HW/Weihrauch "Easter egg" diopter...

[MDriskill]

As a card-carrying old person, I can vouch that the classic joke about "hiding your own Easter eggs" is regrettably true some days! But sometimes, forgotten tidbits lead to interesting things.

After seeing a friend's similar setup, I recently bought this Anschutz adapter (part no. SA-1411 for anyone interested), which mates 11mm grooves to old Redfield sights made for firearm receiver side rails. So the beautiful "Olympic" diopter hiding in my stash now magically fits my Weihrauchs. The eyepiece is a Merit adjustable iris:




It did require a front sight riser for the elevation settings to work out, though. So here's the Weihrauch barrel...with a Walther riser I'd also forgotten...and an Anschutz front tunnel sight. The latter is much more versatile than HW's tunnel with its small selection of inserts.




These acrylic Anschutz sight inserts (right), and the slotted flexing sleeve that they fit into (lower left) were acquired separately, years apart, and I only recently realized that they go together! The normal sleeve for clamping metal inserts (top left) won't work:






The end result is a setup that works great on this HW 55 CM, allows a very comfortable head's-up hold, and even looks kinda cool to my eye:




(PS: Many thanks to the generous fellow forumite to whom some of these bits will look familiar! )

 

[Rob_in_NC]

Beautiful setup... and a question, if I may. I know if anyone is qualified to answer, it's you. I've struggled with diopter sights in the past. I've tried them on an AF Edge and an FWB300. I'm not sure if it's my progressive lenses in my glasses or what, but I just cannot see to shoot. I've considered one of the magnified inserts (I'm unsure of what they are called).

What am I missing here? A ghost peep is fine for me, though obviously not near as precise.

 

[crowski]

Beautiful setup... and a question, if I may. I know if anyone is qualified to answer, it's you. I've struggled with diopter sights in the past. I've tried them on an AF Edge and an FWB300. I'm not sure if it's my progressive lenses in my glasses or what, but I just cannot see to shoot. I've considered one of the magnified inserts (I'm unsure of what they are called).

What am I missing here? A ghost peep is fine for me, though obviously not near as precise.

I had the same problem. Drove me crazy, when you can’t see. Had cataract surgery back in June. The whole 9 yds. Unbelievable difference. Shooting a pistol, iron sights are a pleasure to shoot now. And I never have to wear glasses again. Maybe get your eyes checked. Good luck. Crow

 

[crowski]

As a card-carrying old person, I can vouch that the old joke about "hiding your own Easter eggs" is regrettably true some days! But sometimes those forgotten tidbits can lead to interesting things.

After seeing a similar setup that a friend had on an FWB, I recently bought this Anschutz adapter, which allowed the beautiful old Redfield "Olympic" match sight hiding in my stash to magically fit on 11mm rails. These sights were originally designed to mount to a receiver rail on firearm target rifles of course:




It did require a front sight riser for the elevation settings to work out. Here you see a Weihrauch barrel...with a Walther riser I'd also forgotten...and an Anschutz front sight. The old Anschutz unit is much more versatile than HW's tunnel, with its small selection of inserts.




The acrylic Anschutz sight inserts (right), and the flexing sleeve that they fit in (lower left) were acquired years apart...and I only recently realized the former required the latter to work...duhhh:




So now I have this lovely sight picture:




The end result is a setup that looks really cool to my eye, works great, and allows a very comfortable head's-up hold on this HW 55 CM:




(PS: Many thanks to the generous fellow forumite to whom some of these bits will look familiar! )

Wow. You have to admire the engineering. Thanks for sharing. Crow

 

[MDriskill]

Beautiful setup... and a question, if I may. I know if anyone is qualified to answer, it's you. I've struggled with diopter sights in the past. I've tried them on an AF Edge and an FWB300. I'm not sure if it's my progressive lenses in my glasses or what, but I just cannot see to shoot. I've considered one of the magnified inserts (I'm unsure of what they are called).

What am I missing here? A ghost peep is fine for me, though obviously not near as precise.

I have found these things to help:
+ No. 1 is an adjustable iris which allows changing the aperture opening size (smaller opening = crisper focus and better depth-of-field; larger opening = brighter sight picture). An adjusting unit lets you best balance clarity and brightness to fit the target and lighting at hand. For German match sights, Gehmann, Centra, and AHG Anschutz make top-quality units with many options.
+ The optional focusing lens for these can be very useful. They magnify 1.5x, and focus over a large range. Both before and after cataract surgery, I could shoot quite well without my glasses when using one (But walked into a few door frames after setting the gun down!).
+ As crowski noted, at a certain age cataracts can be a problem. I'm doing great now, but before surgery, I needed an aperture over 2mm in diameter to avoid a black spot floating in the center of the opening.

 

[Rob_in_NC]

Thanks for the responses, both of you. I've worn glasses my whole life, save for a 6 year stint after laser surgery and then right back to them. I get checked every year and my prescription updated if need be. I'll see if I can find a focus lens at some point and see if that helps at all.

