frazierdave

I took my new 22/45 out for cleaning after shooting. The rear sight somehow has been knocked all the way to the right inside the dovetail. I kind of tapped it back to center, but not exactly precise...
I am not sure what to do...seems to shoot close accurate, but I am not happy...

Advice?

stargeezer

First of all, find out what moved it. Culprits can be another gun, if carried in the same case, or some rigging banging the sight in the hoster if you are action shooting. If some thing moved it once. it;ll do it again.

Once thats fixed use a shooting rest to rest the barrel on and fire three rnds, check the target, if you left of center, tap the sight to the right, if your holes are to the right of center tap sight to the left.

Is that what you're asking about?

DPris

Just keep tapping it to where it needs to be, firing in between taps as Star says. Not a problem if it stays put.
If it wanders again you may want to have a gunsmith stake it, if you're not up to it yourself.
Denis

Bullseye

It happens that these sights come loose from time to time. There is a small straight slotted screw on the top of the sight, right of the elevation adjustment screw, that holds the sight base securely into the dovetail slot. Here's a picture to assist you.



You may need to tighten down that little screw to keep the sight base from moving. If it still moves, you'll need to remove the sight base and degrease both the sight base and the dovetail slot. Once degreased, a little Locktite sealant will prevent the sight from walking again.

I like to make a pencil line on the sight base and top of the receiver to better judge how much I've moved the base when realigning the sight. Once you move the base, it can be hard to tell how much you moved it without some kind of a visual reference mark. The good thing about a pencil mark is it can easily be removed without marring the pistol's finish. You also have a good reference when you make adjustments, shoot the pistol, and need to make some more adjustments.

R,
Bullseye

AWBurress1223

I had the same problem with my 22/45 Lite. I ended up degreasing/de-oiling and using a little loc-tite on the set/hold-down screw and ten re-adjusting sight.

frazierdave

Thanks for the responses, Great Forum! On my way back to the range...

laidlerj

If you borrow a laser boresighter, that will let you get the sight roughly in the right spot before you go to the range. That way, you may only need to use the adjustment screws to get the pistol sighted in.

Another thing that came to my mind is that on the Ruger Mark II and Mark III that I own, the rear sight won't move easily even after I've backed out the hold-down screw. Your sight dovetail may be a bit larger than usual, in which case you may need to make a small dent in the sight base's dovetail to make it stick better. If you have to do that, be gentle - it's much easier to make a bigger mark later than to try and remove one that's so big you can't get the sight base back into place.

Jim