Remington Pattern 14 canted front sight

[chexquest87]

Hello everyone, I just purchased a numbers matching Remington P14 rifle. It has its original stock with front and rear volley sights and a 1916 dated matching barrel. Everything on the rifle is fine except the front sight (whole front sight assembly) is noticeably canted to the right- I know it’s not the barrel as I checked the witness marks on the bottom of the barrel and receiver and they are lined up. The front sight is drifted pretty far to the left to compensate and has been staked in place, which leads me to believe this is how the rifle case from Remington. My question is was this common? Was the quality control fairly bad- since these were being manufactured for the British? If it shoots ok it won’t matter, but I would like to know. Thanks for any help!

Information

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[Promo]

Remove the rear handguard and check the position of the serial number there, whether it is also out of line.

[fjruple]

I doubt that the rifle left the factory in such condition. First check to see if the British acceptance marks on the rifle. Rifle do fail the acceptance inspection and in some cases are sold as seconds to other customers who are not too particular on the way the front sight base is put on. Also bear in mind that these rifles are over 100 years old and the proper way to clean is with a pull through piece of rope. If the rope is pull through with the rope resting on the crown of the barrel uneven wear take place. The proper way to fix the wear is re-crown or counterbore the barrel. Probably in your case, the armorer moved the front sight base. It possible the work was accomplished after the rifle left British service by "Bubba" the gunsmith, nuclear scientist and brewmeister.

[browningautorifle]

The sight can't be canted without the barrel being out of whack, the inset key is in a recess and pinned.

[rcathey]

The sight can't be canted without the barrel being out of whack, the inset key is in a recess and pinned.

This was my thought. Although, if it was missing the key....

[chexquest87]

Thanks for the replys- do the witness marks on the bottom of the barrel and received matching up not mean anything? I removed the handguard- if you mean the serial number is in line with the serial number on the receiver ring then yes they are in line. Upon looking at the other markings, there are lots of various British markings and the buttstock has Roman numerals thickly painted on- I assume this is a rack number? As for the front sight, the key is in place and the pin is easy to remove but I cannot get the front sight to budge even after soaking it in wd40. I can post some pictures later if that would help. Is there a way to fix this this sight being canted problem? Or should I leave it alone? The fact that it is staked in place seems to indicate it wasn’t a bubba job?

[gj.atkins]

Hi,

I think rather than trust a dodgy front sight, I would scope it up with either the Win A5 or the British 'periscope job', assuming you can source one. To keep it historically correct, if not anything you fancy.

[chexquest87]

Rather than scope it, I would rather fix the front sight. I would assume a gunsmith could do it. I think I will see how it shoots before I do anything. It seems to be a proper British rifle, as it has sold out of service marks and what not. The response about the armourer canting the sight on purpose seems to make sense, seeing how the barrel and receiver’s witness marks line up.

[Doco overboard]

I could see the milling for the FS key being slightly off to the witness marks, or even the front sight having took a hit somewhere along the way resulting in a twist. The extractor slot should be pretty generous to get a click or two on either side of the witness marks before the extractor hits it anyway. Index marks are nice but it doesn't always mean they're right.

[browningautorifle]

Index marks are nice but it doesn't always mean they're right.

I agree...I'd try to bring it TDC and see. You can always increase the extractor recess. Pics would be nice to see numbers, index lines...front sight... Something's out of whack.