 

[crowski]

Thanks for the responses, both of you. I've worn glasses my whole life, save for a 6 year stint after laser surgery and then right back to them. I get checked every year and my prescription updated if need be. I'll see if I can find a focus lens at some point and see if that helps at all.

I only wore glasses when I got older. But am still blown away with results. Still reaching for my glasses that aren’t there.
I hope you find your answer. Crow

 

[MDriskill]

If your eyes are generally good, the adjusting iris alone may do the trick. OEM match sight eye disks usually have an opening around 1.0mm...giving great clarity on a well-lit 10-meter range, but restricting out in the real world. Most current irises adjust up to 3.0mm which covers a wide range of lighting. The lenses are awesome but do add quite a bit to the price; the basic iris is not too expensive.

Champion's Choice and many other dealers carry a wide range of these things. The Gehmann 510 is kind of a baseline adjusting iris:

510 Gehmann rearsight iris | 349D8357B0F8410B9AA3DE6F8617EBF4

Extremely short and adjustable over a wider range of 0.5 - 3.0mm The fixed-seat iris works with individually pin-located tempered spring steel leaves The aim-point is precisely maintained through the wider range of adjustment by the introduction of a new…

www.gehmann.com

Their model 530 adds the lens module:

530 Gehmann rearsight iris with 1.5x diopter | 637AE70697484D259365B77CD43A2134

Iris 0.5 - 3.0mm Much shorter and adjustable over a wider range of 0.5 - 3.0mm The fixed-seat iris works with individually pin-located tempered spring steel leaves The aim-point is precisely maintained through the wider range of adjustment by the introdu…

www.gehmann.com

You can also add colored filters and polarizers...the range of possible details and combinations of features on the darn things is stupefying! But a lot of this may just be marketing frankly...really the simple adjustable opening does most of the work.

 

[.20calguy]

before surgery, I needed an aperture over 2mm in diameter to avoid a black spot floating in the center of the opening.

My problem is an out of focus edge, similar to a mirage effect. I have to use a large iris to reduce it, but I still have great difficulty finding the top of the front post to set the elevation.

 

[MDriskill]

My problem is an out of focus edge, similar to a mirage effect. I have to use a large iris to reduce it, but I still have great difficulty finding the top of the front post to set the elevation.

I'm no optician, but I wonder if a ring-type front sight (in lieu of a post) might be better?

A magnifying / focusing iris would surely be a step forward too.

 

[.20calguy]

I'm no optician, but I wonder if a ring-type front sight (in lieu of a post) might be better?

A magnifying / focusing iris would surely be a step forward too.

The HW's have lollipops for the front, but the only peeps I currently own are on my Sherdan, and my Marlin 1894.
I would have to start from scratch and that would be hard to do as uncomfortable as peeps are for me right now.
I would need to find someone who would let me have a look through theirs.

 

[MDriskill]

Ah yes...that skinny post on a Sheridan is tough for me too!

If you could scrounge up any sort of peep sight for your HW, you could play with positioning of the sight, different types and sizes of front and rear elements, etc. Williams makes several sizes of eye disks, Merit makes adjusting irises to fit Williams, or the German irises can be combined with an adapter (a cool option that lets you quickly move a single iris to any sight you're ever likely to own).

 

[Michigander]

The Anschutz adapter for a Redfield diopter is really cool! Still available I assume?

My experience with a post type front sight is that lining up with the bottom of the bull is always a challenge. My technique is to start below the bull then raise until the bull sits on top of the post and fire. Fiddling around trying to get perfect alignment only seems to make things worse. There was a time when posts were very popular for offhand shooting and I think that was because the sights were never stationary on the target, forcing a touch and fire technique where posts worked better for some people.

The traditional sight picture recommendation is to focus on the front sight and align with a somewhat blurred bull. You can get that picture with dedicated glasses for shooting, the flip up magnifiers from Champion’s Choice, or the magnifier accessory from Gehmann. Actually I only use the magnifier outdoors where lighting is good, and set it to where the front sight is not fully sharp.

Chuck

 

[MDriskill]

I don't know if the Anschutz SA-1411 adapter is still manufactured, but they do pop up on auction/classified sites. It was made specifically for their Match 54 model 1411 rimfire rifle, but fits (very snugly) other 11mm rails. I have a friend with a near-identical unit on an FWB 300S; this has slightly wider rails, so I assume it is a different, FWB-specific version of the adapter.

 

[marflow 777]

Mike i call that STUFF
STUFF we purchase with no real need stashed away for when we get a wild hair
the downside is if you had to get all that STUFF now you wouldn't it would cost too much
and being old myself i can't find stuff all the time so i just buy more stuff and you get TOO MUCH STUFF but it is all worth money
i tried that many years ago but had the wrong Redfield sight

 

[JohnTaylor]

I'm no optician, but I wonder if a ring-type front sight (in lieu of a post) might be better?

