Want To Buy Whitworth SightHood

[Ontario Hunter]

If the front sight blade slides in from the front, it's probably NECG. Pushes in from the side, it's probably Williams. Seems Williams or Marble made the sights for most production rifles back then. Williams hood is very unlikely to simply fall off. If you order one, drop me a line and I'll tell you how to make a slight modification so it slides on easier.

 

[rookhawk]

An old gun like that I'm betting had Williams sights on it. Is the front sight blade pushed in from the side? You can order a hood directly from Williams Gunsight Co in Michigan. They are great people to deal with.
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Not to nitpick, but your hood doesn't fit at all correctly on your rifle as its set too far back or perhaps its just too short.

Williams was an American company of course whereas the rifle in the OP's remarks would probably be suited for a Parker Hale, BSA, or German Mauser hood. NECG hoods can be made to fit virtually anything with enough time at the bench.

The hoods are hardened spring steel so it does take quite a bit of stone and file work to get them to the correct geometry for a given rifle, but with time many hoods can be properly adapted.

 

[cajunchefray]

An old gun like that I'm betting had Williams sights on it. Is the front sight blade pushed in from the side? You can order a hood directly from Williams Gunsight Co in Michigan. They are great people to deal with.
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Thanks, that is what mine looks like, Williams front sight.
Appreciate the heads up.

 

[cajunchefray]

Not to nitpick, but your hood doesn't fit at all correctly on your rifle as its set too far back or perhaps its just too short.

Williams was an American company of course whereas the rifle in the OP's remarks would probably be suited for a Parker Hale, BSA, or German Mauser hood. NECG hoods can be made to fit virtually anything with enough time at the bench.

The hoods are hardened spring steel so it does take quite a bit of stone and file work to get them to the correct geometry for a given rifle, but with time many hoods can be properly adapted.

@rookhawk, always appreciate your detailed information about all classic arms. I will check out NECG.

 

[rookhawk]

@rookhawk, always appreciate your detailed information about all classic arms. I will check out NECG.

Take a caliper and measure the groove width of your front sight ramp inside the slot. Call Mark at NECG to order after you decide if you need the .630" or the .708", allowing about .050" for final fitting.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Not to nitpick, but your hood doesn't fit at all correctly on your rifle as its set too far back or perhaps its just too short.

Williams was an American company of course whereas the rifle in the OP's remarks would probably be suited for a Parker Hale, BSA, or German Mauser hood. NECG hoods can be made to fit virtually anything with enough time at the bench.

The hoods are hardened spring steel so it does take quite a bit of stone and file work to get them to the correct geometry for a given rifle, but with time many hoods can be properly adapted.

The Williams hood does fit the slot in Williams ramp end to end perfectly. I'll try to take a better photo. Here ya go. You can see the tapered end of the hood matches the angle of the ramp. The second photo had the hood purposely pushed back far enough to show how the sight blade dovetail is pushed in from the side. I elected to not remove the hood entirely because it's a bit stubborn getting started back in the ramp.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Thanks, that is what mine looks like, Williams front sight.
Appreciate the heads up.

Check out their online catalog for that sight hood. How's your sight ramp looking? If it's screw on, it can be easily replaced with a new one from them identical to what was made fifty years ago. Sweat on is not as easily replaced. Be advised Williams screw on ramp has two screws; one through the middle of the ramp and one through the dovetail under the sight bead. Sweat on style will still have one screw through the dovetail.

I ordered two new beads and one sight ramp from Williams to sort out the two used sets of Winchester Safari Express sights I bought off ebay (needed to change sight heights due to different barrel contours/calibers than previous owners' rifles). Their package disappeared in the mail and Williams resent everything again to a US pickup address at no charge. Six months later the first package finally showed up in my mailbox. Canada Customs held it in Toronto. Took them that long to figure out the stuff wasn't for a grenade launcher or atomic bomb trigger mechanism. I phoned Williams and they said just keep it. The next time I crossed the border I mailed it back to them.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Take a caliper and measure the groove width of your front sight ramp inside the slot. Call Mark at NECG to order after you decide if you need the .630" or the .708", allowing about .050" for final fitting.
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The NECG hood does appear to have a longer base than Williams. OP should measure the LENGTH of the slot in his sight ramp before considering to purchase. If the slot in the ramp doesn't match the length of hood base, they will look goofy attached together.

 

[Jager Waffen74]

Well here is the finished product!! I ended using the blued rings, I had purchased a set of case hardened and they are so out of round, I don't think I can even lap them back to a circle. They are going back.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Yep. It was a Williams screw on base. Now I can see the second screw at the end of the ramp. And yes, NECG hood is too long for that base, also as I suspected. You might have noticed the grooves for hood to slide into on your Williams sight base each have a bump in them. Williams hood has notches to accept those nubbins so it locks in place on the base. You might consider changing to NECG sight ramp but that would require someone who can line it up properly and solder it on. I believe their ramps are only sold in the white so it would need bluing. You would also have to acquire their proprietary front sight bead (NEGC bead slides into ramp from the front). Then refile the rear express sight leaves to reset zero to new front sight. Then reblue the rear sight. Or get a proper Williams hood. Or leave it like that.

Before you run off and buy a fancy NECG wrap around front sight ramp and bead, something else to keep in mind. One can always adjust windage on a Williams front sight by pushing the bead from side to side. Can't do that with NECG bead. It slides in from the front and consequently windage is not adjustable at that end. Might not be a big deal if the rear sight can be pushed far enough off center to gain zero ... and the new front sight ramp is properly aligned before it's soldered on.