TargetTalk

I bought a 2002 Superair. Rear sight went right on. Front sight will not. It looks smaller than the dovetail to me. The rear sight will slip onto and tighten down on the front or rear. The front sight will not go on either end. I think it is the wrong front sight. The prior owner said he had risers on it, but insists it is the right front sight.

Can anyone tell me what I'm facing here? If I order another front sight, what do I need to look for in terms of the rail size?

Thanks!

David

David,

Anschutz changed their foresight mount in 1987, when the 1900 smallbore rifles replaced the 1800. It sounds like you have an old foresight.

The "new" front dovetail is the same 11mm as for the rearsight, and is much shallower than the "old" dovetail. The difference is enough that old foresights are too narrow at the bottom to fit onto new dovetails, although new foresights will fit onto old dovetails.

You either need a new foresight, or a raiser block/adaptor.

David,

I will second what Tim is saying: Without a picture my guess would be you have the early style Anschutz front sight that mounted to a front sight block. If the channel is just shy of 3/16" deep and a little shy of 3/8" wide at the bottom then this is likely what you have.

Unfortunately, most front sights from this era did not have Anschutz labeled on them anywhere. Someone who has been shooting a long time can recognize one in a second. Usually you can look and see the old style front sight really just is not meant to fit the new dovetail.

A next possibility is that you somehow have a Feinwerkbau front sight. Commonly both Anschutz and Feinwerkbau use 11mm dovetails but there are some subtle differences in the way they are cut so interchange is not universal. The frustrating thing with the FWB front sight is that to just look at it you would think it would fit but when you go to put it on it won't go, just by a hair. Again older Feinwerkbau front sights were not marked with brand logo so you have to know what you are looking at to tell them apart.

It is also not uncommon to have riser blocks that are a little more forgiving than the factory dovetail and will accept a wider range of hardware.

Not that it would fix your problem but if you were to post a picture (gotta make it small, less than 256k) we could look at it at least tell you what you have. Or maybe we would be stumped too, but it can't hurt. : )

'Dude

Oh yeah,

If you talk to any of the usual suspects to order one just say you need a front sight for an Anschutz 2002 SuperAir and they should be able to get you what you need without any problem.

'Dude

Thanks guys. You are spot on. The foresight does not have the manufacturer's name, but I've looked at pictures and think it is the old Anschutz. I put a caliper on the dovetail and it was 11mm with the foresight being close to 8mm. I guess I'll get a new foresight.

Many thanks!

David

Hi David,

the front sight which comes from factory with the Anschutz 2002 SA is the model 6832.

It has two mounting screws (one is a dummy only for a better symmetrical look), a cant indicator, cant scale and the personal cant level is adjustable. Therefor it has two additional small lock screws in the front.

Not really sure about a name or sign on this front sight but as fare as i remember there was an Anschutz sign or logo. I have to look for it and can tell you then.

This front sight was first used and sold on the 2001 SA air rifle and on the 1907 and 1913 small bore rifles and it looks really different from the older models used on the 380 air rifle and the 18XX small bore rifles.

Here comes a picture which shows the 6832 front sight.



Regards from Germany

Frank

You've already been told that the dovetails have changed, BUT, the profile is close enough to fit properly on the new dovetail if you file or grind down the base of the dovetail on the old foresight so it is not so deep, it will then be wide enough to fit.
I know as I have just done so on a new Anschutz riser as I only had an old foresight and was too mean to buy a new one when ten minutes with a file did the job.
Good shooting.

Thanks Frank! I had found the part number on the Anschutz website, but didn't know what it looked like. That is a much nicer sight than what came with it. No wonder I got this one. I think I'll have to post negative feedback on egun for the guy. He threw the rifle in a box and shipped it. No packaging. The stock was broken. I hope my repair holds. I'm looking for a new stock now.

Thanks for the advice, Robin. It took me longer than 10 minutes, but I now have a front sight.

Conversely, it is possible to fit current foresights, intended for the post-1800 series Anschutz rifles, to the 1800 and earlier series by the addition of thin shims to the raised dovetail. I use a Centra Duo Vario foresight on my 1800 with carefully sized shims from a Coke can, one on either side to balance their effect. I find it helps to have them over-long so that the foresight can slide over them before it grips the dovetail. Just my two pennyworth - or less.

I realize it has been a while since you fellows posted this thread, but I need to say "thanks".
I was just dealing with this same issue and was able to modify an old front sight globe by filing the base and it now works perfectly.
Just did not dawn on me to lower the base and I was preparing to purchase a new style.
Thanks for saving me some money!
Tom