Drifting rear sight (CZ 527)

[IrvJr]

Hey All,

I got my new CZ 527 Carbine (.223) from my gun shop this past week. I had a chance to take it to the range today. I shot it at 25 yards and at 100 yards. I love this gun. I plan to use this as a plinker, but also might do some hunting with it in the future.

I only used iron sights today. The gun seemed to shoot a little to the left. I'm going to take it to the range a few more times to see if it was me or the sights.

I took a look at the rear sight. It is a dovetail sight that you drift left or right to adjust windage. At the front of the base of the rear sight, there is an indention made by a punch at the factory to help hold the sight in place.

If I need to make a minor adjustment to this sight, can I bring my brass punch set (it has some wide punches) and brass hammer to the range with me and simply drift the sight as needed? Can I drift it at the range on the wooden bench of the shooting area or do I need to have the thing mounted in a padded/wooden vice to drift the rear sight?

Also, once I find my sweet spot for the rear sight, should put another slight indentation at the base of the sight (where it interfaces with the receiver) to prevent it from slipping or is this not necessary?

The user manual states "Windage correction can be carried out by the drifting of the rear sight in the dovetail and then secured in its position by an indentation." but I'm wondering if I really need to indent/peen the base to make it stay.

Thanks in advance.

 

[the rifleer]

Using a brass punch is the recommended way to do it, but i have used steel (Don't tell anyone). It only takes small adjustments, so just tap it slightly. Once you have it where you want it, it should stay there on its own.

 

[IrvJr]

thanks rifleer!

 

[sc928porsche]

Recoil on the 223 is not heavy, so you will probably not have to restake the rear sight. Dropping the rifle might move it so if it were me, I would use a center punch and restake it once it is in position just to make it more accident proof.

You should be able to take a hammer and punches with you along with a nice thick blanket that you fold up several times and put on the firing bench and do the job there.

 

[IrvJr]

Thanks SC928porsche. I will bring a blanket/towel and my punch set when I go back to the range.

 

[Picher]

If the sight drifts so easily that it could be easily be knocked off zero with a slight bump, I'd either re-stake it, or use some thread-locking compound. If you can get it, you might try the type (name?) that seeps into threads without removing screws.

There are other ways to tighten dovetail sights, like removing the sight and tapping the barrel top to tighten the fit. Some use a prick punch on the bottom of the sight or slot to decrease clearance a bit, or on poorly-fitting sights, use a shim to fill the space at the bottom.

 

[gyvel]

DO NOT use a brass punch. A combination of work hardening of the brass and the use of soft steel in the sight could possibly leave you with a nicely buggered rear sight, or even worse, small dings in the barrel.

Instead use an aluminum punch, easily made from an old Xacto knife handle. Aluminum will not dent the metal, and the white metal stains left by the aluminum are easily removed with solvent.

 

[armoredman]

I cheated - had a gunsmith make me an adjustable rear sight for my 527M.