Help, I broke my broom...

[DavidJayUden]

Shooting the C96 red 9 broom (mismatched, reblued, etc.) a bit yesterday and noticed a part on the bench that hadn't been there before. Turns out to be the release button that frees the rear sight adjuster block so that it can slide fore and aft, raising and lowering the rear sight. I have no idea the correct term, so I'll call it the rear sight release button.
Anyway, I need a new one and also a quick tutorial on installation.
Thanks for you advise, support, leads, etc.

dju

[Ron Wood]

When I saw the title of your post before opening it, my first thought was...how is he going to get back home?

[DavidJayUden]

No spring. Actually I didn't know there was one. But it makes sense.
dju

[Olle]

You have to take the sight off the gun to replace that button. It comes off like many other sights of this type: You press it down and slide it backwards. With the sight off, you can take the slider off and replace the button. I would think that you'll find the rear half of the button and the spring captured inside the slider, still engaging the slots in the sight. You will probably have to pry on them a bit to make it possible to take the slider off.

EDIT: I take that back. The spring will not be there, it's located right behind the button so it must have fallen out together with this.

[alvin]

Olle answered the question. Take the sight leaf off the gun, remove the sight slide, install a new button and a new button spring, put the slide back on leaf, put the leaf back on the gun.

Need to find a good button and a tiny button spring.

===

[Edit] I fired a dozen or so Broomhandles, the only one had small parts broken in the process was a Red 9. The safety lever front end flat spring was shaken broken. I did not even touch the safety, and it's broken. All other pistols had no issue. Even 1897 grandpa C96 was fine. But Red 9 was exception.

[alvin]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

pressing down on front of [slightly elevated] blade with a wooden dowel

There is C96 shooting video in slow motion posted on youtube.com. In slow motion, it's obvious that sight leaf flying up quite high while the gun is fired... I think that's too high.

The video poster (forgotten weapons) did not present the pistol details. But I bet it's a "reblued, mismatched, etc, etc" -- there is a implication: the sight leaf spring lost its strength on that gun. That would explain why the sight leaf flying abnormally high during firing. Repeat dropping sight slide on steel, the sight button is expected to break soon.

Is there a gunsmith device that can be used to measure how much forces needed to raise the sight leaf by certain height relatively accurately? Collectors usually pull the sight leaf up to get a feeling of sight spring strength which should match the condition of a nice gun (say, too weak is abnormal). That's the feeling on their fingers, works for inspection purpose but not very scientific. This area deserves some quantitative study.

[Sergio Natali]

David

I'm sorry for what happened, unfortunately these things occour when you shoot these vintage guns, unfortunately I can't help you as I have no experience in this field since my C96 are all matching and I don't even think of taking one to the range.
Have you already checked the Net? On You Tube there are several C96 tutorials and perhaps a video is clearer than any description.

Regards


Sergio

[DavidJayUden]

Sergio, Alvin, Sheepherder, etc:
Thank you all for your responses. It just happened, and since I shoot the gun religiously once a year (at most), it is not something that demands immediate attention. I'll come across one and manage to get it installed. Eventually.

Ron: Long walk home...

dju

[Olle]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

Occasionally you'll see an original C96 sight for sale on eBay...This one came all the way from Argentina...

What is it attached to...one of your own mounts? Looks like the block is something that would be bolted or soldered to the gun.

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Olle

What is it attached to...one of your own mounts?

Confusing pictures deleted!

There's enough confusion on this forum!

[Olle]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

Confusing pictures deleted!

There's enough confusion on this forum!

Hey, this ain't Area 51, so what was that thing in the picture? A block for an Artillery Luger?

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Olle

Hey, this ain't Area 51, so what was that thing in the picture? A block for an Artillery Luger?

Well, it could be, if you made your own 'artillery' (or carbine) barrel...Like I did...

It's an actual C96 rear sight assembly with a milled-flat receiver mount. I cut it off a surplus receiver, thinking I would keep it for a spare in case either of my two Mausers broke a sight. But I doubt if I will ever shoot either of them again, and I'm going with the Mauser carbine sight on my long-barrel [top of pic] so this will just collect dust in a drawer until my niece throws it away...

[Olle]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

this will just collect dust in a drawer until my niece throws it away...

Well, why don't you throw it in the mail instead? PM sent.

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Olle

Well, why don't you throw it in the mail instead?

You could just root through my garbage. I can't set anything metal on my curb without a scavenger snatching it up within five5 minutes...True!

I replaced my hot water heater a couple years back. Foam insulation was waterlogged; couldn't bump the tank up the basement stairs with it on. I chiseled it all off after removing the tin jacket and took the cast iron/steel [whatever] tank out to the curb. I went back down and got the tin jacket and took it up & out to the curb next to the...nothing...The curb was empty.

Since then, anything metal does not last more than an hour. Old wheels, brake discs, watering cans/garden tools, anything metal. Gone in Sixty Seconds. Like the movie.

[Olle]

That reminds me of how my Dad's buddy used to get rid of his garbage. He ran an electronics store, and a couple of times a year he spent a weekend cleaning the store and doing maintenance. When he was done, he put all the garbage in nice, crisp TV boxes, taped them up neatly and put them on his loading dock. It never failed, the boxes were always gone the next morning.

[DavidJayUden]

Wouldn't you just love to see the look on their faces...
dju