Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Lyman Tang Sight Info

Howdy folks. I recently was lucky enough to add an 1899 with a Lyman 29 1/2 Windage tang sight to my safe. Does anyone have any info on this system (graduation increments, etc). I have not been able to find anything on the Lyman web page, and would like to study up before I take her to the range since the ammo for her is almost as hard to come by as the rifle was.


My name is Maury, and I am a Model 99 addict.....

Welcome to the site. What model and caliber is your rifle? Someone will be along shortly with the info on your Lyman, Joe.

According to the Lyman #36 catalogue, the index marks are 0.05 inches apart and are arbitrary. In other words, they don't relate to minutes of angle.

Welcome to the board.

Indeed. I went to the trouble and no small expense to install 30½'s on all my 1899H's, and when I adjust for windage it is a matter of by-guess-and-by-golly. (I don't care for the ghost ring effect of the 29½.) A-ok for a hunting/plinking arm, and a heckuva lot better than shimming the sight base of a #1 or #2 non-windage adjustable tang sight.

I would advise sighting it in at 25 yds to start with. The formula is divide the distance to the target (in inches) by the sight radius ( distance from the front sight to the tang sight). So, for example if the answer is 30 then each .001" increase or decrease in the tang sight height will change the impact point on the target by .030".

Thank you to all for the replies. This is on a 1899 .250-3000. It was my "unicorn" gun as I had already gathered some .300's and a .243 for my wife. I am lucky that a buddy was able to take into his shop. I have ammo en route and it will be here on Monday. My plan was to get it on paper at 25 yards and group it and then start backing off the distance. I added an aperture to the Lyman (A Williams I believe) and it took down the ghost ring effect significantly.

In our starry eyed wonder, my buddy and I both failed to notice a very slight bulge in the barrel just below the blade. As I see it, I have three options:

#1. I have a wonderful new mantle piece
#2. I shoot it and pray it doesn't blow up
#3. I have the barrel shortened and recrowned so that I can shoot it safely there by ruining the "value" of the gun but making it a working gun.

My intention from the get go was to have this as a usable rifle as I hate safe queens.

Any thoughts?

And out of curiosity, where should I be hitting at 25 to have it relatively close at 100?

You may find that the bulged barrel has no effect on accuracy. Shoot it and see. I doubt you need fear the barrel coming apart. However, you never know, so maybe you want to tie the rifle down and remote release the trigger using some twine. Once should tell the tale.

Now that I have figured out how to add a pic

If you center your group at 25 yards, you'll be close enough at 100 to make final adjustment a breeze. Maybe even "close enough for government work."