Ultralight rifle sights?

[caribou77]

Any ideas or suggestions for my M77 mark II ultralight? I want to put rifle sights on it just cause.... I do. Actually this gun will be going with me on my next caribou hunt and even though I've never had trouble with my scope, the thought of not having back up sights drives me crazy. I realize I could take a back up scope but this is not what I'm looking for. I was recently told the only way to install the front sight was to solder in on and then reblue the barrel. I can't believe there isn't a ruger style front sight base out there that won't fit? Any Ideas? Thanks

 

[contender]

Welcome to the Forum!
I wish I had a good answer for you,, but the best I can offer is to find a gunsmith who can use a drill & tap type of sights.

 

[caribou77]

The gun in chambered in 30-06 and it is a very light barrel. I was told the barrel is to thin to drill and tap. But....I have no idea and thats why I posted the question.

 

[Flash]

My 77 has open sights from the factory but the front is sweated on and yes, the barrel is too thin. My smith doesn't drill and won't drill deeper than 67% of the barrel thickness. For the front sight, that would be about 4 threads and not enough grip for the sight in my opinion.

 

[Boxhead]

Go to New England Custom Guns (NEGC) website and you will find all of the open sight options you can imagine and their stuff is extremely high quality.

 

[pete44ru]

The NECG Masterpiece ramp emulates the Ruger front ramp, but I would contact Ruger Cust Service and ask if they would install a set of RSI/International open sights - the barrel contours are very close, if not identical.

It's perfectly leagel under Federal Law for you to mail, and receive back, your own firearm to/from a gunsmith/repair shop/manufacturer, w/o going through an FFL.

.

 

[caribou77]

After a little closer looking I noticed the same thing.I contacted ruger about this already. There reply was that they do warranty work but not custom work.So that idea is a no go.But after that email I tried a different question. Asked if they had a front ramp that was close to .500 in. (i only had a tape to measure with at the time and haven't borrowed the caliper yet) Anyway they gave me a much better answer and told me they had a front ramp with an id of .497. They gave me the part number and the number to call to order. Should run about 46 bucks.

 

[EVR]

My 77 has open sights from the factory but the front is sweated on

Not sweated on. Pressed on and fixed with a set screw. They come off.

I do not believe Ruger technically makes a set of sights for the ultralight anymore but if memory serves me you can get the same sights as offered on No1's. Call them up and give them the diameter of the barrel and they can help you out.

I fitted a front sight to my 17.5 inch chopped 6.5x55 by heating the front sight in the stove to 250 degrees, cooling the barrel in icewater, lining all up and hammering it on with a babbit, using a bit of JB Weld on the barrel and then of course using the set screw also.

Hasn't fallen off yet, tho used pretty hard as a handle mostly and shot a lot.