Drilling thru scope mount base for back-up peep sight

[Peeper1K]

A long long time time ago I was in the Sierra mountains for week with a buddy during a college break. We figured a few days in the woods axing out shelter, fishing, shooting, what could spoil that ? Well, my shoulder- slung rifle and scope took a whack from a falling tiny rock in a climb and went FUBAR. Damn. No worries, I had the OEM metallics . Removed scope & rings, VIOLA. Had a lot of good times that week. That was 50 years ago.

But, my current crop of rifles purchased in the last 15 years are sans OEM metallics. Got a Picatinny. Muzzle brake. No metallics. So, what to do without serious $ spent? :

Drill some peep holes in the scope ring tower, and clamp on a front blade. Some guns are just NOT metallic sight friendly, either too thin, fluted, tapered . . etc.

So, made my own front. The front blade screw slots are slotted a tiny bit for windage. Drilled the towers mated in a pair for a perfect match then enlarged the forward tower to make its hole 'disappear'. Worm-clamped a bent wire up front for a height test. The front sight is a working prototype, but WTH, it's fuggly but it's strong.

I placed a cleaning rod thru bbl to obtain a datum .. . went from there. I guesstimated a 1/8" differential in centerlines .. . ended up with a 1/16" lower blade from peep center. Whether I crammed a short windage adjustable peep under the scope body , or not, having no front sight was still an issue. Any available clamp-on mounts/ blades I found are not windage adjustable.
It's very crude & rude, but wth, it does an "Angle of 5 gal bucket" at 250 yards every shot. Free.

 

[Mobuck]

I commend your efforts and if this fits your perceived needs, it's worthwhile.
Welcome to the forum.

 

[kmoore]

Interesting, nothing that I would consider, but it's your rifle.
Myself if I felt the need or want for sights on a set up like that. I would carry a wrench with me, and unscrew the scope rings from base.
Install a rear sight on the rail and have a front sight attached near muzzle. Maybe a short rail to fit a front sight.
I am not understanding if you use the peep sight by looking under the scope or removing the scope and top half of rings. The closer the peep to the eye the better. Maybe try moving the rear ring to end of rail and remount scope. That would be an interesting test to find out if accuracy changes.

 

[Peeper1K]

Truly appreciate the comments .. .but the point is kinda missed I believe.
A long time avid "In the brush for a week" fan. Taking a rifle w/o factory sights often, just because of because. I have both types, 20 times over.
My intended point is NOT the ideal, but for a gent that has what he has, and it my be w/o backup, with a rifle like the above. Perhaps limited resources. Fluted bbl perhaps, attached picatinny, scoped, no OEM front sight (which would mean no rear sight). He's not carrying a bunch of back-up glassed optics or ammo to waste, etc.
In this case: just remove the upper ring half and scope. (Necessary here.) Leave the cradle. In this rifle the scope bore center is 1 3/4" above bbl center. So, not out of the average range, but it's my like. A workable peep weld for me also. Not ideal, but it is workable. It's an emergency, folks.
VIOLA ! Got a pre-sighted in peep w/ a front sight. ANY front sight. Buy such, but they won't be w/windage adj, nor likely be elev' correct. No need to waste ammo and time trying to sight something in the field. HIS resources limited. That's the point. Quick and dirty. No range bag with options. In the brush. Trying not to alert every animal within three miles he's there. There's just an optic FUBAR.
Here, the BBL is tapered and a straight bored slip-on will NOT attach.. So, a muzzle brake attachment is clean & simple, and HERE. Cheap. That's the point, pretty much.
I have drilled & tapped fronts, sweated them on, added rear "V's" . .but that's not the point. This rifle is a no-go on those.

 

[kmoore]

Explain how you use it. With scope attached or removed?
I can guess but best if you explain how.

 

[Peeper1K]

Explain how you use it. With scope attached or removed?
I can guess but best if you explain how.

Sure. You just remove the upper clamp halves and remove scope. The Lower scope mount cradle has peep hole. The whole point is that this is pre-sighted in . . . THEN you add the scope. If you owned a straight tube scope with very small diameter 'bells, and you can view peeps, then removal not needed.
And yes, close to eye peeps are good. I'm a Palma shooter of 25 years. But in 99% of receiver sights today the use of peeps are at 6" or more. Palma is 800-1000yds, not in this universe. My rear peep is at 2", micrometer adjustments , iris apertures) , diopter for me to use w/o my prescription glasses, and cost more than this Ruger. ( My wife has NO idea of $$).
That was deemed best for my marriage.

 

[kmoore]

I had diopter peeps also in SB use and yep cost as much of a common rifle. Mine were made in Germany. My eye was about 1 inch from the peep, touching a rubber cup. In high power NM shooting most used .308s and still got real close to the peep. I shot service rifle with M1, M14s and AR-15s also real close to peep. At 6 inch's away from the eye, do they use a rubber tube or something to prevent glare or other light interfering?
Removing the ring half's takes tools, myself even when installing the scope back as close to where it was needs a zero test. Sometimes its good, other times its not.
I have found keeping rings in place and removing scope w/rings on a picatinny rail can still hold a zero. On my match rifle, I had thumb screws to remove rings with scope from bases to transport the rifle and gear. That system still held zero.

 

[Peeper1K]

Hah ! A fellow mano e mano w/metalics guy. "Hello" . . seems to be a dwindling group of us these days. As far as the Q' about side-light, I sometimes used an accordion rubber tube, but I prefer a dedicated cap w/folded down side blinders on the bill. Both eyes are open, so my brain prefers that. My "Peeper1K" kinda hints at my palma addiction: "peeper" for the aperture and 1 K for the one click distance. Not a lot of guys worry about having ready to go back-up metallics, I guess it depends on if they frequent the remotes ie: "the float plane will be back in four days to pick you guys back up" My post kinda reflects my "Think of everything before you jump" nature. I'm now retired in Tenn, but I've got 40 yrs out west, mostly. A little incident in Iran where I lost my left eardrum and anvil, but I don't really recall much of it anymore. "No brain, no pain" so to speak. Retaining zero after upper cradle & scope removal/ replace was surprisingly excellent , also.