Need help with rear sight

LAST EDITED ON Jun-17-18 AT 07:35PM (MST)[p]I have a traditions pursuit muzzle loader.

I have the Williams WGRS and as low of a front fiber sight as I can find. I have the rear sight maxed out to the highest mark.

I shoot a 250 grain Hornady XTP 45 caliber in a harvester ribbed sabot.

With 120 grains of Goex, I am dead on at 100 and about 3-4 inches low at 125. I have to cover the 10" plate at those distances to get there.

This load works well on the deer I have killed with it, but my shots have been short.

Six o'clock hold puts me way low.

I am trying to find either an extended height slider that I can put my appetite in for the rear sight, or another rear sight that has a higher max adjustment or switching powder.

I can use 150 grains of Pyrodex or Goes and 130 grains of T7. This model was made before Black horn, so I have never tried that.

Will switching to T7 or BH get me the extra velocity, or is my rear sight height more of a limitation?

I would like to extend my range to 150 yards if possible, and try some heavier bullets such as the no excuses for elk. The Great Plains bullets do not load easily in this gun.

Thanks.

I put shims under my rear sight and it worked well for me to fix this exact problem.

Me too. I used a refrigerator magnet cut to fit for a shim and that worked well.

txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)

I confirmed my shots yesterday before deciding what to do.

I am quite low still, and it takes raising the sight past the highest mark to get dead on at 50 yards with 80 grains.

Last night I shimmed the rear sight with a fridge magnet, but I am not comfortable with the thread contact.

Does anyone know what the thread size is for that gun?

I think I might call Traditions. I see lots of screws on Brownells.

XS Sights has 3/8 dovetail front sights as low as .250. They have them from .250-.800 in .050 increments. Not sure how low your current sight is. They also have "test poles" that you put in your dovetail and keep snapping them off until you find the right height. I just did that very thing to one of my muzzys to determine proper front sight height.

My front sight is not a dovetail, it just screws into the barrel. I did have a dovetail base for the front sight in my bucket of parts, but it is higher than my current sight.

I did some research and found the rear scope screw to be 8-40, and I found some scope mount screws that I had in my parts bucket as well.

I also found an old front sight from my Marlin model 60, which is lower than the current front sight.

So....

I replaced the front sight with the Marlin sight.

I used a piece of fridge magnet to creat a shim.

I put the front base screw in the rear hole and used the longer scope mount screws I had in the front hole.

This gave me enough threads to where I am comfortable now and I should have gained an eight of an inch between lowering the front and raising the rear sights.

I am hopeful that this will be enough to get me reasonable.

I have killed two deer with the 250 grain XTP and it works well. That was with 80 or 90 grains of powder if I remember correctly, but they were at close range, and I knew I was having trouble at longer ranges as well.

I see no need to use 100+ grains of powder, even for elk.

Will see how the next range session goes.

I forgot to mention I bought a lower front sight ramp too which really helped lower the front end. The one below from Midway.

Marble's Front Sight Ramp .100" Height .375" Dovetail Slot for .875" Barrel

I might pick up that sight base. That would allow some color up front. The one I just put on is black.

An update to this.

I worked up a load with 90 grains Goex and a Meister 45 LC RNFP. I killed a deer on the 12th. 155 yards and he died quickly, even with a lesson than optimal shot.

I am going to leave my sights where they are and just continue to shoot and continue to learn to adjust for hold over. There was very little with this combination, so I will see what I decide to do regarding heavies.