hi guys im new to the sight i have a 1918 erfurt kar 98az it shoots high ive ordered a brownell front sight blank my question is how do i remove existing sight from the rabbit ear sight protector? it appears that it would tap out but to the other side but how do you get it out from between the rabbit ears with it dovetailed on both sides in the sight protector? any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.
kar98a front sight replacement
- Thread starter ike50
- Start date
the description said it would fit mauser rifles model 91 thru 98 .375 dove tail front sight blank it might not work im not sure but i thought i would try if not im only out 22 bucks as far the ammo ive used 8mm remington 170 grain core lock or winchester 170 grain ammo. the brownells part number for the front sight is 078-050-000
If I remember correctly the Kar sight blade is dovetailed in the opposite direction, from front to back rather than from left to right like the Gew. and K is. I believe the windage adjustment piece is a press fit piece that is square in cross section. Look at the side of your sight base and you'll see the square piece that is tapped from left to right for windage. The sight blade you bought absolutely cannot be made to work. 
yes from what you said i see how the windage works in fact there is a mark on the block and one on the sight when i ordered it the other day it didnt specify and a or k or anything just 98 and it probally will work on other mods just not mine. without the right part it cant be fixed correctly and im not going to bubba rig it up either. i bought this rifle at sears in 1973 it had been sporterized when i bought it some what anyway gave 79 dollars for it had it ever since use it to hunt white tail deer. i keep it oiled and cleaned never had a problem with it just shoots high ive learned to compensate and have killed a few deer with it wouldnt take nothing for it in fact i treasure it. i noticed a small slotted screw at the base of the sight i would imagine removing the screw and tapping the sight toward the rear sight and that looks like how you said it was designed to come off. well i appreciate your help and advice thanks very much ike50
Cyrano4747
Well-known member
What range are you shooting at? I forget what the Kar98a was factory zeroed for, but with military long guns of that era in general it's not uncommon for them to be set for 200 meters. If you're shooting at the ranges that most of us fiddle with iron sighted rifle at you're going to end up high. I end up taking a six o'clock hold with a ton of my rifles at 100 yards.
Holding a bit low seems preferable to grinding on metal, at least to m.e
Holding a bit low seems preferable to grinding on metal, at least to m.e
I just checked out a Kar. and it's got a battle sight that starts at 300 meters. There's your problem in a nutshell, It will most likely hit 9 to 12 inches high at 100 meters, even with the anemic Commercial ammo. The Gewehr's and last ditch Arisaka's also have a 300 meter battle sight. When I shoot one of these at 100 meters I affix the bullseye as low as I can on the paper so the bullets don't fly over the top of the paper and I can see my group.
I wouldn't alter a matching sight slide, but I'd buy a replacement, grind it to the desired height and install it whenever I took it to the range, but in this case you can't grind enough off of the sight slide to compensate. The rifles I've seen altered this way were both 98k's and they of course have a 100 meter setting on the rear sight.
Cyrano4747
Well-known member
Yeah, I thought it was going to be something like this. I used to get a bit of removable putty to build up the front sight a tich when I really cared about being dead on at 100, but these days I just hold low. I've got actual target rifles if I want to be trying for perfect POA=POI shooting.
Something else the OP might try is (non-destructively) putting an optic on there. I don't know about the Kar98a off the top of my head, but I do know that there are rear sight leaf replacement rail segments for just about every flavor of slightly older Mauser out there. I've got an RC K98k that I threw a red dot on using one of those, originally for load development but it's fun enough that it just lives on there now. The rear sight parts sit in a bag in my parts drawer, and if I ever want to put it back to original it would take five minutes and be just the same as it originally was.
well the lowest it goes is 300 meters even in the prown position at 100 yards it shoots 9 to 12 inches high and if im firing at a target yes it will be fairly accurate at six o clock but placing a good shot on a white tail is little more tricky ive learned to compensate but my eyes aint as good as they used to be. but i did try something today i removed the sight elevator and filed a small amount off of the bottom of the sight that should lower the point of impact a little i just hadnt been able to try it today im hoping that will help if not i could put the elevator back on the amount that i was able to file off was less than a sixteenth of an inch.
Cyrano4747
Well-known member
Probably not what you want to hear, but my advice would be to use pretty much any other rifle for whitetail and leave a collectable firearm alone as far as permanent modifications go.
If you absolutely have to use it as a deer rifle build the front sight up with some putty that will be removable but not just fall off. Do your own research to find something that won't screw up the gun, but from what I recall I used to use some kind of plumber's putty. It stayed put on the gun but I could take it off with a sharp knife and a bit of care.
Probably best to use something else for deer, though.