Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Modifying a Mojo rear aperature sight

Inspired by Pawpaw's excellent essays on "practical" rifles and lacking any motivation to do anything resembling strenuous exercise, I decided to improve the rear peep sight on my "Mouser".

Mojo website. Actual peep on right side of photo.
One issue I have with this rear sight is that the side-walls are about 0.060" thick.  It is easy to look over the rear sight and simply focus on the front, Lyman globe sight.  This is not a problem if you are shooting at bad-breath distances but it becomes a problem if you are trying to hit at ranges beyond 10 yards.

News flash, gentle readers:  I am not perfect.  Sometimes I get excited.  Luck counts but only fools count on luck.

Inspired by Pawpaw's essay on sights I decided to thicken the walls around that rear peep sight.  Since this gun is already seriously Billy-bobbed I had no qualms about using what was most expedient.

From lower left corner, clockwise:  Loctite 431348 Epoxy Putty, 30-30 loaded with a wide meplate cast bullet to be used as a shaping tool, Frost Reservist folding knife for cutting.  Mixed epoxy putty.  Work surface was a paper plate covered with a gallon size Ziplock baggie.
If possible, mix way more putty than you need.  Mixing a large amount dilutes any biasing in the ratios of the two components.  If it is not possible to mix large amounts...then wait until you can.

The exterior of the sight was cleaned with solvent and coffee filters.  Coffee filters are now my go-to for cleaning paper with exceptional wet strength.

Putty was mixed up, placed between two Ziplock freezer bags, rolled into a sheet and then cut to size with the knife.

Patch draped over exterior if sight and slicked out to insure wet-out.  Side of patch closest to shooter's eye was shaped with 30-30 shaping tool to ensure it was "hooded" and was armored against the sun biasing the sight picture.

A piece of paper had a small window cut in it.  The paper was draped over the modified sight and spray painted with flat, black enamel. There is a bit of thin paint near the bottom of the putty-patch.  I am contemplating using some of Belladonna's fingernail polish to touch up those places.  I may choose red...I think this gun would look snappy with racing stripes.



Flat black items are difficult for auto-focus to handle.  I apologize for the lack of photo quality.  Modified peep on right, Lyman globe sight on left.

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