? about Artillery Rear Sight Base
 

Is the base of the artillery rear sight supposed to be perfectly flat (on bottom) or have a slight 'arch' to it???

This is the part which slides into the large dovetail in the barrel (not the leaf).

I am wondering if it is intended to have a slight spring action [the arch]?

It seems awfully fragile...and soft... :D

Hi Rich.

It has been a long time since I had an artillery sight removed from a pistol, but as I recall (and that gets harder all the time!) there is a VERY slight arch in the base so only the ends of the dovetail are in play when mounted. I don't think there is any spring action involved as the steel base is pretty substantial and I doubt it would "flex" to creat the spring action you are talking about. I don't see any other functional reason for the arch, so if you make it flat for simplicity sake, no harm no foul IMHO.

Hmmmm...I wasn't actually going to make a new artillery sight base (like I do for the C96 Mauser sight), I just wanted to know for when I cut the dovetail in the barrel...But a solid base for the Luger leaf (rather than the hollow base) is doable...A 'coffin' sight base, with a floor, that would be dovetailed externally...So the flat spring for the leaf would be contained inside the 'coffin'...

That is exactly how my C96 rear sight (on my Luger barrel) is made...

I'll have to think on that... :thumbup: