Sight Bases for Use with Remington 540XR
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Sight Bases for Use with Remington 540XR
I have a number of Remington 540XR rifles with the Williams rear sights and high base Lyman 17A front sight that apparently came standard with this rifle. If one just substitutes a Redfield 75 rear sight it runs out of elevation out the top. Does anyone know of a substitute rear sight base that will raise the rear sight up? If not, how about a substitute front sight that will bring its height down? All the rear sight bases that I have in my inventory have holes that fit the rear sight attaching thumbscrew on sights like the International or Gates (which are slightly larger) but not the screws on the Williams or the Redfield 75.
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Dean Peterson
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2004 1:18 pm
- Location: San Jose, CA
Rem 540XR
GREAT RIFLE!
Bad (rare) sight arrangement.
The 540XR came with a special REDFIELD rear sight that is commonly called a dog leg - it has an upward turn in the vertical portion of the sight that raises the line of sight. Think RISER BLOCKS - but no where near as handy.
As I understand this unique arrangement - it was intended to address a "fault" with the earlier 540 where the cheekpiece was set low - the newer 540XR has a higher cheekpiece - and therefore needed a higher line of sight - in comes the dog leg to fix the problem.
Good luck finding any dog leg 75's they are rare as hens teeth. You may pay upwards of $175 to $200 for a dog leg if you can find one. They are exactly like a 75 - just bent.
The front sight BASE was tall as well - and the combination of these two sights made for an ideal paring with an appropriate zero on the rear sight scale and enough elevation to shoot out to 100 yards- like it is supposed to!
What to do?
Find a competent gunsmith and have him/her create a base for the rear that will accomodate a typical Redfield 75.
I will attempt to gather some measurements so that you have some place to start - for all I know you have the correct front sight base to begin with -and that may be the item you should replace first if you are using the standard 75 rear......
Bad (rare) sight arrangement.
The 540XR came with a special REDFIELD rear sight that is commonly called a dog leg - it has an upward turn in the vertical portion of the sight that raises the line of sight. Think RISER BLOCKS - but no where near as handy.
As I understand this unique arrangement - it was intended to address a "fault" with the earlier 540 where the cheekpiece was set low - the newer 540XR has a higher cheekpiece - and therefore needed a higher line of sight - in comes the dog leg to fix the problem.
Good luck finding any dog leg 75's they are rare as hens teeth. You may pay upwards of $175 to $200 for a dog leg if you can find one. They are exactly like a 75 - just bent.
The front sight BASE was tall as well - and the combination of these two sights made for an ideal paring with an appropriate zero on the rear sight scale and enough elevation to shoot out to 100 yards- like it is supposed to!
What to do?
Find a competent gunsmith and have him/her create a base for the rear that will accomodate a typical Redfield 75.
I will attempt to gather some measurements so that you have some place to start - for all I know you have the correct front sight base to begin with -and that may be the item you should replace first if you are using the standard 75 rear......
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VictorCosenza
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Mon Oct 04, 2010 11:38 am
I've got this rifle too and it's quite special to me. I agree with Dean about the sight which is why I plan on replacing it. Now I'm on the lookout for the best sight attachment.
The eat stop eat system does work.
The eat stop eat system does work.
Last edited by VictorCosenza on Mon Nov 18, 2013 7:51 am, edited 2 times in total.
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peakconti6
My son shoots with this rifle, I took off the rear sight that came with it, and just slid on an anchutz sight, it seems to work fine, I think I had to make an elevation adjustment on the sight, but it was not to far off.
I was not able to replace the front sight, because in this case the barrel of the rifle was shortoned to make it lighter. The front apature has to be smaller because of that and the that came with it seems to work fine.
I was not able to replace the front sight, because in this case the barrel of the rifle was shortoned to make it lighter. The front apature has to be smaller because of that and the that came with it seems to work fine.
Given the popularity of this rifle among hunters and sharpshooters, a scope mount for the Remington 700 should match the rifle's reputation of dependability. GG&G has applied the same precision machining and real world testing with the Remington scope rail that is used with their entire line of tactical rifles. Furthermore, the accuracy difference between a bolt-action rifle and an automatic means that the Remington scope base (and especially the long range scope base) must be just about perfect for tactical use.
Ged online
Ged online