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My Springfield Now Has NM Sights
4/3/2012 7:18:36 PM
As I posted before, I found out that Springfield has been putting NM size front sights and NM rear sight bases on all of their M1As for a few years to save in inventory costs. I decided to upgrade my standard model I bought last November with a Krieger NM rear sight aperture to give me NM capability for elevation. It comes with a .0595" NM hooded rear sight aperture that rotates into an either up or down orientation.
The aperture itself is drilled slightly off center to give you the 1/2 minute elevation changes. I received the rear sight aperture today and got out the stones and dial calipers to fit it to my rear sight base. After measuring the difference between it and my installed aperture, I noted that I'd have to remove just over .009" total from the outer edges as well as filing an angle at the tail of the aperture rail as described HERE.
The total job took about 20 minutes with slow, steady stoning and checking to make sure I took the same amount off each side and kept the outer rails parallel. After I got it to fit correctly, I took some Oxpho Blue and touched up the dressed areas, oiled it up, installed it back into the sight base, and finished with the elevation and windage knob assys. I think it came out just fine and at $35, it's a job worth doing.
Front sight on my standard model is definitely the tapered, .062" wide NM version:
You can clearly see it's marked 'NM' and '062':
The standard rear sight with the Krieger .0595" NM marked, hooded aperture installed:
The aperture is definitely smaller than the standard one it replaced and the hood will cut out any glare on the rear sight:
Now it's off to the range again this weekend when my son and daughter come down for Easter and I'll sight this puppy in. I'm a happy camper because rather than spending $160 at Springfield for a set I really didn't need, I only spent $35 at MidwayUSA and added it to an order I was already making so even the shipping was free.
The aperture itself is drilled slightly off center to give you the 1/2 minute elevation changes. I received the rear sight aperture today and got out the stones and dial calipers to fit it to my rear sight base. After measuring the difference between it and my installed aperture, I noted that I'd have to remove just over .009" total from the outer edges as well as filing an angle at the tail of the aperture rail as described HERE.
The total job took about 20 minutes with slow, steady stoning and checking to make sure I took the same amount off each side and kept the outer rails parallel. After I got it to fit correctly, I took some Oxpho Blue and touched up the dressed areas, oiled it up, installed it back into the sight base, and finished with the elevation and windage knob assys. I think it came out just fine and at $35, it's a job worth doing.
Front sight on my standard model is definitely the tapered, .062" wide NM version:
You can clearly see it's marked 'NM' and '062':
The standard rear sight with the Krieger .0595" NM marked, hooded aperture installed:
The aperture is definitely smaller than the standard one it replaced and the hood will cut out any glare on the rear sight:
Now it's off to the range again this weekend when my son and daughter come down for Easter and I'll sight this puppy in. I'm a happy camper because rather than spending $160 at Springfield for a set I really didn't need, I only spent $35 at MidwayUSA and added it to an order I was already making so even the shipping was free.
4/3/2012 11:34:21 PM
That is great info and looks great!!!
4/4/2012 1:14:17 AM
Good job sir.
You need a NM windage knob now.
You need a NM windage knob now.
4/4/2012 1:36:58 AM
Thinkin about it already.
4/6/2012 9:31:07 AM
My Loaded was made in September 2011 and it came with the NM rear sight and windage knob.
4/6/2012 4:43:59 PM
The Loaded versions come with NM sights. That's one reason that they cost more than the Standard versions.
Specifically, they come with:
Air gauged medium weight national match barrel
National match front and rear (non-hooded) sight
National match trigger assembly
National match flash suppressor
Specifically, they come with:
Air gauged medium weight national match barrel
National match front and rear (non-hooded) sight
National match trigger assembly
National match flash suppressor
4/6/2012 9:03:49 PM
Did you replace the standard rear sight base with a NM sight base? I installed a hooded rear sight and didn't replace standard base and mine shot high. I was told that a hooded sight will not go down far enough do to the cut in base. I hope all is good on yours. I put my old sight back in and it shot fine. And my sight base was 1/2 inch windage Ball bearing style) just the cut was not right for the size of the hood, wouldn't let sight go down far enough. The hood would bottom out in cut, NM sight base is cut to let hood go down farther. Let us know how it works out. I hope yours works out as mine didn't.
