Central peep sight

[Calfed]

I just glommed this sight on fleabay and am looking for any information that I can find about it



It was described as follows..

A set of original Australian Central sights for fitment as rear sight to fullbore rifle
3 clicks to the minute in vertical and horizontal plane, no backlash
Very good condition, little use. Has large threaded hole to accept fitment of Centra or Gehmann irises

I'm not sure which Enfield this was made for, No4 or No1

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[RJW NZ]

You're in luck, this top arm fits both depending on the mounting plate. The mounting plates come made for no1mk3, no4mk1 and also there's a universal plate that fits both.

Go to enfield resource.com for photos and stuff about sights.

Central sights are good ones, yours has been devalued slightly because of the eyepiece modification, however there are adaptors that allow the original and parker hale eyepieces to fit, and Centrals are one of the longest production run time aperture sight made and they're a very good piece of equipment. The plates come for sale on ebay regularly.

[tbonesmith]

It's also got the large thread for gehmann rear aperture fancy dealy: Geh-1.5Mag/Diop-5 Filter Iris - New South Wales Rifle Association
Other cheaper iris's will fit too, thankfully.


... Derr, just read all of first post...

[Surpmil]

Best target sights made. Eventually that fact will penetrate the public mind outside Australia and the fullbore fraternity.

In the meantime, get 'em for 1/3 the price of a Twin Zero.

[Peter Laidler]

Interested in your comment that they were the best target sight made Surp. Can you elaborate. Better than the PH and AGP twin zeroes? Surely they'd have to go some to beat those.

[Surpmil]

Peter, while I've owned and used a few of both, I'm mostly relying on the comments of some very experienced full bore shooters now well past retirement age who used all the main types heavily for some decades.

One gent in particular who is a most expert machinist and gunsmith and who repairs a lot of sights is quite emphatic about the mechanical advantages of the Centrals, principally their anti-backlash design, which he feels eliminates almost all slop.

His take on this, as best I can describe it, is that the two main tensioning springs in the Central keep the windage arm absolutely tight against the elevation "post", while the spring holding the aperture block on the windage arm keeps that also under constant tension. The same springs also keep the respective adjustment screw "nuts" constantly tensioned on the screws. The only planes slop can occur in are the rectangular openings which the windage arm and the aperture block move in. These can be easily tweaked in a press if any slop develops from metal to metal wear.

I'm holding a very well used Central now and a Parker Hale 5A made pre-war and I can wiggle and wrestle with the Central all I want and cannot feel the slightest slop. The same is not true for the 5A, althougth this is one of the really nicely made older examples.

The 5A has the advantage of a dovetail configuration on the elevation post, so that is or should be somewhat self aligning, but unfortunately the tensioning spring only pulls against the elevation screw in the direction of the muzzle, not against the post at all and not in the direction that would force the two "Vees" of the post and its slot together so as to self-align them. Someone has actually silver plated the male dovetail in days of yore to try and tighten it up.

The AJP TZ apparently tried to get around the PH patents by having that odd rectangular section elevation post that resembles a plinth in cross section, and the spring at least pushes against the elevation screw at right angles to the side wall of the rifle body, rather than toward the muzzle, but of course the funny rectangular section is not self aligning like a dovetail would be, and like the PH, there is no means of eliminating slop, as the bearing surfaces cannot be "tweaked" or squeezed in slightly as they can on the Central.

As for the aperture block on the windage arm of the PH 5A, it is quite tight now, but the discreet hammer marks on the underside of the block show how it was made so! There is no spring tension on the block or the windage screw at all.

The same is true for the AJP TZ if I remember correctly.

The Central could be made better by using a dovetail configuration to aid in self-alignment, but perhaps the PH patents restricted them too.

Could be just different technology and techniques too I suppose, as the Centrals look like they were hollowed out with a planer rather than a mill, which may not have been available originally.

The repeatable dismountability of the Central is another great advantage of course.

There, that's quite a mess of words that a few pictures would have replaced I suppose!

[tbonesmith]

I've used a number of centrals and T-macs on fullbore and service rifles and love them, and have always found them absolutely adequate. One big benefit for me is their interchangability on the bases. ie you put a(very cheap)central sight base on any rifle you feel like ever using a central on and when you want to use one you just screw on the sight. Want to shoot standard rifle, leave it off. Most of the bases fit without modification of the rifle and without necessitating removal of the original sight. One notable exception being the SMLE which often requires removal of some timber to fit the sight base(but not always).
Mind you, I'd like a very good 5C or a TZ as well, if anyone wants to do some swapping or trading...

[Calfed]

Thanks guys. Still cruising for a mounting plate. While doing so, I ran across another sight which looks a lot like the Central..an A E Clarke sight?

Are these worthwhile?

[tbonesmith]

I can help you out with a mounting plate. Pm me your details and ill. Sendd one tomorrow.

[Calfed]

Just returned from a short vacation and the Central and the A.E. Clarke sight both arrived in my absence.

Here is the Central;




Here is the Clarke:




Amazingly similar. The Clarke came with a mounting plate. Anyone recognize what this plate would fit?