Fabricating iron sights for pellet rifle

[milemaker13]

My Benjamin Titan has no iron sights. Its a break barrel .22 cal GP gun. The scope mounts on a 3/8 Dove tail. Been looking at cheap red dots but thought maybe I could Fab some irons instead (close range Chipmunks).
While working on this in my head, I'm wondering if it better to mount the rear sight on the receiver or the barrel.
Being a break barrel pellet gun, I'm not sure the lockup is 100% repeatable, and the scope does seem to drift (maybe).
I'm thinking if both front and rear sight were mounted to the barrel that would eliminate this concern...

 

[FastCut]

MM13, I would mount to barrel for accuracy and consistency. You give up sight radius but repeatability is excellent. I have two airguns that use this set up and have no issues out to 25-30 yards hitting squirrels (chest shots). I would review some of your options prior to trying to fabricate a set of sights as several airgun suppliers already make open sights that likely could be adapted to your gun.

 

[milemaker13]

I have been, and will continue to look.
The Fab angle came to me this morning. I have a couple old gun Smith books circa 1930s and 40s that discuss sporterizing the old milsurp rifles. I remember one chapter about creating sights after lopping off the barrel. I'll need to pull it out and reread.
The older book also suggests mugging your dentist and stealing his dental drill motor (as well as his pocket change)... Luckily, I can just borrow the wife's Dremel. Lol.

 

[FastCut]

http://www.archerairguns.com/Rear-Field-Sight-p/aarfsight.htm and http://www.archerairguns.com/AR2078-Front-Sight-Kit-p/arfsk.htm would likely be an easy way to go. drill and tap top of your barrel for rear and if nessasary turn down front of barrel and cold blue. Prices are reasonable as well.

 

[milemaker13]

The rear sight is pretty straight forward. And obviously much better than I could produce and very reasonably priced.
I'm not sure I fully understand the front sight yet... Which part hugs the barrel? Which part accepts the aperture inserts?
I think I might rather create my own front blade while using their rear sight.

 

[chicharrones]

My Benjamin Titan has no iron sights. Its a break barrel .22 cal GP gun. The scope mounts on a 3/8 Dove tail. Been looking at cheap red dots but thought maybe I could Fab some irons instead (close range Chipmunks).
While working on this in my head, I'm wondering if it better to mount the rear sight on the receiver or the barrel.
Being a break barrel pellet gun, I'm not sure the lockup is 100% repeatable, and the scope does seem to drift (maybe).
I'm thinking if both front and rear sight were mounted to the barrel that would eliminate this concern...

Been there done that, as they say.

Front sight blade Marble's 603422 (photo is wrong for the 3/32" ivory bead version) https://www.midwayusa.com/product/494429/marbles-front-sight-343-height-340-width-steel-blue-bead

Front sight ramp Marble's 72312 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/7...t-375-dovetail-slot-for-875-barrel-steel-blue

Williams rear sight (high) 70809 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1...ire-dovetail-grooved-receivers-aluminum-black


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[chicharrones]

That Benjamin Titan GP nitro piston in .22 was gifted to me for Christmas 2011. Now for the long term usage report.

It came with the Crosman CenterPoint scope which is yellow cloudy at best. Of course, it had no sights as these airguns are a "sightless" beast. One of the first things I did after trying it out was that I installed a Charlie Da Tuna trigger that I had from another air gun. I used the scope through the early months of 2012. By spring of that same year I mounted up the sighting system you see in the photos in the prior post.

That fat 3/32" white bead works pretty dang well in the wooded areas I was shooting it in. Someone with better eyes would probably prefer the 1/16" bead. Anyway, when the woods had little light I couldn't make out the front bead or target through that rear aperture. So, I'd unscrew the aperture and use the rear sight as a ghost ring which is pretty good in low light.

I hardly ever shot past 25 yards and my targets were always squirrel sized or smaller. As long as I could hold steady, that gun is good for hitting something around 1" to 2" in diameter with those sights.

Over the years, I've had to continually raise the rear sight to accommodate the barrel droop from the barrel latch mechanism getting worn. Probably something like 1/32" maybe every 8 months. I still have at least 1/4" of elevation left to go, so the sight is still usable.

I used to shoot that gun at least once a week in the local woods until a developer bought up the land and put houses on it 1.5 years ago. I still shoot the gun, but it never sees wood duty anymore.

 

[milemaker13]

Chic- very interesting, thank you. I got this gun to replace the older .20 cal Benjamin pump ( I can't think of the model off hand, but you know the one...). That gun has the Williams peep sight like the one in your link.
That was actually a better gun for my purposes, except lower power and all the pumping made for slower follow up shots... Not that I can get a second shot in any way.

Interesting story too... I had at times felt the same about the aperture being too small. I'm going to pull the old gun out and see if I can borrow the sight...