Williams sells replacement apertures, and they arent particularly expensive. They are something I would have to order to try out tho.
To remedy that situation I decided to see if i could tap a regular style aperture to take a set screw with a hole thru it.
Turns out its easier than one would expect. The hole thru the threaded size of the aperture is about right to run a 8-32 bottoming tap into. While it is a little large for the size threads, it is enough to hold a set screw in position properly, and securely.
To make the insert you only need a 8-32 set screw, power drill of some sort, and a bit the size of hole youd like to try. Since this was mostly experimental i used what i had on hand, and the smallest would be .062, the next size up ive got is .078.
Drilling a straight hole in a short set screw is actually pretty easy. I used a cheap hand drill on low speed and while it may not be perfect, its so close i cant tell.
Ive also used this method to make vent liners for a mossberg 500 muzzle loader barrel, I had to drill out the vent hole on.
Total cost of this modification is the cost of the bottoming tap (if you dont already own one, which i did), and the set screw. Your stock Aperture is undamaged if done correctly and functions fine without the inserts.
While im not sure if this is really more cost effective than just ordering a new aperture from Williams, it IS nice if you want to play with a bunch of sizes.
To remedy that situation I decided to see if i could tap a regular style aperture to take a set screw with a hole thru it.
Turns out its easier than one would expect. The hole thru the threaded size of the aperture is about right to run a 8-32 bottoming tap into. While it is a little large for the size threads, it is enough to hold a set screw in position properly, and securely.
To make the insert you only need a 8-32 set screw, power drill of some sort, and a bit the size of hole youd like to try. Since this was mostly experimental i used what i had on hand, and the smallest would be .062, the next size up ive got is .078.
Drilling a straight hole in a short set screw is actually pretty easy. I used a cheap hand drill on low speed and while it may not be perfect, its so close i cant tell.
Ive also used this method to make vent liners for a mossberg 500 muzzle loader barrel, I had to drill out the vent hole on.
Total cost of this modification is the cost of the bottoming tap (if you dont already own one, which i did), and the set screw. Your stock Aperture is undamaged if done correctly and functions fine without the inserts.
While im not sure if this is really more cost effective than just ordering a new aperture from Williams, it IS nice if you want to play with a bunch of sizes.