Winchester 1894 Front Sight

[Tanqueray]

Howdy all.

Finally got out to shoot the 1894 25-35 I recently bought. Trying to get it on the paper proved trying, it seems that someone in the past has filed too much of the front sight away. I had to remove the rear sight elevator and sit the front post right in the bottom of the “v”, and even then it was about 8” high at 50 yards.
Looking at trajectories, it must be sighted in for about 250-300 yards, perhaps the previous owner was into silhouette shooting.

What I need to know is what size dovetail this rifle will have, and where I can get an original or original style front sight. It’s 1909 manufacture, and is an octagonal barreled rifle if that helps.

Thanks in advance.

[GunnyMack]

Dovetails ' should' be 3/8". (That's measured at the widest point)
If you have any JB Weld, mix up a bit and build up the front sight. Shape it when dry and then file it to POA/POI with elevator in middle of rear. Then you can track down a front sight of similar height and adjust with elevator.

[Malamute]

If you want to zero it like was done from the factory back in the day, once a new front sight is in place or built up, dont just "use the elevator to adjust it" to zero. They were set up to be zeroed for certain ranges for each step. The lowest was 50 yards, the next step 100 yards, and so on. This has been lost over time and most just think to use the elevator to zero for whatever range with no thought to the steps having any range meaning.

If you get an exact amount its off at 100 yards on the 2nd step, you can get the correct height front sight for this to work. Probably most dont care about it, but it seems like a neat feature to me, I shoot in open country a lot, and it seems a shame such a feature is disregarded now.

If you want to see what sights were original at the time the gun was made, and what may be correct style and possibly height, theres a good study with pictures here:

https://winchestercollector.org/forum/w ... s+Project/

Theres also a reference to the use of the sight elevator for use at different ranges from an old Winchester advertisement.

[Pete44ru]

it was about 8” high at 50 yards.

Measure the height of your front sight blade from the top to the bottom of it's 3/8" male dovetail.

There are multiple brand (Lyman, Marble's, Williams, etc) front sight blades with various "beads" (Ivory, Gold, fiber-optic, etc) and a wide range of heights.

The front sights are also available with a "medium" base width for ramped front sights & "wide base" for barrel-mounted front sights.

IME, You will need to obtain a new front sight blade ( $15, +/-) that's about .10" taller than your existing front sight blade height.

Zero @ 100yds, with the step elevator on the 2nd step from the bottom, or about halfway between all the way down & all the way up - which should give you enough elevation for further adjuctmant, if desired.

.

[earlmck]

Heck with messing with the front sight -- get yourself a tang sight (like the previous owner probably used!) and you'll never look back. I've started using the Marble's tangs where you get the sight base and can then add the riser of your choice. If you get the regular Marble's all-in-one sight they seem to use the short riser and it is non-replaceable. My levers seem just about right with the regular riser and I have a mid-range on hand for when I want to plunk out to 500 yards.

But there are more expensive tangs with more adjustment out there and most of the fellers that shoot a variety of distance in the lever silhouette game use those.

[Tanqueray]

Thanks for the replies. That JB Weld idea sounds like a thrifty fix, I’ll try that first I think, although would think it would chip off easily?

I like the idea of the different notches on the elevator equating to predetermined distances too.

I did have a Lyman tang sight installed on my first 94, however I found it hard to use under the dark forest canopy. I’d install one as a back up to a rear sight, but not as the exclusive rear sight. On my first excursion with it it managed to wriggle itself loose and get lost forever. That rifle was a post 64 model, with a big loop lever and crossbolt safety. Winchester did themselves a real disservice when they made that rifle, it was horrid.

[Pisgah]

If I may, I will chip in and say that the JB Weld thing is not intended as a permanent fix. It is a way to conveniently determine what height the sight needs to be, and then serve as a temporary expedient that allows range shooting, load development, etc., while you're searching for the correct replacement.

And-- it works! I've used it with several rifles, and it's saved me a good deal of frustration and expense. I have used both guessing and the sight-height formula in the past, only to find -- dang! This one's still too low -- order another -- dang! Still too low -- etc. etc. The JBW trick is a valid shortcut to success.