4/6/2012 11:49:00 PM
Did you remove the material as shown? That's what you have to do to allow it to go down all the way. It's from Fulton Armory's FAQ HERE. Mine cranks down all the way, same as my old sight.
4/7/2012 8:16:31 AM
Yes I did, it went down till the hood bottomed out and touched the base. With sight all the way down and hood touching base it shot 6 inchs high at 100 yards. I was told I could get a taller front sight from Springfield armory but never did. I just changed it back. Let us know if your works out ok.
4/7/2012 9:38:49 AM
A woman tech at Springfield Armory called me back yesterday on their research on my s/n M1A and they confirmed that I did have a NM base as well as the NM front sight. I guess all I need is the NM windage knob and I'm set.
4/7/2012 10:14:20 AM
Look and see if it has a ball bearing between windage knob and receiver, if it does it is a 1/2 minute sight. They cut more grooves in knob and use ball bearing as stop. Original military sight has a different thread and you have to change Knob and base to get NM. Check out the M14 forum you will find so much info on M14's that will keep you reading for hours. My sight was the 1/2 MIN. ball bearing style with a NM marked non hooded peep and when I change to a hooded style the hood keeps it from going down far enough. Like I said good luck, I hope yours work fine. I didn't have any luck with mine. Let us know how it works out. My rifle is a loaded. If you want to get better groups shim your gas system and put in a NM op rod guide. You won't be disappointed.
4/7/2012 11:38:05 AM
Looks good!
I did the same mod to one of my M1As pretty early on too. Having 1/2 MOA windage adjustments, with 1 MOA elevation just wasn't gonna cut it.
I did the same mod to one of my M1As pretty early on too. Having 1/2 MOA windage adjustments, with 1 MOA elevation just wasn't gonna cut it.
4/8/2012 10:20:54 AM
I took my M1A out to the range yesterday to test out the sight and all is well. No issues with the aperture not going low enough. In fact, with the sight all the way down it's a bit low at 100yds with M80 Ball so I ran it up a bit, loosened the screw and reset the elevation knob and it's GTG. Surprisingly, I found that it's dead nuts on for windage with the index mark centered. I guess that time I took stoning down the sides evenly and squarely to split the .009" extra rail width paid off. I'm a happy camper.
4/8/2012 11:30:02 AM
Originally Posted By jaker10:
Look and see if it has a ball bearing between windage knob and receiver, if it does it is a 1/2 minute sight. They cut more grooves in knob and use ball bearing as stop. Original military sight has a different thread and you have to change Knob and base to get NM. Check out the M14 forum you will find so much info on M14's that will keep you reading for hours. My sight was the 1/2 MIN. ball bearing style with a NM marked non hooded peep and when I change to a hooded style the hood keeps it from going down far enough. Like I said good luck, I hope yours work fine. I didn't have any luck with mine. Let us know how it works out. My rifle is a loaded. If you want to get better groups shim your gas system and put in a NM op rod guide. You won't be disappointed.
Look and see if it has a ball bearing between windage knob and receiver, if it does it is a 1/2 minute sight. They cut more grooves in knob and use ball bearing as stop. Original military sight has a different thread and you have to change Knob and base to get NM. Check out the M14 forum you will find so much info on M14's that will keep you reading for hours. My sight was the 1/2 MIN. ball bearing style with a NM marked non hooded peep and when I change to a hooded style the hood keeps it from going down far enough. Like I said good luck, I hope yours work fine. I didn't have any luck with mine. Let us know how it works out. My rifle is a loaded. If you want to get better groups shim your gas system and put in a NM op rod guide. You won't be disappointed.
This.
You can do the "ball and detent" NM rear sight mod for under $40. Many of the receivers well already have the hole for the spring and ball.
4/8/2012 12:57:06 PM
Glad to hear It worked out for ya. Wish mine would have.
