Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Ruger No.1 front sight height problem

Hey guys,

Figured I ask this here first from all the No.1 enthusiasts. I want to go with iron sights on my 1A this year and just had an opportunity Sun to try to get it sighted in. I am using NECG peep in the rear with the factory front bead.

My problem, I found out, is that even at 100 yds I'm about 8" high with the sight cranked all the way down. Looking on NECG website I see the highest front sight they make is .435" which is .030" higher than my factory bead. According to my calcs that will only lower my group by a little over 3.5" at 100 yds. I suppose I could drop it a little more by going to 2400 fps with my load (I'm throwing 250's at 2500 right now--.35 Whelen).

Anyone else have this problem with the NECG? I would think with its range of motion and being designed for the No.1 I would've had plenty of 'maneuvering room'. I checked to see that I had it down in the slot correctly and all was tight.

I just don't want to drop $34 on a front sight that isn't going to solve the problem. Maybe I have to go the XS Ghost route?

Any ideas or experiences will be appreciated. Maybe I've done something obviously wrong that I'm not seeing.

BTW, now that she's under 7 lbs she kicks but good off the bench! Noticeably faster and sharper recoil not to mention muzzle jump. Definitely 'nastier' than my .375 Holly!

Light rifle, bigger bore = more recoil.

That's why I sold my 1A Whelen and built a custom 1S on a 45-70 profile barrel. It has no irons which are of no earthly use to my old eyes.

1B

I would call the tech service people at Brownells. They have always helped me with this exact problem when I have added receiver sights to some of my old lever guns.

I had the same problem with an NECG sight on two different rifles. And one rifle was a ruger #1. Simple solution. Just get a taller bead. They are not very expensive, so buy two or three and try them out.

The NECG sights are a bit higher. And they do not have alot of elevation adjustment. Especially when trying to go down. Tom.

Just don't shoot anything under 300 yards!

That's retro-stalking ... You find the game then silently move away from it until you're far enough to shoot it right

Hilarious, guys!

You know, I could be the first guy with a 1000yd Whelen. Wouldn't have to worry about the front bead occluding the target--just hold low, watch my shots and walk 'em up into the animal!

Grand_veneur,

I've enjoyed your posts about hunting overseas. It's fascinating (to me, anyway) to hear what calibers, animals and methods you guys use over there. I've been surprised by several of the calibers in use over there like the Whelen. Keep up the reports. Glad to hear you were able to get through the red tape and get a No.1! Keep us posted on any results!

Hogghead,

That was my first thought but upon looking at NECG website I can only get a .030" taller sight then what I have already. That should only lower my shots by about 3.6".

I also checked on my Sierra I6 software and dropping my load to 2400 fps only yields about .5" difference. I'll have to throw the load in the recoil computer and see if it helps any!

I just want to get it sighted in and then get out for field shooting where the thump will be more manageable. Oh well, I may still look at the XS Ghost sights.

IIRC the ghost ring solution has a rear sight actually screwed to the quarter rib and won't allow you to switch from one sight system to another (optics) depending on circumstances.

The NECG has the quick detach feature advantage but according to your writings, it looks like it could be a useless system ? Even a faster caliber wouldn't change the problem within 100 yards.

A good gunsmith should make you a high enough front sight but how high has it to be ?

Recknagel (www.recknagel.de) offers a QD rear sight compliant with ruger no 1 bases but I'm afraid it's about or exactly the same as the NECG system.

I tried the 300 winnie No 1 with the factory irons (waiting financial solution for better optics solutions and wood work ... swaro EE z6 would be sweeeeeeet multi purpose thing... but not cheap) and found they offer poor sighting picture, front bead to thin for quick shooting or bad light conditions, rear sight not simple enough with its notch in a notch Killed the milk bottles but I'm not satisfied, I need another system I'm confident with.

I was looking at this problem and I can't seem to figure out how you guys got only 3.5" of POI change from +0.03" front sight height. I am guessing you are using ~31" as the distance between the front and rear sight.

For my 22" barrel, if one used 21.5" as the distance between the front and rear sights (to be conservative), I get ~5" of POI change at 100 y from 0.03" change in sight height. That is:

(100y)(3')(12") * (0.03"/21.5") ~= 5"

where the tangent may be neglected for extremely small angles.

Also, I tend to put the center of the front bead right on the target center with a peep rear, i.e. there's no way I can do a six o-clock hold which such a sight picture. If you thus go for a blade/ramp front sight of the same +0.03" height, you actually additionally get the radius of the front bead added to the sight height because you can now hold a true six o-clock hold. Pretty cool eh?

I have also been playing around with the NECG rear peep for the #1. You CAN get it to travel further down by more than 0.03" by just removing the height adjustment screw which limits the downward travel. If you want more travel, you will have to file down the main sight body's U-channel which the aperature must clear and perhaps file off some material from the bottom of the piece which travels up and down and carries the aperature because it may hit the top of the guns receiver. If you still want use of the sight adjustment screw, you can drill into the top hole in which that screw sits to extend downwards travels at the expense of losing some upwards travel.

I plan on doing both to my sights as well as dehorn/lighten my rear NECG peep while I am at it.