doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Open Sights on E.Bond

Joe;
One set of sights & one bbl can be sighted to point of aim at any desired distance. As far as horizontal displacement it will go from the distance bbl is off set from sight line at muzzle to Zero at sight-in distance, no further. It will of course cross at that point & continue to gain in opposite direction as range increases. The problem with an offset scope on a 94 is more a matter of having to get ones eye behind the offset scope than any inherant eror in the sighting itself. In this case the sight line is centered to the gun, the bbl is offset, much easier to work with.

All this talk about sights being offset from the barrel has little to do with it. Even if the bullet traveled parallel to the line of sight it would only be approx. 1 in off. I don't think a gun of this type or even a cartridge firing double rifle could fire a group of less than 8 to 10 ins.at 400 yds. with express sights let alone with clamp on sights that would change with recoil. I must admit it is puzzling. Does this rifle have rifling or is it a smooth bore. I would think you would have a hard time hitting pig at 400 yds. let alone any further. I hope some one figures it out.

Rich

Bond Eyton,Shadwell Street,1863-1867, 15,Sand Street,1881, Bath Street,1882-1890. All addresses are in the Birmingham gun quarter.
I support the theory that the sights are designed to determine the point of projectile impact; for perhaps, use as a range finder in support of artillery.

A friend has a cape gun/muzzleloader with the same exact sighting system. I too feel it is more of a range finder, I agree that the even spacing makes the idea of it being a sight not very realistic. That said, I have a Westley rifle with sights out to 1200yds. I bet the drop is figured correctly for the distances listed on the sight blades. Wether or not 400yd shots are good idea with open sights is another discussion.
Steve

That engraving on the silver shield looks more like a coat of arms than a blazing high-seat? Wonder whose it it is if that's the case.
Mike

Geno,

Cool muzzleloader! Any idea what the distance is between the graduations on the rib?

I agree with Lee that the equidistant spacing on the rib markings rules out a sighting sytem that "automatically" compensates for the drop in the bullet. My thought is that the rib graduations simply offer the hunter a repeatable place to mount his front sight. Through trial and error, the hunter would know with load X and distance Y that his front sight needed to be set at Z.

I think the rib would also make a handy measuring tool - kind of like the ruler/scale built into the side of my fishing tackle box :-)

I looked long and hard at the shield engraving. IMO it is a "high seat" of sorts. The ladder and what looks to be a smoking gun barrel sticking out of the "leaves" is what convinced me. I think if it were flames, the engraver would have depicted them a little differently.

It is a fun gun to ponder on a Monday morning.

Ken

I copied this from page 88-89 of the book One Hundred Great Guns by MERRIL LINDSAY. Ithink this may be the answer. Rich [img][/img]

There is a good article on The Jacob Double Rifle in one of the Gun Digests. I believe it's one from the 60s, but I could be wrong about that. I don't recall the sights being photographed as clearly as those shown above, but there is a discussion about the long range nature of the sights on the rifle.

Rich,

Nice find!!

Pete

Re the "scale" on the rib. I agree with Ken that it is a handy "yard stick". I have a pair of E M Reilly, London, cape guns with the same scale included on the rib. Rifle barrels are .450 #2 Musket, so likely made for someone in the military who had access to their ammo. The Reilly ribs are not undercut to permit a sliding long range sight.