armoredman
Member
Faithful readers of this forum might remember that when I got my CZ 527M 7.62x39mm carbine, it seemed the perfect camp/escapers/backpackers rifle, save for a few minor things.
Light, short, handy, accurate, rugged Mauser design...and a fixed rear sight that locked one into whatever load would work with it. OK, we have been dealing with fixed sights for a few hundred years, but I was more interested in a nice adjustable so my various reloads would work, on the range or in the field...if you can get my fat rear end IN the field! Ok, enough of that...
There are several minor improvements I envisioned for this little rifle, but the adjustable rear sight was the first. No problem...right?
Yeah, right. Not ONE maker lists an adjustable rear sight that will fit the 75 degree 16mm dovetail in the CZ 527M. One maker promised a peep sight, but I never saw it. Dagnabbit. I was stuck....until now.
A member on a very cool Pakstani based gun forum, of all places, is a gunsmith. Not any gunsmith, but an innovator and tinkerer. Top that - he lives a few tens of miles from me. Now THAT'S a long distance roundabout way to meet someone! He decided that he could help. I had the old rear sight that came out when the scope went on...so I sent it to him. A few days later we met at the local range.
I'm the weird one on the left, BTW. We dismounted the scope and tried his creation, a folding adjustable silver soldered to a custom base. It didn't fit right, but now he had the time to take direct measurements. A few days later, a package showed up, with these inside,
The old rear fixed and the new creation. Now, I am not mechanical, i.e., I can change my oil if someone holds a gun to my head. But I figured I could tackle something this small.
Maybe not.
Well, I don't have a choice, get to filing and fitting! After a while, I got this.
Not bad. Centered and looking good, steel inside dimpled, tops of the channel tapped with brass punch, like instructed. OK, will it work?
Lets find out! I took a bunch of my rifles new favorite handload, Berry's 125 grain plated .311 bullet on top of 28 grains of H 4895. Yes, that's a jacketed load for a plated bullet. It likes it. So, with some coarse adjustment at the 25, I moved to the 50, and got my first photogenic group.
OK, that's only 50. 100 yards is the baseline for any rifle, for a very long time, so here we went...and I ran out of targets. Dang. Hope you don't mind the taped/reused/recycled targets.
All groups shot front rested, gusty crosswind.
I can live with that, but 3 is a sight in, not a group. Five rounds is a group. So lets try it.
Fired two 5 round targets, but the second had a vicious flyer, just to let you know, in the spirit of full disclosure. At this time some high speed/low drag types showed up with some hi tech gear. Not fond of being embarrassed by younger types with rifles that cost more than my car, I packed up. I can live with this, even if it is just a bit low. BTW, do you know how small that 2 inch black box is at 100 yards? I could barely see the dadgum thing! I am used to shooting with the scope, so returning to the iron sights of my youth was almost a new thing again.
Finally, stage one complete!
Light, short, handy, accurate, rugged Mauser design...and a fixed rear sight that locked one into whatever load would work with it. OK, we have been dealing with fixed sights for a few hundred years, but I was more interested in a nice adjustable so my various reloads would work, on the range or in the field...if you can get my fat rear end IN the field! Ok, enough of that...
There are several minor improvements I envisioned for this little rifle, but the adjustable rear sight was the first. No problem...right?
Yeah, right. Not ONE maker lists an adjustable rear sight that will fit the 75 degree 16mm dovetail in the CZ 527M. One maker promised a peep sight, but I never saw it. Dagnabbit. I was stuck....until now.
A member on a very cool Pakstani based gun forum, of all places, is a gunsmith. Not any gunsmith, but an innovator and tinkerer. Top that - he lives a few tens of miles from me. Now THAT'S a long distance roundabout way to meet someone! He decided that he could help. I had the old rear sight that came out when the scope went on...so I sent it to him. A few days later we met at the local range.
I'm the weird one on the left, BTW. We dismounted the scope and tried his creation, a folding adjustable silver soldered to a custom base. It didn't fit right, but now he had the time to take direct measurements. A few days later, a package showed up, with these inside,
The old rear fixed and the new creation. Now, I am not mechanical, i.e., I can change my oil if someone holds a gun to my head. But I figured I could tackle something this small.
Maybe not.
Well, I don't have a choice, get to filing and fitting! After a while, I got this.
Not bad. Centered and looking good, steel inside dimpled, tops of the channel tapped with brass punch, like instructed. OK, will it work?
Lets find out! I took a bunch of my rifles new favorite handload, Berry's 125 grain plated .311 bullet on top of 28 grains of H 4895. Yes, that's a jacketed load for a plated bullet. It likes it. So, with some coarse adjustment at the 25, I moved to the 50, and got my first photogenic group.
OK, that's only 50. 100 yards is the baseline for any rifle, for a very long time, so here we went...and I ran out of targets. Dang. Hope you don't mind the taped/reused/recycled targets.
All groups shot front rested, gusty crosswind.
I can live with that, but 3 is a sight in, not a group. Five rounds is a group. So lets try it.
Fired two 5 round targets, but the second had a vicious flyer, just to let you know, in the spirit of full disclosure. At this time some high speed/low drag types showed up with some hi tech gear. Not fond of being embarrassed by younger types with rifles that cost more than my car, I packed up. I can live with this, even if it is just a bit low. BTW, do you know how small that 2 inch black box is at 100 yards? I could barely see the dadgum thing! I am used to shooting with the scope, so returning to the iron sights of my youth was almost a new thing again.
Finally, stage one complete!
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