6 replies to this topic

[BenEnglish]

Because I want to put some Weaver-compatible sighting equipment atop my Witness Elite, I bought the Weaver mount shown on page 7 of the current catalog. It arrived quickly and looks well-made. Unfortunately, it arrived with absolutely no instructions meaning that if there is a way to screw things up, I'll find it. I temporarily screwed it to the pistol and checked clearances and found that as long as I lowered the rear sight all the way, the slide could run back and forth with the rail attached.

That's great and it's just what I expected. After all, this is an accessory sold to fit this gun so it should, you know, fit the gun, right?

I took the pistol apart, carefully cleaned it, re-attached the Weaver mount to the frame (this time using LocTite since this is intended to be a permanent installation) and then tried to slide the slide back onto the frame rails. No go. While the rear sight clears the rear of the Weaver mount, is doesn't clear at the front meaning I can't re-assemble the pistol without removing the rear sight.

I unscrewed the elevation screw until the rear sight blade came loose, caught the two springs that were released, and examined it carefully. There were two set screws through the bottom of the sight, bearing onto the slide. I removed those. At that point, I assumed I should just get a drift punch and drive the sight sideways.

However, looking from the side, I still see two things, both in front of and behind where the set screws were, taking up the space between the bottom of the rear sight and the slide. I can't tell what they are.

Questions -

Since I don't know what those two things are, am I right to assume the the proper way to proceed is to drift out the entire sight?

Would it be preferable to drive out the pin that holds the rear sight blade to the rear sight base? That should allow the base to clear the Weaver mount for reassembly while still keeping the base in place to partially protect a spring that is exposed under the right, rear of the sight base when the blade is pivoted up out of the way. What is that spring, anyway, and should I be worried that total removal of the rear sight will cause either a problem with retention of the spring or anything else such as allowing a new avenue for dirt to get into the slide and foul things up?

Overall, just what is the preferred procedure to attach the Weaver rail and still be able to disassemble and reassemble the firearm?

TIA for any help,

Ben in Texas

[10mmjunkie]

I have never taken the sight off my limited slide. I have taken supposedly the same model sight off one of my Hunter slides. The base of mine was a solid piece of metal. The two items may be shims or spacers to fill the gap and should pose no issues to removal; however I would call EAA and talk to one of gunsmiths before proceeding. As your mount is a EAA product they can advise you on the best way to proceed. One idea is that when you remove your rear sight is to replace it with a bar to make racking the slide easier. Henning sells them at a reasonable price.

Best wishes.

10mmjunkie

[david s]

Because I want to put some Weaver-compatible sighting equipment atop my Witness Elite, I bought the Weaver mount shown on page 7 of the current catalog. It arrived quickly and looks well-made. Unfortunately, it arrived with absolutely no instructions meaning that if there is a way to screw things up, I'll find it. I temporarily screwed it to the pistol and checked clearances and found that as long as I lowered the rear sight all the way, the slide could run back and forth with the rail attached.

That's great and it's just what I expected. After all, this is an accessory sold to fit this gun so it should, you know, fit the gun, right?

I took the pistol apart, carefully cleaned it, re-attached the Weaver mount to the frame (this time using LocTite since this is intended to be a permanent installation) and then tried to slide the slide back onto the frame rails. No go. While the rear sight clears the rear of the Weaver mount, is doesn't clear at the front meaning I can't re-assemble the pistol without removing the rear sight.

I unscrewed the elevation screw until the rear sight blade came loose, caught the two springs that were released, and examined it carefully. There were two set screws through the bottom of the sight, bearing onto the slide. I removed those. At that point, I assumed I should just get a drift punch and drive the sight sideways.

However, looking from the side, I still see two things, both in front of and behind where the set screws were, taking up the space between the bottom of the rear sight and the slide. I can't tell what they are.

Questions -



Since I don't know what those two things are, am I right to assume the the proper way to proceed is to drift out the entire sight?

Would it be preferable to drive out the pin that holds the rear sight blade to the rear sight base? That should allow the base to clear the Weaver mount for reassembly while still keeping the base in place to partially protect a spring that is exposed under the right, rear of the sight base when the blade is pivoted up out of the way. What is that spring, anyway, and should I be worried that total removal of the rear sight will cause either a problem with retention of the spring or anything else such as allowing a new avenue for dirt to get into the slide and foul things up?

