Monday, January 19, 2009

A Sight Aperture for a Beeman (Williams) Sport Aperture Sight

I made the mistake of getting a copy of the Brownells catalog recently... So as I was reading through it the other night I noticed that they sold apertures for the Williams range of sights. I have a Beeman Sport Aperture sight on my trusty FWB 124 that has a somewhat dinky aperture with much too large of a hole (.093"). The Beeman sight is made by Williams. I wish I had the "deluxe" version with adjusting knobs, but that's a subject for another day. Anyway, I noticed that the thread size was 7/32"-40 for the thread on the aperture disc. So I quickly looked to see how much a die in that size would cost...$74.95!!! I wasn't about to engage in single point threading a tap to make a die, or threading the aperture disc so the project lost its luster. (My but I'm wordy today) I did find a source for a cheaper die, by the way.

Today I had a few moments to spare so I decided to sort through all of my taps and dies, taking any of the non standard sizes and sorting them in a new drawer unit. Imagine my happiness when I discovered that at some time I had acquired a 7/32"-40 die! Thus am I able to bring you the project below:

The Beeman Sport Aperture Sight (non-deluxe version).

That's a big aperture in that there disc.

The threads looked awfully short, I wonder if the previous owner had knocked a few off at some point?

Turning down the shank on some 3/4" steel.

Drilling #21 (.159")

Drilling #55 (.052") I might make one with an even smaller aperture but figured that this would be a good place to start.

Yawn, yet another picture of me using a die.

I did a straight knurl.

Chamfering the edges.

And cut off from the stock.

Boring out the front.

Just a bit too shiny? I then put it back in the lathe and used a steel brush against that face while it revolved.

I used some Oxpho blue on it. It looks shinier than it is because of the flash.

Much better. I really need to clean that grime off the rifle.
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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 20, 2009 at 2:19 PM

    How did you run the thread full depth on the sight?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nick CarterJanuary 20, 2009 at 2:24 PM

    With some (but not all, unfortunately) you run the threads using the die starting with the side often market "start this side" or somesuch. This has a chamfer that allows you to get started on the work. If you flip the die over then you can often thread right up to a shoulder more or less. But a lot depends on the die. As long as the piece youre threading the piece into also has a chamfer then you can hopefully thread them together solidly. Clear as mud?

    You can also make a thin thread relief groove on the part if you're a perfectionist. but it's hard on super tiny threads like these.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ChrisJanuary 21, 2009 at 7:02 PM

    .05 is a great size aperture to use. I have the same size on my 2240 "match" rifle and it works really well for me. Peep sights are very effective if the right size aperture is used.

    Nice job as always Nick!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousFebruary 27, 2009 at 2:30 PM

    can you make any more of those? i have a mossberge 46m with no aperture. other than that it is pristine. marc

    ReplyDelete
  5. Felice LuftscheinFebruary 27, 2009 at 3:04 PM

    Just order one from Brownells, they have a wide range that should fit.

    ReplyDelete
  6. derrick38April 19, 2009 at 8:26 PM

    There's a seller on Ebay specializing in apertures. His store name is aptly "Apertures-N-More". Most go for $11. Can't-beat-that.

    Derrick

    ReplyDelete