum Brown solution, whatever would match the current site and blue/brown it. Epoxy would hold a lot better and would still be removable if needed by heating up the site gently with a torch until your steel sheet sight can be popped loose, then you can scrape off any epoxy left there. I've seen some guys do this to their rear sight when they wanted to have a peep sight that was not so noticeable. They made a little sight to epoxy on to the current site and drilled a hole in the sheet for a peep instead of cutting a notch.

 

[Critter]

I'd be more interested in the age and history of that flintlock. While it would be fun to shoot it I think that I would find a more modern flintlock to shoot and or hunt with.

 

[taxidermist]

I'd just hold the impact of the ball a touch higher on the target. Simple EZ fix. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".