Palma Gun Conversion for Rem VSS?

[Grump]

My son's interested in Palma and F-Class with his new Remington 700 Varmint Special or whatever--that came with no sights. It's a medium-bull barrel by my estimation, but I don't know the muzzle OD at the moment. Close to .75 though.

Since he's already spent about 5 bills for his scope, I'd like to locate an iron sight setup for him that would be close to $100.00.

Before I get sidetracked with Google and e-Bay and the gun auction sites, anyone know of any clamp-on front sight setups or bases that can be combined with a rear sight that would clamp to a Picatinny rail...and maybe be better than those AR15 rear sights? 1/2 MOA elevation is a must, 1/4 would be better.

I already have a Redfield Olympic front sight that we would use if we can locate an appropriate base for the muzzle. Heck, I'd even sacrifice one of the dovetail blocks from my Anschutz for the project. Getting his own front sight unit would still be best.

I'm also trying to avoid the temptation to start hacking metal to make a Picatinny base for the Olympic rear sight to screw onto...

[Howard Roark]

Just so happens I'm turning a heavy barrel Win M70 into a Palma gun now. I just finished turning down a CM 30" Douglas 1-12 for it. I'll thread and chamber it and parkerize it this weekend.

The Rem you have should have a muzzle dia of about .922 Look at Brownells Lipski/South Shore barrel bands and sight bases. #527-000-002AA. They have several sizes so one should fit. It might not be a perfect fit because the muzzle is tapered but will work. Get the lowest sight base, .175 you will need the elevation for the 8,9 and 1000 yard lines. Your Redfield sight will fit these bases.

You do not need to hack any metal for the Olympic rear sight to work. Those sights mount on the side with a screw using a Redfield style base. I'm sure this rifle isn't drilled and tapped for a rear sight mount. Look Go to Champions choice and find the Mo's one piece scope mounts. They have a built in 20deg taper for the scope and have a built in Redfield mount on the rear.

There are several rear sights made to fit Weaver rails REG, PNW are a couple but the cheapest is over $300.

I hope this helps.

[Sunray]

Going cheap for the iron sights isn't a good idea for Palma. 800 yards is a hellaciously long way, never mind 1,000. It'll just frustrate him. Palma rifles are usually 12-14 pound, heavy barreled, iron sighted(only), target rifles using 7.62NATO 155 grain match bullets only.
F class is any rifle, any sight(high magnification scopes usually), weighing up to 22 pounds using any ammo.
There's F Class/Target rifle too. .223 or .308, off a bipod, with a rifle weighing no more than 18.15 pounds. Still 600 to 1,000 yard shooting. That's where I'd encourage him to go and forget the Palma for now. His rifle won't be competitive in Palma matches anyway.

[Grump]

Thanks for the pointers and insights.

The glass is already on a 20-minute angled base that's working just fine. I was hoping to take advantage of its Picatinny rail to mount a rear sight, as the old screw-the-Redfield-into-the-block-on-the-receiver thing for my Anschutz drives me nuts.

He held under a minute of angle shooting off the bipod with a rear bag last Saturday, using the scope, at a full 600 yards AND at some unknown-distance IPSC silhouettes. Elevation on all shots was within a quarter-minute, too.

Ammo is Lapua 155s and they are going fast enough out of his 26-inch barrel to stay above transonic all the way down to 800 ft elevation if it's above 60 F.

He wants to shoot either F-Class or Palma at his next match, whichever comes first if we get the irons set up. He's just itching to stretch beyond 6.

He even read the wind to nail a 2-liter soda jug at 600 with his first shot. I think the wind is the only thing that will frustrate him, like it does all of us.