Brownells Gunsmith Tech Corner - January 2006

By Dean Batchelder

Question: I have a Henry .22 rifle. I’ve been trying to sight it in and after getting the maximum adjustment on the rear sights, the gun still shoots low. Is there something else I can do to improve the accuracy? This little Henry has an ammo tube under the barrel. The front sight is made of some non metallic material and is one piece. The sight assembly slips over the barrel and tube, down the barrel about 2” or so with a screw that goes in through the top that holds the sight in place.

Answer: If your gun is shooting low, you can file off the top of the front sight to raise your impact. You want to take just a little off at a time and test fire it. You can always take it off, but it sure is hard to put it back on. If you put your rear sight at mid-point adjustment and shoot your rifle, you could figure out about how much you would need to remove off your front sight. The following is a formula you can use to determine approximately how much you would need to remove. This formula is on our website on the cheat sheet section:

Correcting Sight Height If your rifle or pistol is shooting high or low, there is a formula you can use to determine what the correct height for your sight should be. Terms Amount of Error: Measure in inches the distance from the bullseye to your shot. Sight Radius: Distance in inches from the front sight to the rear sight. * Distance to Target: The distance in inches from your shooting position to the target. Note: Be sure that your rear sight is at its mid-point before you shoot. Formula Amount of Error X Sight Radius = Sight Correction Needed Distance to Target If you are shooting low, you would replace your front sight with a lower sight, and conversely, if you were shooting high, then you would replace your front sight with a higher sight. Add or subtract the number of thousandths needed to the actual height of your sight and you will have the correct height of the replacement sight. Example At 100 yards, your shot is 6" low and the distance between your front and rear sight is 19.5". 6 X 19.5 = .0325 3600 Since you are shooting low, you would need to lower your front sight by .032". * For rifles, you measure the front sight height from the bottom of the dovetail to the top of the sight. For pistols you measure the height of the blade only. This is true unless stated otherwise in the sight specifications.

Question: I have an 1100 Remington 28 ga. Automatic. I ordered a feed latch, link, and all the seals from you. Everything worked great. When I shot the gun to make sure the shells ejected, they did. When I pulled the trigger again to shoot, the gun “snapped”. I then ejected the shell and another one went into the chamber. When I pulled the trigger again, the gun fired, but when the shell again went into the chamber it would not fire, it “snapped” again. The shell that didn’t fire had a light impression where the firing pin had hit. The shells that fired had a very deep impression. After this I rechecked the piston seals to make sure they were right, plus I looked at the diagram again for my gun I'm sure I installed the seals correctly. Although, when I checked the seals I did notice that the rubber seal came off the end and I put it back on. I didn’t shot the gun after this. Is it my firing pin that's bad, or is something else wrong?

Answer: It sounds like it may not be going all the way into battery after firing. To check load and fire your shotgun, before pulling the trigger on the second round, see if you can push the operating handle forward. If you can, that indicates that your bolt is not going completely into battery. This could be caused by a weak action spring, bent or broken action spring follower, or bent or broken link. Double check your gas seal components to make sure they’re installed correctly. If all these checks still don't alleviate the problem it may be time to take it to your local gunsmith. You may also consider the Kuhnhausen Book (#924-500-870).