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Need wider rear sight notch on my Pardini SP

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 10:23 am
by jabberwo
Can they be bought or should I take a file to it?! Never having attempted something so delicate on such an expensive pistol, any tips?

Or I guess I could use thinner front sight...

Don't see either listed on Pardini Guns web site. Took the red dot off to use my SP in a Free Pistol shoot in a couple of weeks, for giggles.

thanks,
Jab

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 10:50 am
by Rover
If you do a search here, you'll find several posts about this.

Bottom line, on most Pardinis the rear blade is replaceable. No great loss if you screw it up. You may have a too small replacement in your kit; use IT.

In my own experience, it wasn't much of a problem to widen the notch with a "Swiss" file, but did take a bit of finesse.

I had much better luck buying a 3/16" chain saw file at the hardware store. It is not tapered and it is therefore easy to cut a perfect U notch (as the very successful Russians used to use).

The U notch is nice, as you can see the front sight "ride up" the side of the notch when misaligned.

I've heard many shooters say, "I prefer the straight sides.", when they haven't the slightest clue as to what works.

I don't bother to do this with my own guns if the notch is wide enough, but when too narrow I jump right on it.

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:28 am
by Mass Shooter
Another option to consider is to have the blade slot opened by having it milled.

If you have any buds that work in a machine shop I'm betting the blade can be easily milled nice & clean to whatever width you want and depending on which orientation the blade is to the end mill you can have either a super clean square cut bottom or perfect radius.

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:44 am
by sbtzc
My SP is adjustable for depth and width. Before you start filing, you might check the manual. It appears the rear sights for their free, air and sport pistols are the same.
:-)

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 12:17 pm
by Reinhamre
sbtzc wrote:My SP is adjustable for depth and width. Before you start filing, you might check the manual. It appears the rear sights for their free, air and sport pistols are the same.
:-)
Sure, but not on an old Pardini.

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 12:48 pm
by jabberwo
Reinhamre wrote:
sbtzc wrote:My SP is adjustable for depth and width. Before you start filing, you might check the manual. It appears the rear sights for their free, air and sport pistols are the same.
:-)
Sure, but not on an old Pardini.
And mine is as old as I've ever seen, '97 model. That is, until my brand spanking new one arrives from the good folks at Pardini USA!

-= chuck

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 1:14 pm
by Coastwatcher
If you are going to use a file to open up the notch use a block of wood or a small square to keep the file perpendicular to the sight blade.

Best of luck.

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 1:25 pm
by tedbell
Pardini USA does sell narrower front sight blades, down to 2.5mm, and has most of them in stock. I actually recently bought a narrower blade for my SP1 Rapid Fire from them.

Thanks,
Ted

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 4:01 pm
by RandomShotz
Coastwatcher wrote: If you are going to use a file to open up the notch use a block of wood or a small square to keep the file perpendicular to the sight blade.
Actually, if you look at some sight blades, the opening is smaller towards the back. I guess this is so that you are always referencing the back edge of the sight even if it is slightly misaligned. But it will be a nice trick to make sure the sides are parallel unless the new slot width is exactly the same size as the file.

And if you are not going to use the chain saw file, you probably want to avoid cutting into the bottom of the notch. Finding a file with a safe edge wold help.

Roger

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 4:29 pm
by Rover
Very observant, Roger.

When you're opening the notch with file or chain saw file, you need to have the notch wider towards the front. Otherwise you will see the edges of the sight, giving them a slight haze. The thicker the blade, the worse it will be.

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 4:33 pm
by j-team
Ok, there is another way to widen the gap (assuming your sight is the same model as mine).

You need to completely strip the sight and get the two sides of the leaf out. The adjustment works by the side screw pushing a small ball up and in between the leaves forcing them apart (a spring pulls them together).

You can peen the inner lower end of each leaf where the ball touches (not visible when re-assembled) so that they are pushed further apart by the ball. Re-assemble and your adjustment range is now wider.

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 4:53 pm
by Bob-Riegl
I would call Pardini USA (hint, guess what the URL is)and ask if the new SP's rear sight could be interchangeable. My new SP has a simple approach to this, the blade is adjustable by a small metric Allen key. I don't remember how I adjusted my old SP to widen the blade---I seem to remember all I did was unscrew the blade and invert it. ???? Good luck----"Doc"