Marlin 39a front sight

[glen ring]

I have purchased a marlin 39 that has a tang sight and a Low Lyman globe on the front. The gun shoots about 8 inches high at 50 yards with the tang sight on it's lowest setting. What height front sight do I need to get back on target? I also have looked at the Williams front sight globe that clamps on. Will that typE of sight clamp onto the front sight ramp?

[Shandy]

I think there is a front sight calculator on Brownells website. You should be able to work backwards to work out what you need.

[Jason]

Yep.. The math should be no problem. You just need the sight radius, the amount that you want to move your point of impact, and the distance to the target all in the same units. For instance, if your sight radius is 30" (total guess based on Marlin 39 and a tang sight), the target is 50yds (1800 inches) away, and you want to move the point of impact down 8 inches, just divide it out. It's (X/30) = (8/1800), so X = (8 * 30 / 1800) = 2/15 = 0.133 inches. If you have the Lyman 17AHB that's listed as being .404" high and add that to your desired height change, you need to get a front sight at least 0.537" high.The 17AML sight is listed as being .494" high and the 17AUG is listed as .584" high, so your desired height is between those two models. Since you need at least .537" high, you need to go with the 17AUG. You might also want to check to see if you can just get a shorter staff for your tang sight. There's a Marbles tang sight that has interchangeables parts to vary the height and there might be others. If so, you can decide how high you want yours sights to be, with the tradeoff being better cheek pressure with lower sights or a more erect head position with taller sights.

[glen ring]

Jason

I can't tell you how darn impressed I am with your math!!!!!!!! I knew someone was ( anyone is ) smarter than I am when it comes to number crunching, but dang, you're impressive!!! Thank you!

[Washita]

I've sent 2 tang sights back to Marbles to get shorter uprights installed; in both cases the rifles (a 1946 Marlin 39A and a '72 Winchester 94/22M) were shooting about 8-10" high at 25 yards. Neither sight was one of the "improved" ones with interchangable uprights. These were newly-purchased sights, so Marbles made the swap without charge. I don't know whether this would apply in your case, but why not give Marbles a phone call l to find out?

BTW, I did the calculation for the higher front sight needed to get a proper zero with the existing uprights, and in both cases it was a lot higher than I was willing to go, even if I'd been able to find one that high, which is doubtful. The tang sight upright exchange was a lot easier--and, being free, cheaper too! ;)