A magnifying / focusing iris would surely be a step forward too.

I find that the ring- type front sights work best for my aging eyeballs…very short learning curve. John

 

[.20calguy]

I find that the ring- type front sights work best for my aging eyeballs…very short learning curve. John

Do they have any available for HW front sights?

 

[Rob_in_NC]

If your eyes are generally good, the adjusting iris alone may do the trick. OEM match sight eye disks usually have an opening around 1.0mm...great for a well-lit 10-meter range, but restricting out in the real world. Most current irises adjust up to 3.0mm which covers a wide range of lighting. The lenses are awesome but do add quite a bit to the price; the basic iris is not too expensive.

Champion's Choice and many other dealers carry a wide range of these things. The Gehmann 510 is kind of a baseline adjusting iris:

510 Gehmann rearsight iris | 349D8357B0F8410B9AA3DE6F8617EBF4

Extremely short and adjustable over a wider range of 0.5 - 3.0mm The fixed-seat iris works with individually pin-located tempered spring steel leaves The aim-point is precisely maintained through the wider range of adjustment by the introduction of a new…

www.gehmann.com

Their model 530 adds the lens module:

530 Gehmann rearsight iris with 1.5x diopter | 637AE70697484D259365B77CD43A2134

Iris 0.5 - 3.0mm Much shorter and adjustable over a wider range of 0.5 - 3.0mm The fixed-seat iris works with individually pin-located tempered spring steel leaves The aim-point is precisely maintained through the wider range of adjustment by the introdu…

www.gehmann.com

You can also add colored filters and polarizers...the range of possible details and combinations of features on the darn things is stupefying! But a lot of this may just be marketing frankly...really the simple adjustable opening does most of the work.

Appreciate the info and sorry to have seemingly hijacked your post, but I've learned a lot from this!
and the more I look at that HW55, the more I realize just how pretty it is.

 

[kingfisher61]

As a card-carrying old person, I can vouch that the classic joke about "hiding your own Easter eggs" is regrettably true some days! But sometimes, forgotten tidbits lead to interesting things.

After seeing a friend's similar setup, I recently bought this Anschutz adapter (part no. SA-1411 for anyone interested), which mates 11mm grooves to old Redfield sights made for firearm receiver side rails. So the beautiful "Olympic" diopter hiding in my stash now magically fits my Weihrauchs. The eyepiece is a Merit adjustable iris:




It did require a front sight riser for the elevation settings to work out, though. So here's the Weihrauch barrel...with a Walther riser I'd also forgotten...and an Anschutz front tunnel sight. The latter is much more versatile than HW's tunnel with its small selection of inserts.




These acrylic Anschutz sight inserts (right), and the slotted flexing sleeve that they fit into (lower left) were acquired separately, years apart, and I only recently realized that they go together! The normal sleeve for clamping metal inserts (top left) won't work:






The end result is a setup that looks really cool to my eye, works great, and allows a very comfortable head's-up hold on this HW 55 CM:




(PS: Many thanks to the generous fellow forumite to whom some of these bits will look familiar! )

Mike
Nice job putting the puzzle together. I'm so pleased to see the inserts and the Redfield being used on such a beautiful rifle. Your ingenuity never ceases to amaze!

 

[MDriskill]

Do they have any available for HW front sights?

This is the standard set of inserts that comes with a new Weihrauch rifle. You do get one ring, but I confess I don't love it! I'd prefer the opening to be bigger and its edge to be smaller.

As far as I know, no one currently offers clear inserts (like the Anschutz ones in my post above) for HW sights. But if you or a friend is handy with machine tools, they are relatively easy to make from acrylic sheet.

Older Anschutz front sights fit the HW muzzle grooves perfectly. They use a bigger 18mm diameter securing sleeve (HW's sleeve is an older 17mm design), have more factory inserts available (pic is not all of 'em!), and their pattern has been adopted by other makers and the aftermarket.

The ultimate front sight ring element is an adjustable one like this, which fits any sight with an 18mm sleeve:

520 Foresight iris M.18 | 51A0ACB32BE4451E892D0B85F006CA46

Infinitely adjustable Ring thickness of the iris: 1.5mm Horizontal level bars Adjustable 520A adjustable from 2.4 - 4.4mm 520B adjustable from 4.0 - 6.0mm 520C adjustable from 2.9 - 4.9mm

www.gehmann.com

Seems to me there is a wide-open market niche for custom HW inserts though - either photo-etch metal ones or clear acrylic.

If you've actually stayed awake this long (!), this old post has some more info on front tunnel sights:

Anschutz - German tunnel front sights

There's been much discussion about iron sights on the forum lately, so a few notes about tunnel front sights may be of interest. This photo shows two familiar vintage German front sights. They have three basic parts: + tunnel housing that clamps to grooves at the muzzle + sighting elements in...

www.airgunnation.com