sighting in a tang site

[buckskin billy]

my pard just gave me a long range and mid range pedersoili tang site along with the replacement disk that go in the front site.
my front site is a sweated on blade, so i won't be able to use the disk for now.
i have never owned one of these kind of sites and don't know nothing about them.
can anyone tell me how to site that thing in so i aint out wasting lead?
i would think it would be somewhat similair as in siting in a scope rifle. but what do each one of those lines indicate? a 1/4 inch clich for each line or am i completely wrong on this

[jameshunt]

Billy: These sights can be a mystery for sure, until someone explains all those little lines and what they mean. In searching for knowledge, you always run across the crowd that does know, and offers up rhetoric that is surely designed to make learning as difficult as possible.

One of the best explanations out there is given by Venturino in his widely available soft cover book, Shooting Buffalo Rifles of the Old West. Recommended reading if your new to these rifles and cartridges.

Quoting from his work on p.210:

[That] scale is just a ruler graduated in 1/100th of an inch. When looking down at the scale on the main sight stem the lines represent five one hundredths of an inch. The marks on the sliding scale on the left are reference points. If the bottom line on the reference scale is aligned with, say the .50 mark on the main stem, then the sight is set at one half inch. To add 1/100th inch to this the second line on the reference scale is matched to the next highest line on the main stem. To add 2/100 inch then the third line on the reference scale is set at the next line on the main stem. To add a third 1/100th of an inch to the reading, the the fourth line on the reference side is set even with the next highest setting on the main stem. Whe this is down five times the Vernier sight will be setting with the bottom line on the reference side even with the .55 inch mark on the main stem.



Now before you go, huh? Get out your rifle and just follow the comment above while adjusting your sight, or buy the book with the accompanying pictures, and you will get it.

I have one of these baby's on my .45 2 7/8. Why? I don't know, I just had to own one. In Michigan we don't have a clear lane to shoot in much beyond 200 yards. But to sight it in, I go to the 50 yard line, set it about where I think the bullet will strike, and when it is on the paper, I back up to 100 yards. From there I dial it in, and then go to 200 yards. After that I probably should be paying someone to shoot for me.

I have carried this gun and sight hunting, not good. I found that the sight would maintain its setting fine despite climbing around the Wyoming hills, but I was always worried about buggering up a $350 piece of equipment. I ended up buying another basic stem to fit the base that was more like a Lyman tang sight. Worked great to 200 yards, but was not really historical. Since then I have hunted with a sharps with just barrel mounted sights.

Good luck!

[buckskin billy]

huh?

thanks for the input. i will be getting that book. i got me about a 100 rounds loaded up and weeks vacation and its deer season. i figure i'll have a better understanding on this after i do some shooting