Overall, just what is the preferred procedure to attach the Weaver rail and still be able to disassemble and reassemble the firearm?

TIA for any help,

Ben in Texas

Ben,
I bought the same EAA mount for my Hunter 10mm(same frame as Limited). Just messing with it , seems like the R. sight Is going to have to come out. Proprietary mounted scope. It's not what i thoght i would end up with. But i'm OK with it because the gun does hunt. Slide racker might be the way to go. What scope and scope mounts are you going to use?

[BenEnglish]

What scope and scope mounts are you going to use?

Actually, I'm going to put on some Weaver-mount iron (aperture) sights such as are used on high-power rifles and use the pistol for some long-range, iron-sight shooting purely as an experiment. I'm strange that way.

[BenEnglish]

I have taken supposedly the same model sight off one of my Hunter slides.

Great. That means you can answer my primary question.

Which way does it go for removal? The exploded parts diagram in the back of the manual indicates the sight is inserted into the dovetail from left to right from the viewpoint of the rear of the firearm. That's exactly backwards to, say, a 1911.

Before I start trying to drift it out, I want to know which way to push.

TIA for any help,

Ben

PS - As for calling EAA and talking to a gunsmith, I've left multiple messages for the service dept and sent multiple emails. Absolutely no response. Besides, I don't think it's necessary since, as for those two items that seem to be taking up space in front of and behind the dovetail, I finally got the bright idea of running a thin piece of paper under the sight to feel them. They turned out to just be some dirt/lint.

Edited by BenEnglish, 26 April 2012 - 10:15 AM.

[BenEnglish]

I have taken supposedly the same model sight off one of my Hunter slides.

Great. That means you can answer my primary question.

Which way does it go for removal? The exploded parts diagram in the back of the manual indicates the sight is inserted into the dovetail from left to right from the viewpoint of the rear of the firearm.

After some research and finding a thread in another forum on this topic and having a gunsmith try to remove the sight in the wrong direction (thank goodness he was smart enough to stop before he broke something), I asked someone with the right tools to just assume the dovetail wasn't straight and that the parts diagram needed to be followed. From behind the pistol, driving the sight from right to left took it out without excessive effort.

I should have just trusted the exploded parts diagram from the beginning.

[BenEnglish]

I bought the same EAA mount...looks like the R. sight Is going to have to come out. Proprietary mounted scope....Slide racker might be the way to go.

A couple of final comments before I let this thread die.

First, the mount is well made but it definitely requires removing the rear sight and I don't see how the pistol could still disassemble if any slide racker were attached. The slide still has to come straight forward off the frame rails and a racker, at least on the model I have, would definitely hit the side of the mount and prevent easy disassembly. I'm unwilling to go to the trouble of removing the slide racker prior to every routine disassembly for cleaning.

Second, your use of the word "proprietary" is key in this whole thing. This isn't a picatinny mount that adheres to the milspec; I knew that going in. But it also isn't, technically, a Weaver mount. Most Weaver bases don't follow the Weaver spec very well but this one is well off the mark. Weaver slots are supposed to be 0.180" wide. These slots are 0.150" wide. If you want to attach scope rings and the manufacturer of those rings went to the trouble of maximizing the size and strength of the crossbolts, they could conceivably be unable to drop into the slots. I've now trial-mounted a bunch of different things to this rail with no problems but I wouldn't actually spend money on anything especially beefy to go on this rail unless I got to physically put them together and check the fit beforehand. IOW, this is not one of those cases where "maybe this Picatinny thing will fit". Sometimes (rarely enough, I hope) Weaver bases are so sloppy or the Picatinny accessory is so cheap that it has an undersize crossbolt, allowing Picatinny devices to fit on Weaver rails. While that shouldn't happen, tolerances are off often enough that people try such combinations all the time and occasionally things work out. That's highly unlikely with this rail.

Third and finally, the slot spacing is consistent at 0.7" and there are a total of 7 slots on the rail. I realize the Weaver spec doesn't specify spacing, but I thought I'd throw in those last numbers so that people thinking about buying the mount and finding this thread via a search engine will at least have some additional measurements to help them make a decision.

Thanks to all for listening.