Trapdoor Rifles

So the eyes are getting to the point that the rear sight on my carbine is blurry. Options are to shoot with light power reading glasses or a peep sight.
I do not want to drill and tap my 1880 Carbine for a tang peep. Any other options?
I thought about a cut-down being sold on another board. Who cares about drilling that tang.

How about purchasing an “extra” tang . . .and D&T’ing it?
These tangs are very easy to remove and replace.
(Not the H&R replicas, as these “tangs” are cast INTEGRAL with the receivers.)

I would figure that it was never removed since 1880. I can only imagine what it would take to remove it from the back of the action trough.

Generally they are not hard to remove, if you have the right wrenches(!) If you don't have the right wrenches, don't try it. S&S Firearms sells a tang wrench. It fits everything from M-1855 muskets through all the Trapdoors. Then you need a vice with padded jaws to hold the receiver without marring it.

The other peep site option is to replace the rear sight with an M-1884 Buffington sight just for range day. That has a peep. The gotcha there is if you still have slotless screws on the current sight, you probably don't want to mess with those.

Tony, did you ever find anything further on those lock plate-screw mounted adaptors from many years ago, to which a modern micrometer receiver sight could be attached? Did they come with special screws? I guess if you used musket screws on a .45-70 they would be long enough.

No trapdoor was harmed in this photo

That is enough to hurt your eyes. Did not work that well as the screws stretched under recoil using the original screw holes in the barrel.

I never thought about using the lower hole on the Buffington

wstrayer wrote: ↑Sat Sep 21, 2024 9:18 pm I never thought about using the lower hole on the Buffington

Weii, it's there, but certainly NOT ideal, especially for old eyes. It's biggest plus is being non-invasive. If you want the ultimate in iron sights without harming the rifle the two-tang approach is the best. Not yet mentioned by anyone is the advantage of the longer sight radius - and, if you want want to push THAT, how about using the back position and having interchangeable buttplates?

This was pointed out by a friend
"Just drill tang and mount strap to contour of stock. Be sure to mill hole for dome of tang screw. This is a H-R tang sight note extra hole that allows and sight with Sharps sight spacing to fit it and no damage to the stock.