Lee Enfield No.4 Mk2. rifle front sight windage adjustment?

[Beerhunter]

Thanks Peter. I use a drift on all of my rifles and have done ever since I learned how to do so in the CCF at school.

Until yesterday, I didn't realise quite how naughty I had been but now, in your company, it doesn't seem quite so bad after all.

[Peter Laidler]

Someone asked exactly WHY the |No4 (and No5 and Sterling) foresight tools are useless and it's only fair to tell you. The first thig is that you have to unwind and wind in the screws for every rifle that needs adjustment. And it's usually every one when they've been FTR'd. And secondly, it sits over the foresight protector that is never a good snug fit in the cramp so when you do need to move the blade over to the left by the amount you have calculated after having learned the formula by rote (only to forget it immediately after the exam I hasten to add), you find that the screw touches the edge of the foresight blade and the next half turn or so doesn't move the blade at all................ NO! It just takes up the backlash between the cramp and the protector until it starts to bite. By which time your calculations are half a turn out which is x" at 100 yards which means that the.....so the left side screw must now be released another half turn - or is it tightened up................?

Someone else also suggested that tapping the side of the blade with a small hammer and brass drift might move the foresight block unless it's supported and......... No it won't believe me. The foresight block band is sat astride two full length positioning lugs and it ain't going to move nowhere!

[Bindi2]

Glad the sights on my slingy thingy dont need adjusting. You can borrow it if you like Peter.

[Peter Laidler]

Come on RDSkidmore.......... money where your mouth is time. A reply is called for

[Frederick303]

Capt. Laidler,

Most of us on this site would not challenge your knowledge; your inside view is what makes this board the best one out there (though I also like the Gunboard’s forum for Mosin-Nagants). Now having been in possession of incorrect information in the past, I would ask for clarification, though your explanation of the problem with the sight tool has more or less done that. Perhaps the guilty party thinks that discretion is the better part of valor in this case.

That said, in defense of the “guilty” party, some folks here in the US have a bit of a heavy hand and it can be painful to see the “adjustments” they make to what were formerly perfect arms. We call them “bubba” and perhaps because of our less restrictive laws the honor rendered to surplus arms is not that common in some quarters. Things like urethane finish, drilled action bodies for dubious sights, cut back wood, etc. To have a very nice No 4 MK II that has the drift sight (not the screw type foresight block) dinged up is painful to see for many of us. That may have been where the fellow was coming from.

No actual Enfields were harmed in this posting…….

[Buccaneer]

We call them “bubba”

This guy seems to be OK at golf so how come he is so heavy handed with a hammer and drift???? only joking congrats on the "Masters" win...

If I am reading this correctly the origional post was dated 25/11/2010, RDSkidmores response is dated 05/04/2012, has he managed to reply to a thread that was started 15 months ago???

[Peter Laidler]

I hear what you're saying Fred, it's just that I don't accept some complete unknown saying that my initial comments, nor those of TBox were drivel. It's OK if they were indeed drivel, but they weren't. They were based on (and I hope I speak for TBox here......) TBoxes many, many years in the commercial No4/Enfield world and mine in the military world and the Engineering Officer at the Small Arms School no less....... The cheek of it!

[jmoore]

If I am reading this correctly the origional post was dated 25/11/2010, RDSkidmores response is dated 05/04/2012, has he managed to reply to a thread that was started 15 months ago???

I don't mind that he resurrected an old thread (sometimes it's an excellent idea), but he hasn't been back since to this site after his post! So no point in getting worked up over it.

[Beerhunter]

To have a very nice No 4 MK II that has the drift sight (not the screw type foresight block) dinged up is painful to see for many of us. .

They are both supposed to be adjusted with the "proper" tool. Its just that one of them has to be "unlocked" first.

[Terrylee]

Perhaps I'm missing something. I realise that persons vastly more experienced than I regard the No.4 sight adjusting tool as being a waste of time. However, as mentioned previously in No.7 I made one, and with my limited ability to provide an expertly graded "tap" in the necessary direction, have found it most useful.

I'm the first person to admit that there is some slack to take up when tightening up either of the screws. What is more, this varies from rifle to rifle. Nevertheless, I've found that when turning the appropriate screw, the point where the slack has been fully taken up is easily felt. Thereafter, a 90 degree turn (with the thread that I used) equals almost exactly one MOA.

The reason I made the device in the first place was on account of the somewhat patchy success I have found using the other method. Surely, there is place for such gadgets if one does not have the necessary experience to develop the knack of an appropriate degree of force ? Whereas the professional may make such adjustments virtually on a daily basis, someone like myself might do it once in six months or less. I'm sure that there are many in a similar position.