I have two original tang sights for my Stevens 44 1/2, one a Lyman 103 and the other a non-windage adjustable Lyman.  When I bought a #1 Rolling block this year it had been drilled and tapped for a tang sight but at 1.52" center to center so my Stevens sights do not allow me to use both holes but I was able to successfully hunt with it this past month using only the front screw hole.  My problem is that the stem is really too short for the bullets and loads that I want to use.  My thought is to have a spacer machined and drilled to 1.52" with another set of tapped holes slightly forward at 1.50" to allow use of my sight.  To keep the height of the spacer to a minimum I was wondering if longer stems were available for my current sight which is 1.6" give of take from the bottom to the center of the aperture.  Tom

Another solution is to "slot" one of the screw holes in base a small amount, allowing use of 1,50" spaced hole, and add a simple spacer. That is what lazy guys like me would do.

I have put on the shortest front sight I can buy and with 270 grain bullets I am some 4" low compared to my 235 grain bullet.  My stem is all the way to the top.  I am worried that a half inch riser will look terrible but then again I don't look to good myself!  . Tom

Bulseyetom wrote on Nov 4^th, 2018 at 5:30pm:


Put a Marbles base and longish shaft on it, using Steven's screws and original holes. Modify Marbles base as needed. Works really good on my late 1800s Swedish roller that has high fixed front sight. Plenty of elevation for at least 300M zero with loads at BP velocities.

Tom,
Here is link to Marble tang peeps I mentioned.
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While they don't make any bases specifically for old Steven's rifles there is good chance of finding one that is close enough to modify to fit, so long as matching angle twixt tang and staff. All I have seen have lower hole widely slotted, so maybe only remaining issue be having screws that fit your rifle. Then is matter of picking whichever staff is long enough. I have been using their next-to-longest staff quite happily for many years on both remington and winchester pattern single shots.

Once fitted with longer Marbles staffs, those precious old sights can be put in padded box to await their next owner.

Really! I have had good to excellent service from two of the Marble bases and the longer staffs. I will say that the quality of the shorter staffs has been so bad that I too gave them away -- one went straight to garbage can. Those two staffs and their bases have been in constant use for more than a decade for metallic silhouette shooting and still give reliable, repeatable sight settings.

If new Marble's sights could be bought for what they're worth--say 50 bucks--it would make some sense to try to use them... assuming you were on a tight budget.  But when you've got to pay almost as much as the cost of a vintage Marble's or Lyman, it's money foolishly thrown away.

Redsetter wrote on Nov 4^th, 2018 at 9:15pm:


Vintage tang sights were never a realistic option for me and a failing master eye has just about totally nixed all tang sights, especially once I lost ability to shoot with both eyes open. Now only off-set scopes or handguns are real options for anything not solidly rested and shot left-handed.