Classic vintage aperture sights

[45flint]

Was on another forum and a person posted pics of a old Webley Mark III with a awesome Parker Hale aperture sight. Made me almost want to collect these vintage accessories. What are some examples. Since putting my old William's back on a rifle I have fallen in love with these sights given it works great with 66 year old eyes that even have a new fixed lens from cataract surgery. The older ones have such charm. Makes a scope seem cold.

[Josie & John]

I share your passion.

There is a very well illustrated article on Parker Hale sighted Webleys in Issue 3 of on line magazine Airgun Collector. The present edition of Airgun Hobbyist, which is published in the States also includes a couple of aperture sighted BSA Airsporter/Clubs.

As my eyes grow older and weaker, I find aperture sights not just a desirable accessory but essential for shooting too! There were numerous aperture sights intended for pre war BSA air rifles and a fine collection can be assembled consisting of such rifles.

Kind regards,

John

[gingernut]

I sold a PH sight off a junk Mk 111 for £12 less than I paid for the rifle.
Not sure whether I should have!

[Drew451]

I find the old German diopters from Anschutz and Diana extremely addictive. I'm not really a collector but i have acquired a few and like to use these with all types of air rifles.

[draitzer]

Steve,

A brochure of early BSA sights is on Mr. Garvin's Vintage BSA Airguns forum:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/67044...gs%29+-+Sights

Don R.

[isobar]

as an occasional shooter and fairly new to aperture sights;i have to say that they are an absolute pleasure to use.i have a williams fitted to my anschutz 333 and it is perfect,the foresight bead on the anschutz is adjustable for height which helps negate the extra height of the williams.these sights are very good for getting your shot away quickly and accurately and nicer to use than a scope. atb

[Garvin]

Was on another forum and a person posted pics of a old Webley Mark III with a awesome Parker Hale aperture sight. Made me almost want to collect these vintage accessories. What are some examples. Since putting my old William's back on a rifle I have fallen in love with these sights given it works great with 66 year old eyes that even have a new fixed lens from cataract surgery. The older ones have such charm. Makes a scope seem cold.

I love the old British peep sights, made by Parker Hale and BSA but what really gets me going are the 1950s German diopters, made by Falke, Weihrauch and BSF. They are real works of art, machined solid steel, without the alloy of the later Diana/Anschutz/Weihrauch equivalents. I can't help but collect these early sights, along with the corresponding rifles.

[Dutch]

These older BSF's, Falkes and Weihrauchs are hard to come by, even in Germany (many collectors) or the Netherlands. Another Dutch member, Frakor, owns some fabulous examples of all of these. Btw the old Parker Hale sights are also full steel and pieces of true craftsmanship?! I have a couple of sights, but still on the lookout for a PH16 to fit on one of my older Webley MK3's.

[MDriskill]

Was on another forum and a person posted pics of a old Webley Mark III with a awesome Parker Hale aperture sight. Made me almost want to collect these vintage accessories. What are some examples. Since putting my old William's back on a rifle I have fallen in love with these sights given it works great with 66 year old eyes that even have a new fixed lens from cataract surgery. The older ones have such charm. Makes a scope seem cold.

That was my post and I appreciate your kind words! (I also wrote the Airgun Collector article under Garvin's kind auspices.) Over the years I've really come to like "peeps" and use them on most of my air rifles, especially now that I've reached the age where open sights are, shall we say...challenging.

Obviously I am a big fan of PH sights. The PH 16 is a thoroughly brilliant design, and the PH 17 as seen on the early Mk 3 Supertarget is an even finer unit. Their big disadvantage of course is that their model-specific mounts have very limited applications to airguns. The PH 16M and PH 17B are specifically made for the Mk 3 only, though could possibly (I've never tried it!) be made to work with an HW 35, some pre-war Dianas, or other model with a solid rear receiver of similar diameter to the Mk 3.

There was one version of the PH 16, the PH 16E, which had a grooved dovetail base intended for Mauser firearms. As I own neither the sight nor any Mausers, I don't know the dovetail size, but it may be adaptable to other airguns.

Another detail I appreciate about these sights, is that they can easily be taken apart for cleaning, without the danger of springs and ball bearings flying about, as with some of the German sights! Just very practical, well-designed, and beautifully-made units.

Garvin mentioned some of the lovely older German steel sights, I would add the Anschutz "Universal" steel models that were made for their model 54 match rimfires back in the day. The market seems to have "forgotten" those; they frequently turn up on auction sites etc., almost always at about the same prices as the alloy models, though the Universals cost about twice as much when new.

Speaking of auction sites, there are a lot of older match aperture sights turning now, many coming from a seller in Bulgaria. It's a good time to be hunting them down. The German site EGun is also a good source; search there for "diopter" and it will bring up several pages of goodies.