Impasse?
OK, some interesting, possibly frustrating, things have come to light.
The VZ-24 I have (one of the 'Romanian' Nazi contact rifles) does not have a rear sight ladder that removes like the one in the video posted above. The leaf spring under the ladder does not extend far enough forward to be pressed down upon in the manner shown (i.e., from just forward of the ladder trunions).
So I'm presently trying to figure out how to depress the leaf spring (from UNDER the ladder sight) enough to take the pressure off the ladder trunions and remove the ladder.
What's happening is that the leaf spring doesn't seem to have enough space underneath to be depressed. I've tried a couple of different ways to push down on it and it doesn't seem to move at all (certainly not enough to take any pressure off the trunions it would seem). I have, however, managed to dicker-up the wood a bit in the process. :banghead:
So I guess my question is whether there is something about the construction of the sight that is preventing the leaf spring from being depressed any more than it does when the ladder is fully extended. I also cannot figure out how the ladder is being held in place minus the pin, and how removing the pressure from the leaf spring would allow it to be removed anyway. How is it being held in place without the pin? What am I missing? Do I just need a better way to press down on the leaf spring? (I've got a pretty strong grip and it doesn't seem to matter)
I now have the mount and would love to figure out how to put it all together. On a related note I can't tell from the mount how it's supposed to be secured to the rifle aside from the pin that replaces the original (but that can be left to another post).
Thanks to all that have helped so far, I'm hoping someone that has done this with a VZ-24 can decipher my problem and lend some insight.